Ketchum Reviews

The culture is toxic and insidious from the top down. The leadership team is full of long haulers that won't hear a word against the current way things are done. I'm not sure the global CEO actually even does anything but spout hard to stomach toxic positivity. The new North American CEO seemed promising at first but is incredibly out of touch. In one breath senior leadership says 'we are a family,' in the next it is incessant bad mouthing about colleagues, blame gaming and backstabbing. WLB doesn't exist here. You'll be doing about 3 other jobs than what you signed up for. The better you are at your job the more this is true. Your reward for good work is more work, not more money or promotion.

I was laid off after ~8 years of working here - the least Ketchum could have done for a tenured employe, who they promoted twice and recently gave a bonus too, was to put some/any writing on the wall vs pulling the rug. This was a slap in the face -- Never once did I struggle with utilization, raising my hand when I needed work, supporting new biz, contributing to agency culture, our people and teams — even referring talent (who I sang Ketchum praises towards before this layoff). It shows me Ketchum does not care about their people and talent (as leadership consistently preaches) but solely about their bottom line, in a cutthroat environment, where anyone is disposable... In my naive, positive, glass half full mindset, I envisioned future growth and my career playing out long term at Ketchum...NO, always watch your back, assume the worst regardless of tenure, contributions, position, status, etc.