50 Below Reviews

Numerous times paychecks have been late in the 1 year 9 month period I worked here, once for about 12 days which makes living paycheck to paycheck 'interesting', not to mention extremely stressful. Regularly asked to hold checks, while being in the lower bracket of salaries is just assumed to be normal. Also, finding out your check bounces days after depositing damages your credit, and there's essentially nothing you can do about it, but take it. Being told there are printer issues instead of getting your check in a timely manner gets old too, especially since it is 2012! And direct deposit is a standard practice for most businesses anyway. Constant politicing is used to maintain employees' motivation and hope for a raise with a small chance of getting one, even over an extended period of time(1 year 9 months in my case). Not too mention the increase in responsibilities along the way. That is unless you decide to quit, and see what you get offered then. Highly repetitive work in an assembly line process can be a valuable learning experience in the beginning, but only for so long then leaves employees to burn out and become dissatisfied with their job. Also, the company is structured in a way that allows for limited creative freedom as a designer, and is more thoroughly effective in making you feel like a photoshop robot. Office environment is rough, desks/chairs are rag-tag and computer equipment can be extremely slow and outdated. Proper ergonomics aren't addressed for a position that requires 'extended periods of sitting.' Cubicle arrangement was designed to minimize communication between employees, effectively keeping employee morale low. Overall, this company gave some good experience right out of school and helped me develop some great skills in starting my career. Also, the company has a decent product and could be very successful under the right circumstances. However, as it's currently structured to benefit certain departments and positions drastically more, it becomes an abusive and toxic work environment after so long. One that's perfect if you're interested in politicing your way up, dealing with regular payroll issues, and taking on more responsibility with a small chance for increased compensation in a non-rewarding environment. Best of luck to them in the future, but my best advice for current employees would be to think about a back up plan, and move on when it's time.

The company doesn't pay well, they don't value the work you do or respect their employees. They take complete advantage of you in every way they can. They will not pay you on time, and if they do there is a chance of the paycheck bouncing and leaving you with fees and late payments to deal with. They do not pay their taxes or insurance premiums on time. My health insurance was cancelled and I was left to pay the difference for a period of time until they found a new company which hardly covered any medical situations. The company also snakes their way around with their vendors. Banks and credit card companies drop them constantly because of unpaid bills or other unethical situations 50Below puts them in. I have had many challenges due to the morals of the company and the shady ways that issues are dealt with. There also is a major lack of communication between the departments and management with their teams. The last 3-4 weeks I worked at 50Below there was little to no work for entire departments. This has happened one other time within the short time I worked there. Employees get the runaround about why there is no work and we worry for their jobs. Aside from the times where work was very short, I feel that I was able to use my talent but only to a degree, a lot of my time was spent trying to work around the restrictions that are in place. There are cords hanging from desks and extremely outdated computers and software. The morale of the employees is extremely low. It is hard to even tell people I worked for 50 Below. With the news and talk of the company’s moral and financial situations, it was a very difficult place to work.