Two words: High turnover. The creative team (writers, strategists and designers) has been completely turned over twice in the last two years. When I started there were 5 of us. Within 1 year, they were all gone. One of them was fired on the spot simply for giving his two-week notice. After they were replaced, the brand new staff was almost completely turned over again before my departure!
When I first started, my new coworker at the time always said the managers there wouldn’t last a day in a real agency. Management style can only be described as juvenile and passive aggressive. After providing zero instruction, you are berated for not creating whatever management silently expects. While I was there, an Email Campaign Manager was yelled at for not catching copywriting mistakes when, as you can tell by the job title, he was not a copy editor. If anything goes wrong, the atmosphere is very tense and you can expect to receive passive aggressive remarks both in-person and via slack. The fact of the matter is no one knows how to communicate in a constructive way, which may be the cause of high turnover.
Competitive salary? Personally, I had to fight tooth and nail when my annual raise came up to get less than the industry average pay for the position I was promoted to. The writer who was fired for trying to give notice? He received a laughable annual raise, which I assume is the reason he found a new job in the first place. In retrospect, management probably should have seen that resignation coming.
Lack of feedback is a main concern. There is little said when you execute a campaign successfully, but worse, when management is unhappy about something, nothing is said at all. This is particularly unsettling when asking for help, feedback or new assignments. Instead, you'll receive nothing for your efforts, except maybe a notice of termination. The good news: No verbal or written warnings mean you will be eligible for Unemployment Benefits, if you decide to apply with the Texas Workforce Commission.
When a company is experiencing growth, you can expect opportunities to open up. This is not the case at 83Bar. Expect whatever position you are hired for to be the ceiling, especially if you have skills, the ability to learn quickly and ambition.
