Pros
- Nice office space. - Good entry-level experience and exposure to many clients across many industries (team dependent). - Decent promotion structure, up to a certain point (see cons). - Robust training for entry-level work. - Opportunity to meet great people and make new friends. - Work-life balance can be good (team dependent, see cons).
Cons
- Layoffs. Very common here and come out of nowhere with no prior communication or warning. Even if you survive layoffs, you will not hear a peep from the Executive Leadership Team and you are expected to act like nothing happened. On the topic of layoffs, in the past, if you were a Director/Sr. Director/VP, you were pretty much always safe from any type of layoff no matter your performance. However, that seems to not be the case anymore. Potentially a pro, rather? Anyway, if you’re not a Director/Sr. Director/VP, no matter your performance, loyalty, or tenure, you are eligible to be laid off and likely will be at some point. - The Executive Leadership Team acts childish and standoffish to other employees. There is very little communication about the company and its goals, processes, etc. Where there is communication in “all hands meetings,” it is mostly just ego-stroking and calling attention to “top performers,” who happen to be the same exact people every single quarter, with no appreciation or recognition for people who are doing great work. Those “top performers” are usually just people who have been at the company for 10+ years and are buddy-buddy with the Executive Leadership Team. Also, it is common practice for the Executive Leadership Team to insult, berate, and talk bad about previous employees in front of the whole company at these meetings. - More on treatment of employees by the Executive Leadership Team: if you cozy-up to them, then you become their favorite. If you don’t, then that’s where the toxic behavior comes in; if they decide they don’t like you for whatever reason, you will be outcast. If you miss any company events for whatever reason, you are looked down on. If you put in your two weeks or announce that you are leaving, you are given the cold shoulder and are pushed out hard, no matter the work you did for the company. You receive zero appreciation for your time or work and are encouraged to keep it a secret and not tell anyone anything. That also stands for someone else leaving. You are strongly pushed to keep quiet about people leaving the company for any reason and you are scrutinized if you openly speak about it. - As stated in the pros, promotion structure is decent. However, as soon as you reach a certain point within your team, you cannot progress further and you are stuck. Very rarely does one get an opportunity to become an Account Supervisor or Account/Channel Director. There is really no incentive to progress, if you can, and development dries up very quickly, especially when you’re not paid accordingly. When internal positions do come up, unless you are an Executive Leadership Team favorite, you are overlooked and passed up. Further discouraging growth and loyalty. - Speaking of pay, salaries are not competitive at all at Booyah. Insultingly low for Coordinators, and not great for Account Managers/Strategists. Other local agencies are much more competitive with compensation. The benefits aren’t good enough to offset the low pay either. Earned raises are pitiful, if you even get one. If you have a good manager, then they will fight for you, but this usually just means begging the Executive Leadership Team, no matter what you have accomplished in your work or your contributions to the company. If you ask for a raise, the Executive Leadership Team will either delay their "decision" until you stop pushing for it or they will blame it on the "promotion cycle" and how they can't give out raises until promotions are due. - On top of low pay, the company spends a bunch of money on company events which are supposed to be fun, but usually come off as completely tone deaf, especially in the wake of denying raises or people getting laid off. - If you want to be appreciated and recognized for your hard work, this company isn’t for you. Unless you have a good manager or you do something personally for someone on the Executive Leadership Team, you likely will be overlooked constantly and never acknowledged. Again, discouraging growth and development. - Depending on the team you are on, you may be assigned very poor-quality clients. Clients who have impossible expectations, extremely limited budgets, or complex backend requirements. Then, when the client inevitably leaves, you are to blame. It seems that Booyah will take any client no matter what, even to the detriment of the company and its employees. - Finally, work-life balance and PTO. Work-life balance will be terrible if you’re on a team with any remotely “big” clients. Overcomplicated procedures, meetings, etc. will keep you constantly burned out for absolutely no reason. If you personally manage some smaller clients, then you can almost operate independently and have a good work-life balance. Unlimited PTO seems great, but once you take more than about 10 days in a calendar year, not even all at once, you are scrutinized. Even if you do amazing work and contribute heavily to any company revenue. PTO during holidays is also frowned upon, even if you have a large team to handle your absence. You can expect long hours and an overload of work if you are in a Coordinator position, but you won’t be paid fairly for it.