Pros
On the surface, Boston Interactive is a decent company. It’s small, with a friendly and intelligent staff. The office is comfortable, though remote, and the pay is steady. Being as small as it is, Boston Interactive is a solid option for those who are new in the industry to get a foot in the door. In fact, most people who work there are on their first job out of college, with the exception of managers.
Cons
Taking a closer look, the reason Boston Interactive is made up of new talent is because they are unable to retain employees. Each year, the CEO promises that the company is "poised to explode,” which follows a predictable pattern of new hires followed by mass departures the following year. This most recent year was the worst on record, with a 60% staff loss. People seem to leave once they grasp how dry and repetitive the projects are, and how little career growth the company offers. Client losses and an unsustainable business model also play a role. Those that have the misfortune of staying longer will find that promotions don’t come with training or responsibility, but with more overall work, leading to unskilled managers and employee burn out. The company also attaches a high value to project hours, cutting corners to bring projects in under budget, while also encouraging employees to work unpaid overtime as a sign of dedication. That’s a hard balance to strike. The CEO requires employees to be in the office every day without fail, which became a problem last winter when blizzards closed roads and trains. We still had to come in to do work that could easily have been done from home. The CEO also heads the sales team, using his buddy network to bring in high-paying but mundane clients in the same five industries (medical, law, education, software, technology) again and again. Another reviewer mentioned the CEO as having an “evolving vision,” but in my time there, I saw no clear vision for the company at all, just to make a profit. Any change in the company was the result of sales losses. I never saw him give his respect or admiration to anyone, unless you were one of his obedient favorites. In fact, he would often resort to name-calling if he didn’t agree with someone’s opinion. Turnover is interesting at Boston Interactive, where employees are often “encouraged” to quit, or are “phased out” when they try to initiate change. The resulting conflict always results in bad blood, particularly with all the ex-managers. The recent mass layoff, mentioned in other reviews, was caused by a big dip in sales, with clients coming to recognize Boston Interactive’s high-priced but low-quality offering in the digital space. The CEO is undoubtedly trying a bit of damage control with some of the positive reviews you see here. Burning bridges with employees is second nature to him, which is why employee contracts now have a non-defamatory clause. So think of all the negative reviews you’re not seeing. In short, Boston Interactive is a small company trying desperately to grow, without the foundation to support it. It can only try and fail so many times before it collapses completely. The CEO is driven by his ego rather than a desire to do good or interesting work. The niche he’s carved in the digital industry, of creating custom brochure websites at a high cost, is a rapidly shrinking one, and his inability to evolve and improve is only going to lead to the downfall of his company. I would expect that to be soon.
