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Archer Communications

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Steady Downward Spiral - Anonymous employee Archer Communications Employee Review

2.0
5 Mar 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They recognize and will hire talent when they see it. Small agency with a very informal, laid-back environment. Loose dress code. The creative staff is close, and has/had a lot of fun together. At one point, the company had a collection of amazingly talented, passionate staff.

Cons

They underpay and overwork their talent, instead of nurturing them as their greatest asset. When you bring up salary, you're told "it's no better 'out there' than it is in here" - which is a blatant lie as you can elsewhere easily make twice as much as they'll offer you. Management can be awkward, inappropriate, and inconsiderate. Project management is non-existent. Project planning is non-existent. Almost every project ends up over-budget in terms of cost and time, clients end up frustrated and upset - and management pins blame on the creative staff. You will be flat-out told to "cut corners" and sacrifice quality. The CEO operates as the company's HR department, is responsible for half the problems himself, and won't be of any real help in any situation. As a designer, you will be given almost no creative control over your work. You will be intensely micromanaged. Management will have you iterate work repeatedly (every time removing more of your ideas and forcing you to insert more of their ideas) before the client even sees it once. You will come to feel merely like an extra pair of hands, pushing pixels, creating things that feel stale and forced. It's crushing. They say they want to change, and even at times appear to be making changes, but it is always a very shallow, surfacey effort and within weeks, things fall back into a chaotic, unmanageable tangle. There is no real accountability within management for the state of the company - and as such, it continues to spiral.

Explore other reviews about Archer Communications

5.0
30 Oct 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Client centered Progressive Good work atmosphere Flexible Interesting clients

Cons

Small business Turnover Can be intense at times Office politics per usual Just moved

2.0
9 Apr 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company is small, creative team is close knit and friendly.

Cons

Management tries to run the company like a production house when they run it at all. Artificial deadlines to push employees to work overtime, often employess aren't told about projects until it's already too late to meet their deadline, and no one in upper management takes responsibility for their actions or the changes that need to happen. Everything is always "better than it used to be" and "people don't understand" how hard it is to make changes.

5
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