Pros
- The attorneys here are great - one in particular - Managing Partner Russ Higgins, was an absolute blast to work with. He is the antithesis of the actual culture and a breath of fresh air. - You can cross the street to a nice mall to try to forget about the miserable job you've settled for. - Meet tons of new people, as they join and leave the company in record time.
Cons
- Culture of Micromanagement - I was routinely asked to micromanage my employees. This was particularly evident when my approach to management (see: good person, wants others to succeed) began leading to noticeable performance and morale gains. I was routinely bullied by my manager, who while doing very little work, would criticize my work without even looking at it. See: standing over my desk as I respond to a Yelp review, saying I should reword what I was typing, even though he had no idea what I was responding to. I can't make this up. There are literally 30+ examples of this, just by my direct manager, but, unless ya'll want to set up a GoFundMe for my therapy sessions, I don't want to relive them all! - Culture of Passive Aggressive Snakes - My director-level manager routinely stole my ideas (was told by multiple people) and would belittle and 'poison the well' among his managers, particularly with our LLC's 'COO’ He managed his departments as if he was was managing a retail store. No motivation, no inspiration, no support, no trust, no innovation. Before I started, he was having my team literally spy on each other and report back to him what the other members were doing wrong. He openly bragged about his 3 thousand dollar monitor screen while my team was given some of the cheapest headsets available on Amazon. I knew I had to leave when our LLC's 'COO', his manager, told me that I was not allowed to disagree with him (no matter how polite or professional) in front of other people. My only hope in staying was that the cultural sickness didn't extend into upper management, but, alas, the truth is the truth. - Don't Get Sick Benefit Plan - PTO and sick time are bundled and yet are still less than .033 per hour (combined!). Working an entire month (160 hours) meant that you got just over 5 hours PTO and sick time. This is California, not Malaysia. Don't get sick, don't take PTO, and, above all, don't ask for UPTO. Company provided the bare minimum of holidays - believe it was 7 for the year. My manager told me I was eligible for a cell phone credit since I used my personal phone during the work day. Great right? He then tried to tell me that I had to monitor my emails at all hours - including before work, after work, and on the weekends to qualify. When I told him, as an hourly employee, that asking me to be available at all hours was illegal, he said 'Fine! You won't get the benefit!" and stormed off like a child. - Culture of Bullying - Manager would bully both myself and others - once he yelled in the middle of the office that I was late even though I was early. He would scream and point at me that I was stressed because my neck was red. Not only was his behavior unprofessional, but it was intentionally mean-spirited and belittling. Truly an insecure snake who, hopefully, never manages to slither any higher. - Terrible Management - Owner/founder is not fit to effectively manage a performance-driven company. He routinely favors people he can trust (see: snakes and yes men) in favor of actual high-performing employees who have the courage to fight for the best idea and have positive conflicts. Top-down management actively embedded fear and mistrust, causing extremely high turnover. When I realized that I would have to become a snake to succeed here, I knew I had to leave while I still had a soul.