Steven Pope likes to say that they are an education company that happens to be an agency. Instead, they are a sales company masquerading as an agency.
I would give it 2 stars, but I am going for 1/5 to balance things out, as I know how hard the company works at removing anything negative about them online.
So about the cons
- Dystopian levels of toxicity in the workplace. Every single smile in the company is fake and you have to be very gullible not to notice that. Everyone wears a mask. Pretending that they are enjoying themselves, while they can't wait to move on. It's such a stereotypical toxic corporate environment that it's downright comical at times.
Some people join and in the first month they ignore the red flags and think that they found an employment heaven. 2 months later they are broken and end up crying.
None of this is surprising of course, as everyone including the top management is afraid to speak their mind because they know they can get deleted over night.
- They will expect you to work overtime without saying it. Then they will tell you that you shouldn't work too much overtime, but what they really mean is don't track too much time.
Truth is, they pressure you into working without time tracking, so that new arrivals aren't freaked out by the time tracking stats. But make no mistake, you will be expected to work more than the agreed hours constantly. You can easily confirm this by checking the calendar and activity levels of other employees at your position.
- There is no candor at all at the company. They will lie to you, or delete you overnight if you are seen as a "troublemaker". The troublemaker is anyone who has anything to say about some of the horrible practices at the company. I've seen more than 15 people in managerial positions fired overnight, without ever getting the chance to explain their position or say goodbye to their former colleagues.
- The clients are routinely lied to by the sales, after which a BM has to deal with that client and set expectations all over again. To make things worse, someone will delete the problematic correspondence with the client, so you complaining about it will make it seem like you are a problem.
Take screenshots, record everything, act quickly, but don't expect too much. Only the veteran senior managers have the guts to stick up for their employees, but those are a rare breed, and you won't find too many at MAG. This is also by design I imagine.
-Once they decide to fire you, they give you a Performance Improvement Plan, or a "PIP", which serves 2 purposes.
1. It is meant to push the narrative that you are being fired for your performance, even though they might have other reasons for it and you were praised for your performance up until recently.
2. It is also used as proof that people who perform badly are given a chance, but the company has data that shows that this never works.
They do their best to make those 2 weeks miserable for you, and if you try to use their "open door policy" and reach out to the top guy, they will fire you on spot and break the 2 week PIP rule. Everything to shut you up.
Do I suggest working at MAG? Actually I do, but only if you are new to Amazon and not looking for a long term employment opportunity. You will learn a ton, and after a few months working at MAG all of your other jobs will look enjoyable and easy in comparison.
Just don't expect to change anything, and don't give them ideas how to make lives for future employees more miserable. You are only there temporarily, so don't share too much of your knowledge right away.
The HR and the open door policy are not there to help you, they exist to have you report on yourself and give them an idea of when to fire you.
Don't try to fix things. The things you see as broken are by design. Toxicity is not a bug, it's a feature.
