Stay Away - Anonymous employee PAN Communications Employee Review

2.0
13 July 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Convenient location close to public transit.

Cons

This is the least creative agency I’ve ever worked at. Not a single interesting idea comes from anyone in leadership, and if your title is not high enough, you will not be listened to whatsoever. Clients are boring, yet team leads are mysteriously inclined to over-service them for whatever reason. Another mystery…there are people who have been there for years on end, and they are often the same people who are first to pull a stale idea to share with clients before they make the junior staff actually follow through on their empty (and boring) client promises. The CEO is a raging narcissist who not only named the agency after himself, but is the first to show his face at a party or celebrate work that he had nothing to do with. Staff development is a joke and offers no real information on how to better service clients, or become better communicators.

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PAN Communications Response
4y
Thank you for your contributions during your time at PAN, and for taking the time to leave a review! It is unfortunate to hear that you felt creativity was lacking overall, as we put a lot of time and effort into promoting creative thinking – through creative brainstorms, to trainings, to sharing successes/learnings across our client programs. We also work to celebrate creativity through agency and industry awards as we know being creative is critical to our success. We are proud of our client roster, and the work we do. To that end, that pride starts at the top with our CEO, Phil Nardone. He is proud to celebrate the work that’s coming out of PAN and to show his gratitude and excitement to both the PAN team and our clients who worked hard to make it happen. In my experience, Phil goes above and beyond to celebrate our teams’ successes – whether that’s attending an event or taking time to send congratulatory emails to our teams on a job well done. Regarding transparency, that is certainly an ongoing goal of ours, so we appreciate your feedback there. We do strive to be transparent about everything from revenue goals, to promotion pathways, to strategic agency goals. However, we recognize there is always more we can do to share and engage our teams. We appreciate your feedback here and wish you all the best in your next role. Best, Darlene Doyle, Chief Client Officer

Explore other reviews about PAN Communications

5.0
17 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I’ve worked at several agencies throughout my career, and I can say without a doubt that PAN has the best agency culture. The leadership team brings a thoughtful, people-first mindset that prioritizes employees, and I think it trickles down across the organization to create a positive, supportive environment. A couple of positives of working at PAN: - The HyFlex model (virtual with optional in-office access) is a huge benefi; it supports a range of working styles, whether people prefer being at home, coming in occasionally, or working while traveling. - Every employee has a slow, strategic onboarding experience that makes sure you feel confident about the agency and your role before fully stepping into client work. - Unlimited PTO, with a culture that actually encourages taking time off. - The people are fantastic! Some of the best talent in the industry, and a very collaborative group. - Strong employee retention! People come to PAN and stay for a long time, with tenures well above the typical agency average.

Cons

It's an agency so there's always ups and downs, but I truly love working here and would (and have been) recommending everyone I know to come here.

1.0
3 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* most of the people are great, really care about each other; I’m talking specifically about the teams, not VP and above * hybrid work model

Cons

* since I joined more than 8 years ago the culture has significantly dropped off; it used to be a close-knit community and now it feels like a meat market where no one knows each other, people are just hired or promoted to fill voids left by the large amount of amazing talent that has been laid off or left as a result of their relationships to those laid off * So many amazing people were laid off and I feel like we would have been better off if management had a good business sense and kept those that brought real value to the company. Too much talk of salary to revenue ratio as the reason for layoffs yet family members and non-revenue generating people are still in place at the expense of those that actually contributed * Top heavy with no real contributions from those making the big salaries * Take whatever business we can; their only concern is revenue and if the firm is growing at a rate deemed acceptable by the CEO (whose perspective is from years ago when the market was 180 degrees different) and management who just want to sell the firm and retire

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