Good Clients, Low Pay - Freelance Writer Third Bridge Creative Employee Review

This Brooklyn-based company works with several major tech firms who outsource their editorial content. The managers I've worked with are efficient in establishing workflows and friendly and professional in their correspondence (which is all e-mail, and no phone). Payments take a while to process but they eventually come through.

There's definitely an assembly line feel to the assignment and editing process. Pay is on the low side, though not unreasonably so. One wonders how much of a commission they're taking from the tech companies.

The freelancers they work with are generally amazingly talented and dedicated, as are many of the FT staff. Exciting clients.

Third Bridge has tons of potential that it is struggling to realize due to poor leadership. There is a complete lack of transparency in senior management, and egos get in the way of empowering and supporting others. There is no human resources so zero accountability for fair, ethical treatment of FT employees or freelancers. Micromanaging is standard, and senior management gossip (share sensitive information) about other employees and make no effort to hide it. At one point during a discussion about a change to the freelancer payment structure that would have resulted in a small decrease in their earnings per assignment, a member of senior management suggested that there may be no need to tell the affected freelancers about the change since they were unlikely to notice the decrease. There is regular bullying (references to "other people" having negative opinions of an individual) and gaslighting (refusal to acknowledge or address conflict or missteps) behavior from those with the most influence and power. They are determined to waste the loyalty and hard work of people who have supported their growth.