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      Essential Engine

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      Essential Engine Reviews

      3.4

      60% would recommend to a friend

      (67 total reviews)
      avatar

      Dan Zdon

      80% approve of CEO

      57% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.9

      Diversity and inclusion

      3.6

      Culture and values

      3.6

      Work/Life balance

      3.6

      Compensation and benefits

      3.4

      Senior management

      2.9

      Career opportunities

      Essential Engine has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 67 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Essential Engine employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      67 reviews
      1.0
      21 Mar 2019

      Don't give them a try

      Account manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      They other account managers as well as the client success reps were great. Good equipment and good support from accounting, IT and HR. The President, Dan...he is an amazing guy

      Cons

      Horrible upper management. I have never been told after asking for help, that I need to go and figure it out. Why have "leaders" if they cannot provide any sort of assistance, ideas, help. Be ready to make constant changes and they don't care to hear what's working and what's not. Rules can be broken but only if you are producing and are a robot to those higher ups

      avatar
      Essential Engine Response
      7y
      First, we want to thank this individual for their feedback, and we are sorry you did not enjoy working at Five Star. Please note, the title of this individual was "Account Manager" - which includes the word "Manager." Five Star expects Account Managers to manager their days, manage their calls, and manage their clients. We do indeed expect an Account Manager to figure things out on their own. This doesn't mean we won't provide feedback or input on ideas the Account Manager is looking to implement. To the contrary, we would be happy to provide input on ways to solve problems, but it is the Account Manager who is responsible for ultimately figuring things out. We do have structure in our sales presentations to help deliver a consistent client experience, but that does not mean an individual Account Manager can't use their own discretion. We actively encourage Account Managers to share with others what is working, and what they are struggling with in an attempt to improve everyone's performance. Again, we are sorry this individual did not enjoy working at Five Star, and didn't like the freedom to figure things out on their own. We wish them the best in a position that is a better fit for their skills and work environment.
      1.0
      23 Feb 2016

      Account Manager

      Account manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Nice physical space to work in Nice Co Workers

      Cons

      Terrible managment Terrible marketing Zero creativity Fake wanna be culture Failure to see just how toxic of an enviroment they have Failure to recognize that just because people dont speak up doesnt mean they are happy Heading down hill in a hurry

      avatar
      Essential Engine Response
      9y
      Thank you for taking time to note issues we need to address. I'm happy to say that as of Jan 2017, many of these issues have seen significant change and improvement. A number of changes have been made at senior management levels to improve and deepen the management talent. We recognized in 2016 that the culture of the organization was a problem, and have been actively working to change and improve that culture. We don't claim to have all of the issues solved (we always will work to improve) but the culture as of January 2017 is much different, and much better, than it was in Feb 2016. One of our CEO's objectives for the company is to be a top 150 place to work in the Twin Cities. This won't happen overnight, but we do have a clear strategy and action plan to make it happen within the next year! Sales management includes meeting with the sales manager one on one with the sales manager on a bi-weekly basis to review goals and performance, identify tools, training, and techniques to make every account manager more successful. We are a fast changing organization, so while this review reflected the former employees opinion, it is quite old and doesn't reflect the reality today.
      1.0
      20 Apr 2015

      CEO was fired - what's really going on behind the scenes there?

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      The daily work tasks are incredibly easy and most of the people there are genuinely great to work with.

      Cons

      You are expected to work over 40 hours a week with no offered compensation. It's one shade away from a pyramid scheme. The products are a scam. You can be considered a "late add winner" well after the period for taking research forms closes if you want to purchase additional items. No refund policy after 3 days of purchase. All in all, make sure you do your research before a company calls you and says "congratulations!"

      avatar
      Essential Engine Response
      9y
      Thank you for taking time to make a review. Since 2015, we have addressed issues with senior management and have a much deeper bench of management talent. There are many reasons why an employee may leave on their own, or be asked to leave a company. This happens from entry level positions, all the way to the CEO of an organization. We respect the privacy of all of our employees so we can't respond to the reviewer’s specific comments about individuals or titles. We can say that we live by 5 core values - Trustworthy, Agile, Team Player, Dedicated, and Client Focused. We adhere to all overtime rules - if you are a non-exempt employee (hourly) then you are paid overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a given week. This is the law and we absolutely follow it. We also admit that we failed you as an employee, as you did not understand the research process that is used to identify award winners. This communication process is something that has definitely been fixed and all employees now have a much better understanding of our research process. We are sorry we failed you in this regard and wish you the best in your future endeavors.
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      ReviewsEssential Engine reviews

      Glassdoor has 69 Essential Engine reviews submitted anonymously by Essential Engine employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Essential Engine is right for you.