Imagination Publishing Reviews

Worst corporate culture I have ever experienced. It's like high school or Mean Girls or both. No one addresses problems head on, people gossip behind each others' backs... and the gossip makes it back to upper management. It would be one thing if it was just office gossip... but these whisperings affect raises/promotions/career trajectory and more. Senior staff pit co-workers against each other. New business is more important than existing client relationships. Clients are always more important than staff. IP has *many* talented people on staff, success here has nothing to do with talent. Success depends on shmoozing with the right people, and sucking up to the CEO. An example? Your first year, you are "strongly encouraged" to write a thank you note to the CEO at Christmas for the privilege of working there. Oh, and if you think "I was popular in High School, I can figure out how to make this culture work for me" ... a word of warning. IP is famous for falling in love with an employee, talking up how amazing they are, giving them public accolades, and then firing them within six months.

The C-Suite, if you want to call it that, is completely inept. Jim Meyers essentially makes all business decisions based on his ego, routinely ignoring pleas from everyone around him and bullying his staff. Because of that, clients walk all over the company and Imagination is usually pouring its own money and labor well beyond scope. The people who suffer most from this are the people executing the work who are rarely rewarded for their efforts. Jim loves to force staff members into hour long-plus meetings where he can brag about meeting some CEO who impressed him or some book he read on thought leadership and how this epiphany is creating innovation at his company that never comes into play. It usually consists of some self-flattering grand gesture rather than something tangible, you know, like providing actual raises or bonuses. You won't get any of those, by the way, except literally a $100 bill in an envelope at Christmas and a party at the dive bar next door. I have friends who are admins who are treated better than this company treats senior level staff. Upwards mobility is a joke. The company is always "restructuring" and now doing quarterly reviews to create bogus titles as a way of skirting raises. Reviews would be great if they involved any reward but usually just result in more paperwork for already overworked employees. Jim doesn't understand digital, so if you talk great game about digital and use excessive buzzwords, you'll be a company favorite. Nevermind if you work on things that actually make them money or gain recognition. Oh, did I even mention work yet? You'll be expected to answer emails and calls 24/7, and on vacation. This is because they're so understaffed and unwilling to hire replacements that you'll be the only one capable of handling a project. I don't really understand how you can go above and beyond when everyone is already tasked with ridiculous feats every day. Office politics here are painfully toxic. The upside is the turnover is so frequent that the person being a jerk to you today likely won't be there the same time next year.