Enormous goodwill squandered and growth torpedoed by inexperienced, inadequate leadership
Pros
Casual dress code Dog friendly Free snacks and monthly lunch stipend Free monthly crate Great package of benefits to choose from Flexible work hours and ability to work from home when needed for some teams. Talented, friendly coworkers—many are true fans of the properties and partners we work with and have deep ties to the industries we operate in. Free yoga twice a week, and free access to an MMA gym next door. Opportunity to amass a mountain of experience within a very short time. New employees have to hit the ground running and before you know it, you'll have worked on five to ten substantial initiatives that you'd never have an opportunity to touch at a larger, more established company. You sink or swim here and it's a training ground for sharpening skills and getting some impressive work on your resume. I've made close friendships and meaningful professional ties that I'll maintain for life. Some of the managers and teams here are the best that I've ever worked with. Supportive, inspiring, innovative, fiercely intelligent, highly-skilled, open to mentoring and and cooperative. A diverse workforce that is more representative than usual for LA in terms of ethnicity, orientation, nationality, etc. The Finance team is smart and doing the best that they can in a terrible situation. Our support team is top-notch and saving us from a mass exodus of customers — for now.
Cons
The office is embarrassing — located in an industrial no mans land with little around it, no windows, standing water, moldy carpets, zero personality, and no space to operate. But I would forgive all that if it weren't for the following laundry list of cons: Backstabbing and anonymous trolling and harassment of women runs rampant. Some people have left Loot Crate over this. Not many training opportunities for employees. It varies by department, but needless to say, there's much more budget available for the execs to schmooze and party at high-profile conventions and events than there seems to be for investing in the rank-and-file employees to attend training or conferences relevant to building their skills. Some of the managers are among the least competent I've ever worked with. Ego-driven, name dropping, looking out for themselves, inexperienced in digital, seemingly in it for leadership perks like tickets and events, clocking in and out and being yes men, passing blame downhill, rather than rolling up their sleeves to work alongside their teams. Male dominated leadership culture that rewards the loudest, most assertive voice in any room, and rewards (male) employees who they can socialize with late at night. Anyone who provides a different viewpoint or who raises meaningful objection is written off as insubordinate or overreaching if they're not a VP or higher--and almost all VPs are male. Impulsive spending on pet initiatives that generate little return but which drain much-needed capital that should be invested elsewhere: executive offsites that cost $$$ but don't generate any change, digital games that nobody plays, marketing tactics to drive short term gains that damage relationships with our partners and subscribers, poor selection of 3rd party agencies to execute work that we later have to redo in-house on top of all our regular work. Refusal to acknowledge or believe in the subtle and pervasive bias in our workplace operating against the success of women here. Women are leaving across the board. Minimal communication from leadership about strategy around business decisions and no communication around results or how success will be measured. We find out about new initiatives the day a contract is signed, and then we all have to scramble against artificial deadlines and conflicting priorities to try to make it work. It's demoralizing and draining. All this would be fixed if leadership were on the same page, trusted its middle managers and employees, and communicated more clearly throughout the company. Why did we hire this agency? Why are we running this campaign? Why are we launching this new product? Why did you sign this partner? Nobody tells us a thing. We work with blinders on. Misunderstanding of (and lack of respect for) modern management and business practices from leaders who should be embracing them in a competitive e-commerce environment. Instead, we've installed "experienced" senior leadership using outdated management strategies learned from dying old-industry companies in the mistaken belief that what we need is more top-down decision makers. Confusing internal structure that leads to a lot of inefficiencies as teams replicate efforts and change focus so often that they have no idea who is responsible for what. Almost no learning from past work or mistakes, so we are doomed to repeat them in new ways.