22 June 2021

Out of touch leadership needs work - lots of turnover. Tough place to advance

Anonymous employee

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CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Nice office environment, fun and hard working employees on the ground floor.

Cons

It is a very tough place to advance in your career. If you are looking to move upward and increase your earnings, you better be willing to fight for it. No consistency and constant straying from processes that employees have worked hard to put in place becomes very frustrating. Just when you think everything is ironed out, upper management makes exception after exception for clients, constantly putting employees in tough positions where they have to bite the bullet and do the extra work regardless. Management should be sticking up for their hard working employees, not throwing them under the bus. Benefits continue to dwindle, even though it's touted that they are are still in place. Lots of false promises. Significant amount of turnover makes it very hard to become a team and work as such.

MAKE Digital Group Response

Thank you for taking the time to share this review with our team. We’re always looking for feedback on ways we can improve and grow from both current and past employees, and you’ve given us a lot to consider. As we look to grow our agency, our team, and our clients, change is certainly inevitable, and there has definitely been a lot of growth for our agency in the past two years. This growth has required our staff to be very nimble on the processes and services we offer to ensure we’re meeting the needs of our clients, and we know that is not always easy. We’re very grateful to the client’s and team members who have pushed us to take on new services that we wouldn’t have normally offered as it led our agency to try new things, push new boundaries and add services that have been impactful to our client’s goals. As a small business living through the swift advancement that took place in marketing during COVID, we’re optimistic that our services have stayed cutting edge. We also believe that many of our employees have seen advancement in their careers just as quickly by being able to jump on board with the new needs of the company and carve out opportunities for themselves. As a Leadership Team, we’re very dedicated to investing in our people and the opportunities they’re passionate about, however, we know and respect that sometimes that means putting in extra work or pivoting a few more times than we’d like. We take special pride in rewarding those team members willing to put in the work as they advance their careers and our agency along with it. Thank you again for this review, and the reminder that we must always be thoughtful about the impact that our growth has on our team. We’ll continue to look forward to showing our team members support and opportunities as we continue to grow.

2.0

17 June 2021

Great potential stifled by poor leadership

Anonymous employee

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CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

MAKE has lots of really talented people doing the real client work, and business development efforts are effective in keeping work coming through the door.

Cons

The 2 executives who run the company don't listen to feedback from their working teams, and ultimately put them in positions to fail because of their disregard for the need for positive support. The benefits are also paltry despite their insistence that they are best-in-class. Things like maternity leave are handled very inconsistently as leadership tries to see how little they can get away with offering.

MAKE Digital Group Response

Thank you for the insightful feedback and perspective. It’s certainly been a season of change for MAKE over the last few years. Fortunately, the results of these changes have landed us in a position to be experiencing the highest client retention, project value, employee satisfaction, and growth opportunity than ever before. Unfortunately, we’ve certainly had to make some very difficult decisions as we continue to move MAKE forward. Outside of COVID related transitions, we’re happy with the substantial progress we have made in getting the right people in the right seats for the agency we want to become, but MAKE’s leadership is certainly not perfect in all aspects of helping advance the agency’s progress. And, we understand that not everyone thrives, let alone enjoys being in a constantly evolving work environment like that of a rapidly growing agency. Regarding benefits, while we are pleased to be able to offer things like flex hours (in office hours are 10a-4p), WFH Monday and Fridays, Unlimited PTO, health/vision/dental insurance, 401k matching, paid family leave, company sponsored lunches and more, we’d be crazy to promise that the benefits at MAKE are the absolute best in the industry. Though we would stack the average salary of MAKE employees against any other similarly sized business, Kansas City is fortunate to have lots of amazing organizations who have much more resources than us to provide in this area. Outside of the list mentioned above, one of the biggest benefits we can offer employees is the opportunity to help build something incredible, take new challenges head on, revel in the victories and find support in times of learning. As we continue to grow, we’re looking forward to adding additional benefits to all employees. We’re extremely appreciative of the contributions this ex-MAKEr made to the team while here, and for caring enough about MAKE to provide such valuable feedback. Wishing you the very best of success!

5.0

14 Jan 2020

Best place I've ever worked

Marketing director

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CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

MAKE is a great place for people who are looking to truly grow in their career. Because it is a small team with a vast variety of industries, clients, and projects, there is so much to learn and an endless amount of opportunity to shine as well as master new skills. The team at MAKE is amazing. Every person in every department is creative, smart, hardworking, dedicated, fun, and always looking for ways to improve both personally and professionally. The leadership team trusts its employees to be the experts. There is no micromanagement, yet there is the flexibility and transparency for continuing education or training if needed. Company owners sincerely care for their employees and are continuously looking for ways to make MAKE a great place to work - everything from hours of operation to benefits to project types to processes and tools. If you have a suggestion or a need, you are heard!

Cons

This atmosphere is not for the lazy. It is also not for people who like to work alone in silos - collaboration is greatly valued here. However, there is a high level of autonomy expected and because of this plus just the pace of agency life, some times can be crazy busy! Just another reason that being able to enjoy your coworkers is a great benefit of this work place. Work hard, play hard.