ParksByNature Network Reviews

Where to begin? To avoid paying payroll taxes, health benefits, etc., PBN primarily hires "freelancers," thus shouldering their staff of young, 20-somethings with these expenses and little money from their paychecks to pay them with. These "freelancers" cannot work remotely; instead PBN requires "freelancers" work 40 hours/week at their office using PBN-supplied equipment (certainly reminiscent of the recent Uber/California Dept. of Labor ruling). This means that come tax time, you as "freelancer" cannot write off business equipment, etc. While PBN may lure you in with the promise that "freelancing" will only last a short time, it will most likely last for months on end. During these long months, you will take on numerous projects and responsibilities, and although you will feel like a full employee, you are not. PTO? Non-existent. Whether you're a freelancer or a newly anointed employee, the company's unspoken policy is you must make up any time off over the coming weeks. "Working off" your "time off" translates to days (and sometimes weeks) of long hours and a nagging feeling of indentured servitude. If you stick around long enough to graduate to employee, you will not be offered health benefits and PTO will be 6 - 7 measly days that kick in after 6 months more of being at PBN. Your new employee salary will jump a tiny bit, but not enough for you to make a significant dent in all the taxes you owe from the past months working (or is it slaving?) as a "freelancer." In addition to these unspoken workplace horrors, Management does not foster community or team-building. Since Management aims to sell the company off to the highest bidder as soon as they can, their heart is not in creating and sustaining a meaningful, supportive, respectful workplace. Keeping freelancers and employees overworked and isolated ensures that staff do not unite &/or share their grievances about PBN's treatment of employees.

Probably one of the worst jobs I ever had.