Sullivan Reviews

3.9

70% would recommend to a friend

(83 total reviews)

Barbara Apple Sullivan

73% approve of CEO

69% positive business outlook

Sullivan has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 83 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sullivan 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

83 reviews
1.0
19 Jan 2019

Toxic, dysfunctional work environment.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Intelligent, friendly, down-to-earth junior staff. Intellectual culture. Beautiful view (now blocked by construction).

Cons

Senior management trashes employees in open work spaces. Expected responsibilities are constantly changing. Emotionally and verbally abusive CEO. Stingy benefits. Management has no problem making disliked employees feel unwelcome. Company considers itself digitally forward-facing, but primarily creates pamphlets and slogans. Unfriendly and cliquey Overall a bad time, would not recommend.

2.0
24 Oct 2018

Wish I knew this before joining!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-if you are favored by senior leadership, you have the potential to rise through the ranks very quickly with the opportunity to hold a lot of responsibility. -if you need to get your foot in the door in strategy and need the title bump, this place can be a good move or start. -junior people are amazing to work with, and a lot of them are very bright. -snacks and drinks on Thursdays! -decent hours compared to many other agencies. -higher pay for the industry. -nice location. -people respect your time off which is not always the norm within the industry. New time management system helps that even more. -office closes between Christmas and New Years.

Cons

-HR asks people to write fake positive reviews on glassdoor and often pressures people to remove negative reviews! -strategy is not real brand strategy. It is only glorified project management and proofreading. -senior leadership cannot get along. They fight like cats and dogs about every single thing, making it impossible to do anything or get anything approved. Many times, junior people are also put in the middle of the fight. -senior leadership cannot make confident decisions and often have diva-like attitudes. -no creativity or willingness to change within senior leadership and the company, despite constant talk of changing and evolving. -The CEO is not able to contribute in an impactful and meaningful way, so instead she simply yells at and pressures employees without offering any solution or any help. Previous reviews mentioning how she only pressures people and is a better place without her is true. -feels like the company could grow and do better financially if it weren’t held back by those at the very top. -Boring clients, even for B2B. -very poor maternity leave and benefits. -digital capabilities are lacking. The company likes to think of itself as tech-forward and digital-first but makes mostly paper brochures, in actuality. -even the nice view of the Hudson is now getting blocked by noisy construction. -creatives are resourced solely according to availability, rather than getting to know a client or an industry. Tendency to treat creatives as only being able to do one skill, and does not offer them diversity in projects and skills. -heavy favoritism.

1.0
18 July 2018

Toxic environment

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The bar is set incredibly low by underperforming individuals who have been there for 10+ years

Cons

Catty environment with so much hallway whispering that leadership thinks it’s normal. Leadership promotes a negative work environment and neglects to improve culture. I have witnessed leadership go as far as having negative Glassdoor reviews removed- true story. No 401k. Below industry average pay. No maternity or paternity leave despite being a woman owned company (embarrassing). They say they are flexible with working from home but that’s not at all the reality. They track when employees come in and use that and working from home as a way of punishing employees.

avatar
Sullivan Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback. We deeply value the culture of our firm and take the opinions of our current and former employees very seriously. As I’m sure you’re aware, Glassdoor has strict policies around removing negative reviews so that is outside of our control. We regret that you were not aware of the 401k plan or the maternity/ paternity leave policies that are in place at Sullivan. We will work to ensure that all employees and new hires are fully apprised of our benefits. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to our Director of People at people@sullivannyc.com
Viewing 1 - 3 of 83 Reviews

Glassdoor has 88 Sullivan reviews submitted anonymously by Sullivan employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sullivan is right for you.