Vitro Agency Reviews

3.3

51% would recommend to a friend

(98 total reviews)

John Vitro

67% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Vitro Agency has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 98 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Vitro Agency 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

98 reviews
1.0
19 May 2016

Abusive Management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You can bring your dog to work. The hours aren't so bad. Free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Free beer on Thursdays.

Cons

First of all, I'd like to thank Glassdoor for giving us the opportunity to speak out against the true nature of this place. It used to be that employers like John Vitro could get away with their abusive behavior. Not anymore. Here's the deal. John knows that the agency has no competition in San Diego and he uses it to his advantage. When he interviews you, he'll be very charming. But as soon as you move to San Diego he knows you're trapped and the verbal and emotional abuse will begin. If you accept a job here, expect nasty emails, finger-pointing, rumor-mongering, back-stabbing, yelling and non-stop insults. No matter how hard you try, no matter how good your work is, no matter how happy your clients are, John will make you feel completely worthless. The turnover rate in the creative department is higher than any place I've ever been. The only creatives that remain are people who have been so beaten down by John, they've lost their self esteem. They are like battered women who stay with their abusive husbands. It's truly horrible how John treats people. But he owns the agency, so he does whatever he pleases.

1.0
3 May 2016

No Reason to Work Here

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- New hires have ambition and bright ideas for at least a little when they start working there

Cons

Rather than start a rant, I'll simply list off actual facts and events witnessed while working here: - Although they claim that producing great work is the end-all be-all, most creatives only produced microsites, brochures or banners. - Although late night and weekend work is constantly expected, not once was food or drink provided nor can you ever expense cabs - Vitro literally would work an employee until he had heart problems and had to go to the hospital (multiple times!) and even after he got back from the hospital, his workload remained the same. - When an employee asked for his contractual bonys after being let go, they paid him thousands of dollars in pennies! - When a client asked for a female creative, Vitro hired one, moved her across the country and after the client was appeased 6 months later, they fired the poor woman. - They would lay people off and give them ZERO severance because by California state law, they "didn't have to." - Every 6 weeks you go offsite for a meeting where they tell you what you're doing wrong as a creative department. - They don't even have a coke machine. - There is a constant, lingering nervousness in the air due to the fact that John Vitro will fire someone strictly due to his whimsy that day. - To keep account people from leaving, they are constantly promoting, creating employees that don't have enough experience for their new position. - They fired someone during a pitch, then proceeded to win the pitch with that person's idea - There isn't one room where creatives can go to work in silence - Creative Directors don't make ideas better, they simply kill them. The process repeats itself until the night before the assignment is due.

1.0
22 June 2016

Welcome to Hell

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great location with some good places to eat , hard working junior and mid-level creatives, some of the people are nice.

Cons

It's really messed up place. Run away if you ever get hit up by a recruiter from Vitro. I didn't...I saw they had some decent accounts and the opportunity to work on TV. Very abusive management. Don't get on John's or any of the ECDs radars or you'll be verbally abused then fired. The place is run completely by fear. The last minute changes and unnecessary re-work because of the upper-level creatives whims are the norm. You won't get to work on good project and if you do, your ideas will get stolen by the ECDs. You will NOT have a life. There is no work/life balance. I once saw them keep a junior designer working on a rush project for 2 days straight. And the worst part is some of the people buy into this mentality, sort of like an abused wife who defends her husband who just gave her a black eyes. It almost become like a badge of honor of who can spend the most hours working.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 98 Reviews

Glassdoor has 99 Vitro Agency reviews submitted anonymously by Vitro Agency employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Vitro Agency is right for you.