Pros
– Good stepping stone for graduates/interns looking to start out in editorial/publishing space - Various social activities for staff to get involved in outside of work hours - Interesting work to get involved in, in a niche space - 1hr lunch
Cons
- Senior Management lack basic leadership skills/experience - Dated management style, tangible ‘them and us’ divide between senior management and rest of workforce - Inflexible hours, staff generally not trusted to manage their own time/workload (below Senior management level) and are micromanaged extensively (at all levels) - VERY high staff turnover for business of its size; large proportion of staff do not stay long, are terminated prior to passing probation or are ‘nudged’ to resign by management Significant emphasis is placed on new recruits having ‘the Adam Matthew character’, this phrase is used extensively in the office and creates a peculiar culture whereby staff must all conform to a particular set of behaviours/attitudes that, to this day, remain undefined. I am unable to articulate what the ‘Adam Matthew character’ is, but I can confirm that staff have had their contracts terminated due not having the correct ‘character/personality’ that management deems necessary for recruits to be successful in their roles. Being shy is not one of the desirable attributes, and nor is suffering from any kind of mental health issue such as stress/anxiety. This toxicity and medieval mindset are, unfortunately, deeply rooted at the very top of the management chain and I have seen no attempts to try to rectify this; it is very much a case of 'put up and shut up' or you are out. I would advise anyone to think carefully before resigning a role to start at Adam Matthew Digital and really weigh up the risk, I have seen multiple instances where contracts have been terminated or staff pushed to resign (mostly prior to probation being passed), resulting in them being made unemployed with no legal rights to contest their treatment. I would urge anyone thinking about joining to ask about how the vacancy they are interested in first became available, how long the last employee was in it and the reasons why they left or were terminated.