Extreme workload, pressure + micromanagement - Anonymous employee Connective3 Employee Review

Only really have to go into the office once a month. You get 5 extra days of holiday as ‘wellbeing’ allowance. Good health care.

Where do I begin… It used to be a decent place to work, but over the past year or two it’s turned into a very hostile and toxic workplace,full of micromanagement, unrealistic expectations, and a company that’s losing sight on ethics and creative thinking. There’s also a massive drinking culture. Most people churn out ai slop (a lot of the managers, which is BAFFLING) which makes the workload for others who aren’t using it. Creative and critical thinking has gone. Training sessions are reruns and no new ways of thinking. Some recently promoted team members have a very toxic approach to ‘collaborating’ with other members of the team. Prepare to be micromanaged and be expected to spend all day everyday each month on accounts that should be two day retainers - the result? The rest of your work slips with it to. Unfortunately, this company fits the stereotype of having cliques, which makes it very hard to speak up or feel like you’ll find a place to fit in. 1-2-1s are very few and far between with your manager. They’re extremely overworked and don’t have time to lend support that’s really needed. We had a new head of people join the company a year ago, but we really haven’t had much support or change from them. The fun and friendly culture is just completely gone.

Used to be a bunch of really intelligent nice people here Perks such as vitality are great

If you want to pump out mediocre ai work you’re not proud of you’ll be a great fit here! Management promise ridiculous KPIs and then make you feel you’re inadequate at your job when you can’t attain them. I’m pumping out campaigns I’m really not proud of at an alarming rate as sometimes we have to turn campaign decks around in a week, which when you’ve got four other accounts, extra curricular stuff you’re expected to do and people to line manage is ridiculous. Management encourage you to mass email and spray and pray journalists which means you really hurt the relationship and your credibility as a PR, I don’t feel inspired by my manager as I feel like they encourage bad practices, we barely have 121s, and the advice I’ve been given to pass down to the team is really toxic. The team are always behind on the ‘future’ of the industry and don’t listen to you when you raise a point on this, then clamber for your advice when they see other agencies doing it. Oh and culture? When you come to interviews they’ll sell the dream but it’s dead. No one comes into the office anymore, you constantly feel like you’re under surveillance by HR, and they’ve just hired a load of robotic people that fit their ‘vision’ if you can call it that.