PHOS Creative Reviews

4.6

87% would recommend to a friend

(17 total reviews)

Brandon West

87% approve of CEO

87% positive business outlook

PHOS Creative has an employee rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars, based on 17 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The PHOS Creative employee rating is 24% above average for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

17 reviews
2.0
23 Feb 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice office environment and very polite team. Diverse clients with lots of learning opportunities for their respective industries. They provide high-quality equipment and technology for employees to use.

Cons

I saw one negative review posted on December 23, 2019, titled "Stay Away" which expresses all of my feelings too (particularly for company culture). I agree with each word that person wrote in the review. Please give the review a read if you're interested in the company. That comment is not "unusually inconsistent with others’ feedback" as PHOS had replied. But here goes my greatest pains when working there: Employees are weighed down with too much work and too many clients. The company holds multiple internal meetings daily that cut deep into productivity. The company would dismiss suggestions when employees hint at being overworked and just reassure them that they are being given accurate workloads. There were no real health benefits despite the majority of employees holding college degrees and moderate to advanced experience. The pay/benefits are low compared to the industry average, with slow pay increases promised. Because the company is located in a college town with a huge talent pool and very limited job opportunities, PHOS is a big fish in a small pond.. and it got voted by the city for being the best place to work in Gainesville for superficial reasons. I've worked at better companies in the city that didn't have any of the issues PHOS had. It took leaving PHOS and going to better career opportunities to realize how bad it was there. The next job I took after leaving pays nearly double what I made at PHOS, yet I work significantly less and perform much better. That's because other employers know how to manage their culture and operations.

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PHOS Creative Response
5y
[From the Leadership Team] It truly pains us to hear that you felt this way during your time at PHOS, especially enough to leave a negative review after so much time has passed. Making PHOS a place that team members never want to leave is one of the reasons we exist. It’s the first part of our mission and genuinely central to our existence and operation. When we hear that someone didn’t feel this way while they were here, our hearts break. Over the last two years, we’ve drastically changed the way in which we operate, compensate our people, and allocate our work. We now employ the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to structure our meetings, hold people accountable, and develop our strategic plan. We use weekly-managed scorecards to keep an eye on each team member's workload, providing bi-weekly check-ins to ensure that each member of the team is being well cared for. New leadership-level 360 reviews have also helped integrate deeper levels of accountability company-wide. We now offer a fully-funded health plan including healthcare, a concierge health plan, vision, dental, counseling, a gym membership, a SIMPLE IRA plan with full company matching, paid parental leave, annual bonuses, an unlimited book budget, a continuing education allowance, reimbursement for professional development organizations and certifications, and an internal leadership development program. As a result, no one on our team has said goodbye to us in almost a year and a half. We’re grateful for the consultants, friends, and people on our team that have led us in this and we have a lot more coming in the future. We admit and acknowledge that through our growth, we haven’t always gotten things perfect. We know that growth necessitates failure and feedback, but we also know it calls for truckloads of grace. If and when you’re ready, we would love the opportunity to meet again, lean into grace, learn from each other, and reconcile. To whomever you are, you are loved.
1.0
23 Dec 2019

Stay Away

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Go read the cons section.

Cons

The CEO pretty much hires from those within his church. PHOS pushes religion down your throat but everyone goes along with it because they are also religious zealots. They preach that of have a fantastic culture (re: religion) when it is in fact, the opposite. The homogeneity of the organization is appalling and I cannot see the business lasting for much longer. They exploit the free labor market by requiring at least 15 hours and a 2-semester commitment. They justify it by paying interns a stipend that equates to less than $2 an hour. The pay for full-time employees is also poor and not competitive. There are plenty of companies in Gainesville that are willing to pay more and offer benefits. Brandon requests input from employees and just does whatever he wants. There is a reason why all the Inbound Marketing Executives quit. I encourage prospective interns and professionals to stay away and seek opportunities elsewhere.

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PHOS Creative Response
6y
A review like this truly breaks our hearts. We’re thankful that this is unusually inconsistent with others’ feedback, but it nonetheless causes us to pause and consider. In an effort to pursue the highest levels of transparency and accountability, we reviewed all these points with our advisors and gathered the entire team to hear their heart on these matters. Here is what your team wanted to share with you: “Whoever you are, we miss you! Our hearts are heavy knowing that you didn’t feel loved by the team. We take great joy in being with one another and you were a part of that PHamily.” “We truly want to be ‘a place that team members never want to leave’ (our mission). The past year, we’ve made some huge changes to our compensation packages, benefits offerings, and processes that have helped with this and we’ve got lots more coming.” [From the CEO] Being a part of the team at PHOS, you would have likely heard me say this at some point: Semper Reformanda. During the Reformation, this phrase stood as a banner over the church to say, “we are always reforming.” We have flown that flag over PHOS since the day we started, primarily because we have needed to. We are constantly in need of more growth and more grace. It’s hard to share open and honest feedback, so I commend you for doing so, I only wish you would have shared it sooner so we could have grown together. Despite these harsh words, we still love you and I would warmly welcome the opportunity to meet, eat some tacos, and reconcile with one another.
5.0
3 Sept 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This could quickly turn into an e-book, but I'll try to be concise. The thing I love most about PHOS is that everyone on the team cares about each other and, although you are challenged and led to be your best, you are supported and encouraged the whole way. At our helm, Brandon inspires everyone to bring their A-game while valuing our feedback and ideas and truly listening to us. There is a clear commitment to high-quality work for our clients and building a solid community among the team, and that dichotomy makes it easy to live the PHOS mission and values in all that we do. I haven't been at PHOS long, but the team has already made such an impact on my life that I can't imagine not being here. Plus, and this is very important, I have never before laughed so hard while doing some of the best and most challenging (in a good way) work of my life.

Cons

There aren't enough hours in the day to read all of the amazing books Brandon has invested in for our Lead Well Library. As someone with children, it would be nice if PHOS offered traditional health insurance in the future but the lack thereof does not detract from the value of the overall benefits.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 17 Reviews

Glassdoor has 27 PHOS Creative reviews submitted anonymously by PHOS Creative employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if PHOS Creative is right for you.