SPARK Reviews

They don't truly value their employees and their opinions; stir the pot too much and you are considered highly replaceable by a fresh college grad that will work for pennies. They compensate their upper management handsomely, and make up for it by paying laughable wages to the workhorses in the creative and operational roles. If you mess up on something - even something minor - but it ruffles the feathers of the president, your days are numbered. He also doesn't like people who question his methods or opinion, even for the benefit of the agency at large. Basically, no matter how long you've been there, how close you are with the team, or how talented you may be - job security is nil. So while culture is pretty great, company values leave a lot to be desired. They HAVE "core values", they just don't stick to them very well.

I was relieved to read the other reviews on here and see that their feelings were so similar to mine. For example, the room for forgiveness at SPARK is nearly non-existent. If you disagree one time, or you do something very minor, the CCO/founder is pretty much done with you, especially if he just doesn’t “like” you. Which can feel like a popularity contest. It's very disappointing how he chooses to handle disagreements or mistakes. Overall, there isn't much room for opinions outside of those from the upper management anyway. Several of my former co-workers left due in part to their inability to work with the “upstairs.” This isn’t a sentiment from one employee, its a trend that management should look at. The salaries are actually very low. I know a lot of employees complain that salaries at any company are low, but this his honestly true here. Salaries are at least 15% below that of other companies in the area. This is largely due to them hiring right out of school, so the starting salaries are really pitiful. The worse part, is it takes a very long time to get even a minor raise since there aren’t career paths. The lack of salary becomes even more frustrating when creatives are overextended and the appreciation doesn't match the level of sacrifice that they are asking for. I often found myself gipped of the applauds or recognition I deserved for good work. Often it was a handful of employees who were favored when, for such a small company, nearly everyone should feel essential and valuable.