A PR agency, In a spin - werkgeversreview Director bij MSL

One of those reviews where I really hope it's got better since I left, but from what I hear it's probably continuing to nosedive. A really strange mix of different cultures: Consumer and Corporate PR that's totally old school and not in any way even digital or progressive, Employee team that's more of a full service comms agency but to somewhat low end clients at big brands, and a health practice that's in about as good health as a US-owned NHS. In the middle, a design agency that most clients can't afford that masquerades as a 'full creative' agency. Biggest issue: incompetent board-level management. Male, pale, stale and deluded - believe their own hype. Terrible listening skills with employees at all levels. Does not encourage diversity of thinking. People succeed or fail based on hearsay and whispers rather than actually being given the best chance to do their job well. You can be incredibly experienced and knowledgable in your field and made to feel small and incompetent by people with far less knowledge than yourself who are more interested in the sound of their own voice. BME and women have particularly found this environment challenging. Too much of a culture from accounts teams of do it quick/cheap and then wonder why clients feel short-changed (fees are crazily high also). No value placed on quality ,though starting to move towards an appreciation of insight and planning after a few years with some strong planning/strategy managers in post. Creative department run quite old school and more like a design studio - not fit for multi channel projects. Ineffective talent management (well-meaning but inexperienced and do not tackle seriously complaints). Totally underresourced - many staff leave, aren't replaced (e.g. the entire digital team left and weren't replaced). Resourcing and senior management don't have the foresight to provide capacity and skills to grow. Opportunities left on table and good people left frazzled with little time for their own lives. You either disengage, soldier on, or leave. Work-life balance options and flexibility actively rolled back in time I was there (including some staff told explicitly that they couldn't make use of the very small flexible working already in their contract to adjust work start time as it wasn't considered 'the normal'). It may happen now due to Publicis mandating it but it wouldn't be offered willingly. Cronyism in senior management - giving work to their friends/spouses rather than even in-house staff, or more qualified freelancers. Also comes back to senior board management thinking they know best, when they invariably don't. Feels like it's run by accountants, not creatives. Value placed on how few hours it takes to do a job, not on client feedback or awards/quality work. I've never worked anywhere where so much energy was drained arguing over why it takes some 2 hours instead of 1 hour to do a job that at a better structured agency they'd give you a day to do it - has a feeling of being a sweat shop unnecessarily - it could feel more like a boutique agency if there was a less restrictive means of planning budget with clients. Almost no retainers or full time projects at all so you always feel like you're 'on the clock' trying to get work done and everyone juggling dozens of projects a week which reduces quality. Some very unethical clients (those with poor environmental track record, tobacco). Not transparently communicated in advance to those expected to be working on these accounts. Some account managers / project managers are quite good, but many are a grade below what you'd expect in a London agency, and can't work out how to plan work or deal with clients (who are often inexperienced) effectively so this just leads to doing poorly scoped work for the sake of work that is often dull and may not even be what the client wants or needs. Too much wasted time and effort, too often. Office over crowded, loud, lacks privacy and any real atmosphere. Utterly delighted to leave it. In summary, London's a big place. Unless you're at the start of your career and you really need a step up (it won't come easy but there's opportunities here) then give your job search a bit more time before thinking about a move here. Or ask a lot of questions to the recruiting team and your prospective line manager to find out if it's right for you.