Cried every day. - Associate CLS Strategies Employee Review

1.0
Mar 22, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some people at the company are very kind and want to see you do well, but that is NOT everyone. I guess the flexibility of wfh and variety of account assignments was also nice..?

Cons

This was the most miserable I have ever been. The company is completely understaffed, so a ton of responsibility falls on the associates, even before they know what they're doing. The turnover rate is also incredibly high for such a small office. There is no HR department or formal system to file complaints or ask questions. I was berated, disrespected, and at best ignored by upper management. I was called dumb by one of the managing directors for improperly formatting an excel sheet. I was expected to work until 7-8pm most nights. You are told you must have work notifications on at all times and are expected to respond to emails at all hours. The associate level is ultra-competitive, creating a really awkward divide between the associates who were previously interns and the newer people. The entire staff is very clique-y and walking into the office feels like walking into a high school cafeteria. If you find yourself at Vision360 (their new name after the Washington Post article and plethora of other scandals) GET OUT!

Explore other reviews about CLS Strategies

5.0
Jan 26, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Great coworkers -Great atmosphere -Very interesting work with a variety of clients

Cons

-Due to the nature of the clients some work had to be absolutely done at the deadline which is normal but some of the deadlines were early in the morning.

2.0
May 19, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

CLS is really good at keeping their clients happy. They produce good work and have staff from many different walks of life who have a good perspective on communications and DC policy areas. And the kitchen has a margarita machine.

Cons

CLS is not good at keeping their employees happy. People are overwhelmed, overworked, and frustrated with the constant turnover -- more than half the staff has turned over in the past year. Junior staff are expected to complete mundane tasks with little to no time to do them because they are always being asked to fill in on work that is well above their level; senior staff maintain a very clique-y nature that means you're either one of the cool kids or you get pushed out. It is a culture dominated by white men -- even though the majority of staff are female, the top two levels of management are entirely white men, so the lack of diversity is very apparent. There's very little transparency with lower-level staff and people often know that they are being whispered about behind each others' backs. And they never actually use the margarita machine.

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