Pros
It used to be good - fast-paced with a relatively high workload but hey, that’s the case at any marketing agency. The culture was amazing. And, we used to be at the forefront of innovation but that is deteriorating very, very quickly.
Cons
Everyone knows working at an agency is hard work; but at least it’s compensated with culture. Well, not at dept anymore. Everything’s just about numbers, and to make them look good, all the fun stuff has been tossed out. We’re an hour-factory. Workload is not just heavy anymore, it weighs a ton. Good resources (read: experienced) are being let go off and replaced by juniors who burn up so quickly trying to keep up with everything that is thrown at them. Meanwhile the few “seniors” that are left are being put on the big projects to salvage whatever they can, but also dropping left and right because everything is just about numbers. Dept has hundreds of people working in NL but you always see the same few. Forget about mental health (“just talk to someone” - it’s not a solution! It shouldn’t even get that far!). If you even dare to suggest the workload is too high for your colleagues you’re met with “well maybe they’re not a depster” (toxic, much?). Some clients are even more toxic and actually yell or curse at us, but management refuses to talk to them because they’re one of the highest paying clients (again, it’s all about numbers). It’s really frustrating and actually sad because it used to be such a good company. Now it’s just becoming a toxic, unhealthy, unbalanced place to work with burned-out teams that create very mediocre work (all the cool stuff you see is created by agencies that were bought up in the US).