Not a great opportunity for a freelancer. - Web Developer Exposure Ninja Employee Review

1.0
Aug 21, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people were nice and it's a remote job.

Cons

They are primarily SEO based company yet advertised a web dev job at 30 - 40 hours per week. Why they advertised the job like this I have no idea, they should have been straight up with me about how little web dev they will have as soon as I started. They said they don’t mind if I get other work although they should have said expect to look for other work. Thinking I was going into a 30 – 40 hour a week job, of course I was going to slow down looking for other work. They hurt me financially as there were gaps of no communication when I submitted work for review, and I had to start asking about it. They should have been honest from the beginning and even though said they advertised the job as 30 – 40 hours a week. It could very well not turn out like that. I was even on a trial period which I didn’t know about when I started. When I asked about starting my second project, as I had sat nearly a week with no commination - that’s when I found out I was on a trial period of one website. Here was me thinking I had started a 30/40 hour a week job. Being told I was on something for 3 months and then I’d even get a pay rise (I probably worked into the start of my 5th month and heard nothing about that). Did they think this one website was going to be a 3-month job? I was puzzled how to how their system looked set up to assign me new work, but I had to ask for it. Then finding out I was on some trial period. I believe the communication was the biggest let down as I had to keep asking about areas. When I first got my link to go train, I wasn’t told exactly where to start. So, I ended up missing areas that were vital. I didn’t track in 1 of the 2 places I was supposed to for my first 2 sites. After speaking to the General Manager about how I was in the dark with no communication about future work etc. My project manager eventually gave me some excuse about how they changed their sales tactics and they weren't getting enough leads which just seems like a spin. I assume they had an influx of website work over Xmas, advertised for a position and then didn't get as much work as they thought. Drip feeding me some as I asked, eventually just being forgotten about, I got told I was getting moved onto fixed price jobs, and then heard nothing. Eventually having my accounts deleted. Even when I tried to talk to other people higher up and have a conversation about this, I got the feeling they didn't care. They just listened and moved on with their job. Not even a follow up. Seems like a nice company to work for but I didn’t get that experience as a freelancer so be careful if you are one. If you are involved in SEO you might have a better experience, but they shouldn’t have advertised the job to me as they did. Maybe move away from the ninja stereotype. It would be better to see companies that are focused more on the honesty of how they work with better organisation and communication instead of their look that’s a cringey trope.

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Exposure Ninja Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback about working for us. We take all feedback from our Ninjas very seriously and want to continue to use feedback to improve our workplace. We’re sorry that the role did not meet your expectations. When the role was advertised, we had a number of website projects which needed to be developed and work hours were based on the number of projects we projected to have within the department. However, this number fluctuates depending on new sales. We will make this clearer in our freelance job ads going forward. We have a team of core contracted staff who are guaranteed full-time hours, and a small team of freelancers like yourself who we can offer specific projects and more flexible work to. Unfortunately, a slow down in sales meant the work hours available were less than projected and at that time we made you aware of the situation. We appreciate that you were hoping for more consistent project work. We start all of our freelancers on a trial project to see if Exposure Ninja and the freelancer are a good match for one another. If we’re satisfied with the quality of work and the freelancer enjoys working with us, then we assign more projects depending on the work available within the department. We were satisfied with your work and appreciate your time working with us. We, unfortunately, were not able to offer further work due to a lack of available projects. We have an internal training platform which is accessible to all our staff. This training platform covers a wide range of services that we offer to our clients. During our onboarding process, we use Teamwork tasks to let the Ninja know which training areas they need to work on. We will review our dev onboarding in case of any errors and ensure this is clear going forward.

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5.0
Jan 23, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Family Atmosphere - In-house Training - Opportunity for Growth - Great Management

Cons

I have not encountered any negatives to working in this position. It encompassed everything I wanted about the position that I took.

1.0
Apr 16, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Offers a degree of flexibility in working arrangements Several strong department heads who manage high-pressure demands effectively A friendly and supportive HR team

Cons

The COO is widely perceived as unreceptive to feedback, including recommendations from HR which is concerning Company culture has eroded, with a reliance on contrived “fun” initiatives Senior leadership appears underdeveloped and lacking in experience Tends to address symptoms rather than underlying issues, applying short-term fixes Ongoing loss of strong employees, often attributed to poor treatment Perceived favouritism in decision-making Concerns around bias affecting quieter individuals and those with ESL Despite messaging on unconscious bias, some senior leaders are seen as demonstrating it themselves

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Exposure Ninja Response
2mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and for the many years you spent with the business. We are sorry to hear that your experience of the company culture and leadership left you with these concerns. We take feedback about leadership, fairness, bias, employee treatment, and how feedback is received very seriously. Creating an environment where people feel respected, heard, and able to do their best work is something we care deeply about. We are continuing to review how we listen to employee feedback, support managers and senior leaders in their development, and build a working environment that is inclusive, fair, and sustainable for everyone. Thank you again for sharing your perspective. We genuinely value the feedback and wish you all the best in the future.
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