The worst time of my life - Associate Golin Employee Review

1.0
Oct 3, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are none, really. Some might cite the office location as a pro, but even that's a stretch.

Cons

Where do I begin? The tension that permeates the office and hangs on everyone like a dark cloud should have been a huge red flag from the get-go. Associates and Managers are extremely cliquish and this is encouraged by management that seems to low-key frown on inter-practice friendships. The work here is pretty typical of agencies with its long hours and such, but the issues aren't from the clients but your own team. "Teammates" will not hesitate to shame you by sending mass emails to let the wider team know your shortcomings. Every proposal, email or idea is triple-guessed and torn apart, you are then expected to redo everything and if you don't meet original deadlines, you are again shamed to the wider team. High turnover is not unusual for an agency but Golin's turnover is bad even by agency standards, with many Associates to Directors staying less than 6 months. With a toxic culture of OT, the high turnover isn't surprising, really. While OT is quite typical of the Singapore work culture, staff who aren't physically present in office past 9 pm will be low-key shaded by management, even though they were slaving away at home till midnight and later. And let me touch on the management for a second. On the surface, they present a "united" front to clients but once back in the office, it's a backstabbing lollapalooza. Office meetings are painful weekly occurrences where every single staff member has to comprehensively state every single thing they are doing for the week probably to show the management that they are swamped with work and thus their headcount is justified. The cons are too many to list down on one review (if I did, this review would become a press release), the gist of it? Do not join Golin.

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5.0
May 19, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Great agency experience with top tier clients.

Cons

Low full time conversion for interns.

1.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

N/A. Would not recommend at all.

Cons

Terrible management and office culture.

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