Toxic Work Environment Directly Caused by Abusive Management - Anonymous employee Graphis Employee Review

The cons of Graphis. Where to begin? The Office It’s about the size of a shoe box. Don’t expect a microwave, sink, coffee machine, or any other kitchen appliances commonly found in the workplace. There isn’t even a kitchen in the building, or a common area to sit and enjoy lunch. There were basically three options for eating lunch: A. Bring lunch and eat at your desk (just hope that you don’t get interrupted while you eat, which happens frequently); B. Bring or take out lunch and eat at nearby Bryant Park (but what about those cold, snowy, or blistering hot days?); or C. Go out to eat and dine in (hard to do every day considering the shamefully low pay). Pay, Benefits, and Perks Management paid so incredibly low that I’ve gone on interviews during which I was asked about my past salary and was met with shock at my answer. I’m not talking a few thousand dollars under market salary; I’m talking tens of thousands. Management promised raises and then made up reasons to not give them, even though most employees do the work of probably two or three people (much more on this later). And there was no overtime pay offered at all. Benefits? There were none. No health insurance, no 401K, nothing. Employees received 2.5 sick/personal days every 6 months. Zero vacation days the first six months of employment, and then five vacation days every 6 months (they could not be carried over to the next year). Perks? Hardly any. No catered breakfast or lunch once in a while and no summer Fridays. The ONLY thing management did for employees during my time there is take them out for dinner before Christmas, and MAYBE out for drinks 0-1 times per year. Sometimes they paid for employees to go out for lunch on their birthdays, and sometimes they didn't. They also gave Christmas week off, but wasn't even completely guaranteed; employees were always left guessing until the last minute as to whether they would at least be granted that. Oh, and employees might find a rose on their desk area when they come into the office on Valentine’s Day, followed by getting abused like normal so it’s actually kind of nauseating (reminiscent of an abusive relationship). Leadership And now, the icing on the cake: The “leader." His behavior in the office was nothing short of dysfunctional. He would tell employees to do or not to do something, forget he said it, and then yell/curse at them for doing it or not doing it. He would constantly come up with new ideas and projects that either make no sense for the company to do whatsoever, or make no sense for the company to focus on in that moment when the publications are not selling and competitions are not receiving entries. He would distract employees from their work with his constant diversions and little side projects that he expected them to work on all day long in addition to the time-sensitive work that actually needed to get done. Prioritization of tasks was not valued; what an employee did in a day was often based on his whims. Furthermore, the leader would frequently state that he expected employees to work 10-18 hour days like he did (nobody did that, of course, which visibly bothered him). Again, no overtime pay, and salaries are tens of thousands below market price. Taking into account management’s overall erratic behavior, it’s amazing that the talented team working there actually gets anything done. Typically, this individual would hire young and inexperienced people or recent college graduates. They’re more likely to put up with the abuse and accept the bad pay, of course. He manipulated and intimidated, he told employees that they were nowhere near qualified to have the titles that they had, he threatened employees’ jobs, he lied, he yelled at employees on a daily basis for things that were not their fault, and he tried to make employees feel low. If he worked at a larger company that had a human resources department, there’s little doubt in my mind that he would be fired. He would say that he was “teaching” his employees and that this was all a learning experience. He berated employees, called them incompetent and made them feel terrible, and then joked around with them two minutes later. Or not. It all depended on his mood. He told employees that--whether they were an editor, designer, or accountant--people in their profession are required to do marketing and sales. That is generally false—people get degrees in marketing and sales for a reason, and that’s because it is a completely different area of expertise. This lie was only to get employees to do the work of both their title and that of a sales/marketing person because he wouldn't hire either of those, even though the company was making very little money and hardly had a circulation. Furthermore, when there were two editors working there, he would pit them against each other and take turns favoring one while ignoring the other based on who submitted to his absurd demands on any given week or month. This, naturally, created a stressful atmosphere for everyone in the office. One employee took on the work of two people who quit working on the magazine--while also attending to their other duties--and was promised a raise after finishing their first issue. When they asked for the raise, the leader said that he needed one more issue out of them and told them that they would definitely get the raise then. Once the next issue was almost finished, he completely turned on that employee: everything they did was suddenly wrong, he screamed and cursed at them, refused to work with them once they stood up for their self, and lowered their title. And, of course, they didn’t get the raise. The timing sounds curious, doesn’t it? That person finally resigned, even without a backup. At least ten people came and left Graphis during my brief time there. The turnover rate is horrendous but leadership blames the employees, never himself. Best of luck if you decide to give it a shot.