A house of cards waiting to fall - Anonymous employee Legion Creative Group Employee Review

My time here I was subjected to one of the most unprofessional experiences of my career. The initial promise of a creative and enjoyable work environment quickly dissipated as deceptive tactics emerged. Creativity and camaraderie were absent, replaced by a toxic workplace where management prioritized personal relationships over the company's overall performance. A gradual (and selective) Return-to-Office plan was implemented, coinciding with layoffs and an unnecessary office expansion. This resulted in a dystopian atmosphere characterized by gray, sterile walls, harsh fluorescent lighting, an absence of ambient music, and outdated projects displayed on the walls. Despite the RTO plan, many employees continued to work remotely, prompting jokes from management during mandatory meetings about their tardiness or absence, without any corrective action taken. There was a clear lack of consistency in enforcing attendance policies and consequences. At one time all Zoom meetings were banned, even for those who had permanent WFH exemptions from management. This was quickly reversed when it benefitted management to have a Zoom meeting, even making the IT department spend time and money testing and implementing a multi-thousand dollar microphone system to remove an echo, that could have been avoided if they just took the Zoom in their private office. Despite an abundance of empty desks due to the unnecessary office expansion, employees were assigned seating based on visibility from management offices, disregarding individual needs. Employees who rarely came in or primarily used laptops were given oversized desks, while designers requiring multiple monitors and equipment were relegated to undersized desks that often couldn't accommodate their equipment. Employees rarely customized their workspace or brought in anything personal for fear of being moved desks overnight without warning. The already low morale was further exacerbated by management's comments about employees' personal appearances and insensitive jokes about their medical conditions and medications when the employee wasn’t present. The creative team, including freelancers, was treated with minimal respect. They were excluded from the creative process and project planning, often receiving last-minute assignments with unrealistic deadlines due to commitments made to clients without their consultation. Producers frequently failed to obtain necessary assets from clients, and designers' attempts to address this were perceived as undermining, leading to a sense of futility. Freelancers were asked to hold their schedules for extended periods, only to be informed at the last minute that they weren't needed, causing them to miss other opportunities. Wins were also never celebrated, you would never know if the work you did won a project or not and oftentimes, work you did to win a pitch would be given to another designer to execute. The CD often gave credit to the wrong employee for work they didn’t do, failing to acknowledge success within their own small team. Obtaining feedback or answers from the creative director was a constant challenge, as they were often unavailable and uninformed about projects. Getting projects reviewed often required extensive catch-up efforts and having to prove yourself with email receipts or screenshots of their own feedback. The hiring of a second creative director to alleviate the workload proved ineffective, as they were frequently absent or left early without notice and without consequence. During my time here, it became evident that there was no potential for positive growth. Interns were hired and neglected, professional development opportunities were ignored, performance reviews were overlooked without consequence, and employee concerns were disregarded. Management often joked about being the bottleneck in daily operations, but no solutions were implemented. Attempts to address bottlenecks through temporary hires resulted in those individuals being used as the scapegoat for managements' own failures. Management exhibited unprofessional behavior, frequently burdening employees with the company's financial issues, a matter that should have been kept confidential. This was the type of office where the overall mood of the day was dictated by the mood of management, which was wildly unpredictable and more often than not, not a good one. Management also attempted to force all employees to take lunch from 12-1, only 2 hours after you’re supposed to have arrived at the office–this luckily did not stick, but this is the level of micromanagement they try to enforce. The CEO, who visited rarely, offered false reassurances about the company's well-being, only to be followed by layoffs upon their departure-layoffs that were often botched by HR with employees receiving COBRA paperwork days before they were even aware they were being let go. In my final months, the company lost valuable employees due to their own negligence, lost investors, and started interviewing/hiring individuals known for misogynistic behavior within the industry, so beware and be warned.