It all depends what you are looking for - Production Manager Optimal (WA) Employee Review

3.0
Nov 11, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A good place to put your foot in the door right after college for editors, IT guys etc. Free food and beverages, team/company meals Free orca card, flex pass, and parking for some employees Diversity: age, ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, and family status. Flexible working hours

Cons

Suffering company culture - It looks like people are friendly and sweet at the beginning. Still, once you stay here longer, you experience a lot of backstabbing, no matter if you do your job correctly or not — lots of inner-office drama. When someone gets fired, no communication is sent to the team, and we pretend this person never existed. There a few skeletons in the closet nobody talks about, and that’s how most gossips are born. The team’s morale is low and suffers from a lack of honesty and integrity. “It’s better to be retroactive than take risks and be inventive”- not much space for new ideas or exploring new horizons. The job description doesn’t necessarily answer your job, and you may find yourself disappointed very quickly. Inequity - You will also soon discover that your voice in the organization isn’t as meaningful as those with more prominent seniority status. The open-door policy does not exist here. Unhealthy relationships between manages make people afraid of voicing their concerns. The managers seem to be lacking in training in managing people. There is no sense of direction, no succession planning, and no clear career path within the company. Serious and voiced on multiple occasions need for scheduled one-on-one meetings with managers has not been met. Face-to-face communication isn’t a thing - most of it happens via Slack or e-mail. You can hear a manager loudly say: “Stop! Whatever you’re doing!” interrupt you (and everyone else in the open space), walk down to you, and in a humiliating waypoint out some insignificant detail/mistake of your work. It indicates a lack of ethical practice and people skills. The company’s strategy isn’t known to the employees. You don’t know what’s the meaning of your work. The latest significant drop in the company’s revenue exemplifies the instability in the office. Unclear onboarding process and orientation for the newbies.

Explore other reviews about Optimal (WA)

5.0
Jan 8, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working at SR Education Group was really awesome, everyone there is super friendly and they often play board games and play wine on Friday afternoons. They also have regular company lunches that are paid for and have a full kitchen you can use to make lunches (they will buy whatever food/ingredients you ask for). There is also a pool table and ping pong table you can use, and they don’t expect you to work more than 8 hours a day even if it means pushing back deadlines. You can have a lot of ownership over specific products if that’s what you want.

Cons

They are based in Kirkland, so if you live in Seattle the commute is a bit annoying. The pay could also be better.

1
5.0
Aug 11, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Amazing people to work with. Everyone is very helpful if you aren't afraid to ask for help, and there were always great conversations at the lunch table. Lots of fun activities and the team is welcoming and tight-knit - Lots of opportunities to take charge and steer projects in a particular direction that's most helpful to your own professional growth, provided you take the initiative and figure out how to align your professional goals with those of the company - Great benefits, flexibility, and trust. Work life balance is great, and the company does things like weekly outings to the local farmers market, which is a nice break in the workday - Company encourages professional development, which I highly recommend taking advantage of.

Cons

- Company is very small and has been experiencing quite a bit of growth, so there are lots of growing pains. I think this is typical for any growing small company - Not a lot of guidance or mentorship from leadership, at least for my personal discipline (design). I found a way around this by seeking mentorship externally and taking advantage of conferences, etc., but it does require initiative. PMs who want to follow the path of a senior PM might have more luck seeking this out - At the moment, design is tertiary at this company. Leadership acknowledges/is transparent about this, at least.

2
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