A "yes man" ideology, production line of work - Anonymous employee SCORCH Employee Review

1.0
Jan 11, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Health insurance is United Healthcare through All Members and dental insurance is Principal, both taken at many hospitals and clinics. However, the premium is fairly high, in 2020 around $250 per month to cover medical, dental, and vision for one person. Experience working with well-known clients No limit to PTO Major holidays are PTO Some of the employees are fabulous

Cons

While this agency has potential to do great things and bring in great clients, the relationship established with it's clients and employees is something I firmly disagree agree with. The expectation is to take a project the same day it is due back to the client. From my experience, this would fall under the category of a "fire drill" in the agency world, but this is everyday practice for Scorch. A classic day looks like: writer submitting copy or edits for copy, development and production for design happens afterwards or simultaneously, submission of review by the creative team, content team, and proof readers, then submission from account manager to the client. This is in one day typically. If there is pushback on timelines to the client, then creative does not see it. Whether it's a large project or small, it's due back the same day with the expectation that if you need to work late each night to do it, then you work late. Some times the team does not have all of the information required to begin a project and guessing is necessary. The repeated phrase you hear is "they are hiring more people to help, work will slow down eventually", but the work continues to come through at the same speed. There is a high turnover rate I would assume due to lack of support, leadership, and needs of it's employees. A good company shows it's support to it's employees as well as to it's clients equally as both are important. Good mental health, good relationship with the company, good relationship with the team, all very important in running any size of a business. You will also be required to report time daily for everything you work on in 15 minute increments from 27 hours to over 40 hours. If you want a raise or annual review, you must take the initiative to set one up, it is not automatic. And there is no annual increase in salary to reflect inflation. Everything is rush, work takes precedent over personal life. When I asked for two days off for bereavement, all projects from me were up to date and ready for the client. Instead of getting the time off that was requested and approved, I spent six hours working that day, getting pinged about project status updates and where things were (this agency is disorganized), because work takes priority over personal life. In my time of working at Scorch, there have been less than a handful of PoC employed. There is a diversity and inclusion leader, that person is white. Major social issues of 2020 were not discussed by the company nor of how they take a stance in the matter. All member meetings are discussions of how much money the company can make for the fiscal year, the forecast, just a lot of money talk. Nothing on the relationship and engagement with the clients and minimal positive reinforcement to employees of their hard work and time. It feels more like a meeting for stakeholders and investors instead of company employees. Lastly, HR is the owner/founder/CEO's wife which I'm not sure is ethical when running a business. She is lovely but I can see employees not coming forward with issues in the work environment because of that relationship.

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SCORCH Response
5y
"Trust, listen, and take care of your employees. They need leadership, communication, and positive reinforcement. " I couldn't agree more. Hi. Chris, new Scorch ECD, here. I appreciate you sharing this insight into your experience at Scorch. Our new account lead, Becca Flach and I recently joined Scorch (December 2020 and January 2021 respectively) and have immediately begun working diligently with creative services lead Solange Deschatres —as the management team— to begin addressing many of the challenges you mentioned above. As far as I can tell, some of our efforts are already beginning to bear fruit. But you don't have to take my word for it. Here's some feedback we've been receiving from the agency and others: "I know you're the right person for the team." — fr. C-Suite, Day 32 "I love working with you…" — fr. Account Team, Day 33 "You're in control without being controlling." — fr. Viz Creative Team, Day 33 "I really like your style. It's refreshing to have someone take the lead and shake things up.” — fr. Content Team, Day 34 "Proud of [your efforts]!… This is bigger than a lot of agencies we work with in NY and LA." — Industry DEI Leader, Day 36 And… "I'm doing some of the best and most fun work of my career…for Fortune 100 companies, supported by a crack team of editors, strategists, designers, and account managers. Most important of all, I am treated like a professional, with the requisite amounts of respect, autonomy, support, and challenge." — fr. Content Team, Day 38

Explore other reviews about SCORCH

5.0
Nov 20, 2018
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CEO approval
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Pros

- Extreme transparency and openness about the business and how it functions. - 10/10 work-life balance. - Unlimited PTO (yes it actually gets approved unless you don't get your work done or slack) - No business laugh and talk about the weather. Everyone is real here and cares about how you are doing. - Coffee is solid. None of that acidic or plastic stuff. - Dogs are allowed. My first week here i was greeted by a dog. That was new and exciting. lol

Cons

- I basically hit the ground running. That meant little introduction to the formal process. Im coming along now. But it was odd to not have a company workflow to follow and follow my own for a bit.

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3.0
Apr 29, 2024
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CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice office, good company culture for the most part.

Cons

Little guidance, heavy work load.

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