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      Avoid at all costs - Anonymous employee SMG Employee Review

      1.0
      Jun 16, 2025
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      1 extra day off per quarter Extra payment per month for ‘wellbeing’

      Cons

      What can I say, a very toxic and hierarchical culture in this business. They focus very much on wanting to be known in the industry via social media (LinkedIn), and state they are a team first, sadly this isn’t what I experienced. If you have any feedback or improvements, you are gaslit into being told you are not positive enough. People in management roles are unqualified and micromanage. If you have any suggestions they are not received positively, if you're not senior your suggestions are void. PIPs are so common here it’s sad. Rather than HR analysing the situation to understand why this is and speaking directly to employees to understand the constant turnover in staff/ people off with stress they just back the business. Most people are doing the job of 2 people and even if you are churning the output, it isn't good enough if you are not in the clique. Often I'd go home in tears, I genuinely felt bullied by how some seniors spoke to me. Nobody should be spoken to how I was at the time in this company.

      avatar
      SMG Response
      11mo
      Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We take your comments very seriously. We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your experience. Creating a supportive, positive, and inclusive environment for all our employees is deeply important to us, and it’s clear we’ve fallen short of this during your time at SMG. Your comments about culture, management practices, and how feedback is handled are particularly concerning. We’re committed to addressing these issues directly and openly, and your insights will help guide important conversations and improvements within our teams. We sincerely appreciate your honesty, and we’ll use your feedback to strive toward a better working environment for everyone. If you'd like to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.

      Explore other reviews about SMG

      5.0
      Apr 17, 2025
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      People are really engaged and excited to collaborate. The management are really open and honest about the company and always willing to give up their time

      Cons

      Hours can be long, however it always feels like this is rewarded.

      1
      avatar
      SMG Response
      1y
      Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We’re really pleased to hear that you've had such a positive experience at SMG and that our collaborative culture and open communication from leadership have stood out during your time here. We’re especially glad to hear that you feel supported and that the energy and engagement of your colleagues continue to make a meaningful difference, our people are at the heart of what makes SMG a great place to work.
      3.0
      May 29, 2026
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      - Similar-minded colleagues make an enjoyable work environment. - Flexible working schedule is useful. - Managers offer freedom to develop, and work autonomously. - Good progression opportunities (only if you're lucky).

      Cons

      - The workload is AWFUL. You see it mentioned on almost every review on here, spanning years back, and they provide the same response about how they're working on it or actively looking at it. I can assure you that is a complete and utter lie. They do absolutely nothing to try and make workloads manageable, as they are constantly trying to cut costs, streamline teams, and most recently force redundancies and pay freezes. They may act performative on LinkedIn professing how much they care about your wellbeing, but they most definitely do not take any steps to make the job manageable within the time you have, and therefore everybody is stressed out and overworked. (I am sure they will provide the same banal AI-generated response here about how they're committed to making workloads more manageable, or something along those lines. Don't believe them.) - Base salaries are not competitive (partly why there's such high turnover). £33k for a Senior Executive role in London is terrible. You will also struggle to progress from there in most teams. - Disorganisation. Processes are convoluted, tedious, and waste lots of time. Too much admin & trivial nonsense is a large reason why the workload is too high (they have no idea how to solve this by the way).

      1
      avatar
      SMG Response
      2d
      Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback and for your contribution during your time at SMG. We're pleased to hear that you valued the support of your colleagues, the flexibility available, and the autonomy provided by managers to help people develop in their roles. Creating an environment where people can do their best work is something we deeply care about. We also recognise the concerns you've raised around workload, processes, and remuneration. We understand that these areas can have a significant impact on employee experience, and we're sorry to hear that this was your experience during your time with us. As our business continues to evolve, we regularly review how work is prioritised, how teams are structured, and how our processes support people in delivering great work as effectively as possible. We appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective and wish you every success in the future.
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