Gritty startup that doesn't want to grow - Anonymous employee Simmer Studios Employee Review

✶ Flexible Working Hours - It's easier and more flexible for employees to manage their personal or work schedule since the working schedule is at ANY TIME as long as you're able to render 8 HOURS. ✶ Work Set-up - The studio is based in Marikina; however, the work setup is WFH (work from home) and On-Call RTO (return to office - depending on the Creative Director), so it's honestly beneficial to those who wish to work here and are living in far areas. ✶ Creativity Growth - You deal with different clients = different design and brand approaches - I think this is the main highlight of Pros for Simmers. They really enable graphic designers and/or creatives to explore and step out of their comfort zone. ✶ Creative and Accommodative Team - Despite I rarely had interaction with the team (since it's a WFH setup), they are very caring and accommodating because if you do not know a particular art style, they are willing to send you step-by-step instructions for you to try. ✶ Benefits - Been seeing reviews here that Simmers lack benefits or career growth, but that's maybe years ago, because I heard from their conference last year that I attended that they provide benefits now to their employees. ✶ Kind and Supportive Creative Director - Ms. R.K is a very considerate and talented person. She is willing to open doors for creatives who want to gain hands-on experience in design, branding, and dealing with clients.

✶ Location - It's really far, that's the con. But I do believe Simmers is willing to provide allowances to their employees on transportation, especially on the on-call, onsite ✶ Building Relationships with the Team - It's not really a con, rather a challenge to become relational and to really get to know every employee, because it's WFH, but they do have occasional meet-ups, team buildings that could be a gateway for you to grow with the team. But they are really friendly when you talk or seek consultation with them.

I’ve been working as a part-time and freelance designer at simmer and have had the opportunity to collaborate with the simmer team on some really great projects and brands. I’ve also had a positive working relationship with ms. RK so I was honestly surprised to see negative reviews here, especially because no one has left the company in the past two years that I am here. From my perspective, and definitely with simmer's regulars employees, the work environment has been supportive and stable. One thing I really appreciate is the level of trust given to designers, especially in my setup, I guess. There’s flexibility in terms of working hours, which makes it easier to balance other commitments while still contributing meaningfully to projects.

I haven’t personally experienced any major downsides so far. The flexibility in scheduling has worked really well for me. But also some brands do have an NDA so you can't post about it online, but I believe it's normal.