Run Like A Cult - Account Manager and PPC Specialist Vertical Rail Employee Review

1.0
Sep 16, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

VR had a great tool that they developed for feed processing that really streamlined the feed optimization process. Some of the staff there are very knowledgeable and hard working. I learned a lot of valuable skills there, but almost none of it from the sparse training we got. Don't expect to be taught anything beyond how to do a basic concatenation and the vague concept of keyword optimization.

Cons

The management runs the business like a cult of ego. Management as a whole struggles to keep up with current market trends and lags years behind in their knowledge in some areas, and the owners haven't done any of this work in so long that they can't speak to it at all anymore. But despite that management wants 100% loyalty and backing on their decisions, and the owners take anyone not agreeing with them or pointing out flaws in their ideas personally. HR has a chip on their shoulder and demeans marginalized groups like the trans community, but gets away with it. The head of the company is an egomaniac who thinks he's Don Draper but is closer to Donald Trump with his threatening nature and empty ideas. Every time the company seemed to be on an upswing, management would make the decision to shoot themselves in the foot. Management frequently bad mouthed their clients and seemed to hold the attitude that if they didn't like a client then the client wasn't entitled to the full time and attention that they were paying for. Management also played blatant favorites, paying men more than women with more experience, responsibilities and seniority and rewarding people who were constantly sabotaging projects and blaming other people. Management also has a racist streak and fired someone for supporting Black Lives Matter. Management spies on the staff and will go through all of their emails and computer files at the slightest provocation, and have gleefully admitted to using credentials for former employees's social media that was stored in company computers to spy on those former employees and save their conversations. They have zero respect for their staff or their privacy, and are too caught up in their own paranoia to ever let their company succeed. They get paranoid about any staff hanging out or talking outside of work. They tell their staff not to take their federally mandated 10 minute breaks and describe those breaks as "stealing from them". They changed everyone's work day schedules because they didn't want to have to deal with basic math while doing payroll. They treat the business like it's sole purpose is to enrich themselves without having to pt forth any real effort, shuffling all of the work and responsibilities onto their staff and then acting like it's their accomplishment.

Vertical Rail Response
9y
Thank you for the acknowledgement of our feed optimization tool. Our tech guys put a lot of time and effort into the development of our internal dashboard, and we are glad that you at least had a positive experience with that. We are sorry, however, that you perceived our management’s treatment of staff so negatively. Our management is not as adverse to feedback as you make it seem; we only ask that our employees are willing to clearly communicate their issues with us and provide suggestions and solutions. Some staff help shape the company with their positive contributions and teamwork, and some actually shape the company through their negative contributions. While we always prefer the first; the hard lessons are often quite valuable. With that being said, your individual contributions in shaping our company policy were profoundly helpful. We never imagined that we’d have to deal with the myriad of conflicts, complaints and general mayhem – however dealing with those situations helped us refine our policies. Marketing is an ever-changing industry. The nature of our business is to learn from its successes and its failures – all good companies do. As is expected at any agency, we must also be able to rely on our employees to provide upward feedback and recommendations. Again, we are very receptive to actionable solutions that are presented to us thoughtfully. Communication is a two-way street, as is respect. We are constantly striving to improve our internal and client-facing communications. We believe in holding our employees accountable for achieving results for our clients, and we do invest in our staff based on performance. That being said, we do not continue to invest in staff that mismanages projects, clients, or misrepresents our agency by behaving unprofessionally. We refuse to dignify your unsubstantiated remarks regarding HR, diversity, race and bigotry. We pride ourselves in acceptance and diversity. We recognize individuals that contribute to the betterment of our agency, regardless of their personal traits or preferences. We are a small agency with an extremely diverse team. We fairly employ men and women of all ages, regardless of how they identify. Our office is a casual environment, and we are accepting of most things so long as it does not distract from productivity. We are a “work family” that encourages team outings and events, such as weekend potlucks, karaoke nights, local concerts and wine tastings. These events might not be often, but they do happen and we are always open to doing more! We apologize for any reason we may have given you to feel differently about how we run and operate. We will be taking your advice into consideration, specifically with regards to your point about blaming others for our shortcomings. We take full responsibility for offering positions to individuals over the past few years that were perhaps not ready for client-facing responsibilities, and failing to orient new hires properly to our mission and culture. We have taken steps to fix this by screening candidates more acutely and improving our training process.

Explore other reviews about Vertical Rail

5.0
Apr 1, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work on variety of accounts in different industries. Constantly learning new techniques and applications. The staff is really good at what they do, I work with some really great people.

Cons

Some of the previous people that worked at the company were really negative and their life frustrations effected their jobs. They brought other people down with them.

1
3.0
Aug 16, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I met some great people and learned a lot about marketing. Management genuinely seemed to care about staff and tried to provide a decent benefit package and work environment. They did many nice things for me I'll always be grateful for. You can advance quickly within the company. For the area, it's a good opportunity and I'm glad I worked there.

Cons

There were several unethical and unprofessional moments that ultimately led me to quit. Another employee (who was fired) spent over six months harassing me and making my life miserable before they were let go. It was hard to recover from that, always left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't think compensation (as much as they tried) was good for the amount of work/stress and revenue generated for the company. There were favorites in the office. Ironically, the favorites produced the least amount of work or tangible output. There were some outright bad hires leading to office toxicity, and they were not removed quickly. Interoffice communication was actively monitored and felt intrusive. Finally, there were several accounts where the work wasn't up to par. Many were upside down (the client spending more on our fees plus ad spend) or the account was only profitable because of brand terms. When I'd hit walls with clients, I felt like I didn't have resources. I ended up paying for consulting on my own and quickly learned how far behind I was. Any suggestion the company pay for outside training was dismissed. There are other things, but they aren't worth mentioning on a public forum.

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