Pros
Free clothing, generous discount, fun campaigns, good to add to resume, talented employees.
Cons
I think the biggest con at SET is that all of the "leaders" have no actual experience in the industry or as managers. The CEO, COO, & Senior Director I believe all wish the best for their company & their staff but lack the industry knowledge & leadership experience to cultivate a realistic, healthy, and well-balanced work life for their employees. None of these leadership stakeholders have ever worked in this type of direct-to-consumer space (working for themselves or other industries) and unfortunately this trickle downs into not understanding how to respect and empower their employees. Often times, mistakes are not given grace. Conversations that should be private between an employee & their manager are aired out at the all company meeting for everyone to hear. Degrading comments about previous employees are said often. The turnover I witnessed at this company is unlike anything I've seen in my career. I worked for the company for under a year and at the time I left only 6 of the same people remained from when I started. For a 30+ person company that was extremely alarming for me to witness. The part that always rubbed me the wrong way was that "They just couldn't handle it" or "This is a start-up" was always the excuse. As someone who has worked for multiple LA start-ups it's possible to feel respected, get hard work done, and be treated like a human. Yes, with a start up you can ask your employees to do things outside of their job description but they can't make more hours appear in the day. It's a dangerous narrative to say that SET just doesn't do things like other companies. They don't and it's not a good thing. From the outside that may seem appealing but from the inside it's an excuse to overwork & undervalue. On a personal level, my mental health has never suffered the way it did at this company. Every day I heard whispers, got called into accusatory meetings, had confidential conversations used against me and out of context. As a professional with over 10+ years, I cannot believe how my day-to-days were spent babysitting the feelings of leadership. SET has clearly built a cult-like community, has great creative, and a unique perspective on marketing but unforunately, its only external as I have personally witnessed the leadership at this company demolish the self esteem of the young women that work for them.
