Arch-Con Reviews

From day one, management was not nice to me and seemed to have an issue with my personality. If you had such an issue with me, why did you hire me? They acted like it was an inconvenience to be a manager. I heard them tell HR in the hallway that I ask too many questions on my second day. And they seemed to have such an issue with me that they said to a coworker while I was on the phone and within earshot that they were not going to get promoted because of me. When I was visibly upset after getting off the phone, they gaslighted me and acted like I was the problem for rightly being upset about their bad behavior. If you speak up for yourself here, you get treated like a problem case when the actual problem is them. The gaslighting didn’t stop there. One evening after work, I was expected to stay late and proof an RFP but it wasn’t communicated to me beforehand. It was just expected that I would know I was supposed to this. Having a life outside of work or things to do after work is frowned upon (as the other reviews on here have stated). When I stood up for myself on our project management system and stated I would not do that again without prior notice, I was treated like I was being irrational and “scared” the other team members for simply stating and asking to be told beforehand. The words “Oh, don’t upset her” were even used. So I was expected to feel like a leper for having an opinion and not keeping quiet. It is clear who gets to have an opinion in that department. Around this same time, a guy that I thought was cute mysteriously found out that I thought he was cute. And the way I was treated reinforced the men in construction stereotype. We had two very short conversations in the break room which apparently prompted him to message me on LinkedIn and then add me on Google Chat. His messages were sexually charged and he propositioned me to have sex with him in the office stairwell because there aren’t any cameras and he wanted to go out drinking after a work meeting and have sex in his truck. How romantic. This guy is also married. And even if he were not married, it is still inappropriate and not a way to approach a woman you are interested in. In no way did I ever express that I wanted to have sex with this guy or want him to treat me that way. When I told him I didn’t think his behavior was appropriate, he started ignoring me completely when I saw him in the hallway. I guess I am only good for one thing. I eventually mentioned the situation to management, and it was mentioned that if he were not married, it would be more appropriate (wrong) and that there are two sides to every story and maybe if she asked him, she would say I was flawed one. Doesn’t surprise me. They seemed to have thought I was “flawed” from day one anyway. In addition to being sexually harassed, I mentioned to management that I had previously struggled with depression and anxiety, and they knew I didn’t work well in environments that were noisy. One day management used this information against me and was loud and obnoxious on purpose in our very open office environment. Management played a video loudly while they knew I was on deadline for an article and needed to concentrate. I got up from my desk to walk out and management asked me to come watch the video. I stated that I didn’t want to watch the video, and I was yelled at in front of the team. I walked over to HR and asked to speak with them and said I needed to get a notebook first. When I went back to my desk to get the notebook, management publicly shamed me again and stated if I am having a bad day to not show it to everyone in the room. I never once gave the impression that I was having a bad day and simply didn’t want to watch the video. Management proceeded to yell at me and raise her voice again in front of the team. I walked over to HR and told them about what just happened and also told them about the guy who sexually harassed me. HR told me that what the male coworker did was not harassment since I asked him to stop messaging me. When I mentioned that he was married, HR said some men don’t care about that. When I mentioned he started treating me differently and ignored me after I told him I don’t want to have sex with him, HR said his ego was probably bruised. HR basically just tried to justify his actions and refused to take in a report. At first, HR told me to forward his messages over to them, but then HR backtracked and told me not to. Obviously because they were planning on firing me and if they had the incident documented, they knew they could get sued. HR also told me there was no way they could make a reasonable accommodation for me and offer a quieter workspace for me. Four days after I reported my grievances to HR, I was called into their office and fired on the spot. Management was not in the room and this shows how much of a coward they actually are. After I reported my grievances to HR, I was treated differently by everyone at the company. Management straight up gave me the silent treatment, no one talked to me and one guy came into our office and tried to make me look bad after an event. He claimed I didn’t say hi to him, even though I didn’t see him. Management and I went to the same college and are part of an alumni group in Houston. I saw a mutual friend of ours at an event a couple of weeks ago. He was very rude to me, barely spoke to me and was on his phone texting with someone the whole time he sat next to me at the event. A coworker wasn’t the nicest person to me either during my time there and seemed to want to get me fired and even joked “You are fired” on my second day. I guess to make himself feel better about his conspiracy, he texted me the night after I was fired and tried to express his condolences. Obviously if you left me out of lunches while I worked there, I am not going to go out of my way to have lunch with you after the fact, but thanks for the sentiment. Apparently they do have a conscious there, unfortunately, it is not good enough to make them just treat people right the first time. Glad you have guilt about your behavior, but how about not doing it to begin with or just say you are sorry and own up to it? A decent company would have at least offered to give a good reference or only confirm dates of employment. They didn’t offer that when they fired me, so I have no reason to believe they will say anything positive or just neutral about me to others. An even better company would have offered severance. And the best companies that actually deserve awards, don’t fire people for expressing their opinion or grievance —especially when you voice a concern about a married man who propositioned you and wanted to have sex with you in the stairwell where there aren’t any cameras. Actually, the best companies don’t treat people like that in the first place, thus complaining to HR wouldn’t be an issue. It is sad that certain people get to keep their jobs when they have shown bad behavior while others are held to strict standards. It is also sad that the people who should actually get written up or lose their job get featured in a holiday social media post. Also, their HR unit has viewed my LinkedIn profile multiple times since I got fired. Not sure why they care what I am doing. You wanted me to go away, so why do you care how I am doing? They might have people within the construction industry who are “dying to work for them”, but that is not the case in the marketing world. Prior to current management working there, they had a revolving door of marketing coordinators. All were there for less than a year. The only reason why current management has been there for as long as they have is because they make themself available 24/7 and have no problem with the marketing department being seen as overhead, an after thought and pushovers. Apparently the only way to keep your job on the team is to have a very rich dad who is a developer and a client of Arch-Con’s. Management told a story about a previous employee that she was forced out and said they didn’t like (they don’t like a lot of people). When the employee quit, they told her “I am glad you are quitting. I didn’t want to fire you.” Despite the fact that this person quit, management tells potential employers who call them for a reference that she was fired and is not eligible for rehire. Aside from my personal experience, I know for a fact that they fire people pretty frequently for “not playing ball” and when people give their two weeks notice, they fire people on the spot. Other misogynistic things that happened: 1. The CEO called a Houston Chronicle reporter the b word in our office for not writing about how awesome Arch-Con is. 2. Only women were emailed to contribute to the CEO’s birthday party. They were asked to bake cupcakes and prepare food. When I mentioned it to a coworker, he said “Well, the men aren’t going to want to do it.” Weird because this same coworker seemed to want to be politically correct about everything else. Shows how selfish he is. 3. All women are in lower level positions. The one woman on their executive team is in charge of both the finances, HR and legal functions. She is also asked to take minutes and provide the agenda for their weekly meetings.