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Charles River Interactive

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Charles River Interactive Reviews

3.5

60% would recommend to a friend

(24 total reviews)

Mark Desrochers

78% approve of CEO

58% positive business outlook

Charles River Interactive has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 24 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Charles River Interactive employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

24 reviews
1.0
17 Jan 2017

Just don't

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I gained valuable experience working in an incredibly challenging, vindictive, immature work environment. Every job since has been a dream!

Cons

Terrible, micro-managing CEO will always put client needs above employees', hence the high level of turnover. Under values everyone, especially when it comes to salary. Promotions are based on favoritism and passivity, not merit. Hires great people but then doesn't let them do a great job. No advanced SEM tools because those cost real money. Expect to always be on call, whether it's weekends or holidays or PTO. Business manager is a joke. Don't expect substantial (or sometimes any) annual/holiday bonuses.

2.0
12 Feb 2016

Great for Entry Level, Not for Anyone Else

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

CRI is a great place for entry level people looking to just start out in marketing. They work with a variety of large and small clients in many industries, which will teach entry level people a lot about the different sides of marketing very quickly. They hire many people without marketing backgrounds and with very little experience for entry-level roles, but have a passion and willingness to learn about marketing. The team is great to work with and because of the small company size, everyone talks to each other and helps each other out. When promotions are available, they prefer to promote from within. Raises are often very nice. The company often engages in outings for charity work and team building exercises. Half day Friday's and somewhat flexible schedules are also a nice perk.

Cons

The turnover here is very high. During my stay at this company, they averaged about one employee loss every month. For a small company of about 30-40 people, that was half the company. While I can appreciate giving inexperienced people a chance to learn, it makes for a very difficult job for senior level specialists. Their helpers often have no idea what they're doing, and you will wind up spending more time teaching and correcting their work than doing your job. Management is too busy managing clients to lead teams. There are way too many client meetings and internal meetings. You will spend more time in meetings than actually working. While raises seem generous, the fact you are well underpaid to begin with makes it seem better than it is. Unless you are entry level, there is very little upward mobility here. Similar to how they hire entry-level people, they will promote you based on personality when and if they feel like it, rather than looking at skills, leadership, or accomplishments. Many people were promoted to senior and director level positions with only 2 or 3 years of experience, when some with 5+ were stuck at mid-level despite showing exceptional growth. It was clear some people were favored more than others. While employees are allowed to work from home, it's only during extreme emergencies. Otherwise, they are usually expected to take a half day for things like doctor's appointments during work hours. Because clients have preset expectations of receiving things immediately, employees are often overworked and are expected to put in at least 50 hour work weeks to get things done.

3.0
27 Jun 2018

Average at Best

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

CRI was a good place to work with a lot of good people. Overtime was almost never necessary. Come to work, do your job, and leave. Pay was fairly competitive and the company was willing to give raises once they realized you were essential. I did enjoy my time at CRI and learned a lot from my coworkers.

Cons

High turnover - In the time that I was there, 5+ people were fired and 5+ people quit; which does not build confidence in a workforce. Management also left a lot to be desired and did absolutely no mentoring of employees. Not only were employees extremely underutilized at times, but there was absolutely no formal training for new hires. The energy/morale at CRI is pretty negative as a whole too. The employees are constantly unhappy with management and management is oblivious to this and still think they ‘know what the employees want.’ CRI also has a habit of telling employees that big changes are going to happen…and they almost never do. This in itself is bad for morale and really made the employees not trust anything that was promised by management.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 24 Reviews

Glassdoor has 24 Charles River Interactive reviews submitted anonymously by Charles River Interactive employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Charles River Interactive is right for you.