Pros
• occasional sports game or concert tickets • casual attire (except for client meetings) • excellent experience builder • intelligent and fun co-workers • occasional free lunches • very good health insurance (bcbs) • work from home between Christmas and New Years. • $100/mo transit credit The people that work at Brickfish are passionate, intelligent and fun. They're honestly the best thing about working there. Most are easy to work with and many hang out together outside office hours. There's some nice perks that pop up occasionally such as free lunches (usually on someone's birthday), Blackhawks, Cubs, or Bulls tickets, and sometimes concert tickets. Health insurance is great and 50% of the premium is covered by the employer. Attire is super casual with most people wearing jeans to work. You're only expected to dress up if a client is visiting and you're meeting with them.
Cons
• no 401k • vacation is accrued - 10 days, 2 flex, 2 floating holidays, 2 work from home (has to be scheduled in advance) • no HR • management often difficult to work with • organization is lacking • salary is decent but not great A lot of the employees are underpaid which in part could be due to most of them being hired out of college and/or not knowing their worth and asking for higher pay. Other benefits besides health insurance are a bit lacking. Vacation hours are often calculated incorrectly so be mindful of that. HR is pretty much non-existent. I would encourage anyone having issues to speak with the CEO or VP directly - though in some cases it's not ideal and a neutral party would be good to have. You will work hard. Hours are long - from 8:30-5, though it's generally frowned upon to leave before 5:30. If in an account management position, expect to stay longer. Sometimes weekend or after hours work is necessary. Overall organization is a mess. Basecamp is used for a content management system but it has an overwhelming amount of to dos. Account managers are prone to micromanaging. There are plenty of times projects come in last minute. You will be putting out fires constantly and jumping from one project to the next. The pace is quick and often overwhelming. While most people are great to work with there is a high-school-esque vibe to interactions. Cliques and gossip are heavily prevalent. I would advise anyone looking to work here to proceed with caution. It's a great resume builder as you get to work with very prestigious brands, but this is not a place you make a career out of. Turnover rate is very high for a reason ( 10-12 people leave a year ). Make sure you can handle high-stress situations, high school level drama and office politics & working late. If you can handle all of that, then Brickfish is a decent place to work and get some valuable experience.