Pros
There were just a few pros. One more if you count the unbridled elation I felt as I clocked out and drove home from work every day. Truthfully, the most enjoyable element of my job was the crew of people I worked with during my time in the studio. Our direct manager was good at task managing and her crew was full of hard working and earnest people, AND they were good at what they did. By the time I left, each individual was in their groove and we functioned seamlessly as a unit. As long as training wasn't cut short (which did unfortunately happen a lot), we had the opportunity to train on different pieces of equipment/different areas within in the studio.
Cons
- The entire company had an alarmingly high turnover rate. Morale was abysmal because employees were generally under appreciated and mistreated. - The company overall lacks the operational/managerial/leadership experience necessary to thrive. The leadership is not qualified or poised to lead, and any qualified personnel brought on board to guide the company toward success through business planning and acumen is usually fired due to what can only be described as the willful ignorance and unprofessional whimsy of the owner, who just can't seem to get out of her own way. Company success/morale has always suffered as a result. - Work-life balance during the holidays was particularly awful. In this industry it’s understood and expected that the holiday season will be busy and require overtime, however, the studio crew worked 82+ hour weeks for weeks straight. As a result, many members of the department were under-slept, exhausted, and sick. - As mentioned above, training was often cut short, yet there was still an expectation that you would fully understand a process you only partially trained in. For some reason, you would be at fault for this, despite having no control over the scheduling conflicts on the training calendar. This is essentially gaslighting. - Some staff seemed to enjoy giving employees who worked below them a difficult time, as there was no one to keep them in check. They participated in unprofessional and poisonous behaviors that had no place in the workplace: cattiness, screaming, throwing tantrums, storming out of rooms during meetings, exhibiting personal biases including playing favorites and accusing less-favored employees of stealing or underperforming. They would create excuses from thin air to make examples out of people whom they did not favor -- writing up biased reviews or pursuing disciplinary actions, including termination, for personal reasons. This unaddressed behavior led to an incredibly toxic company culture, causing many people to quit. - Many members of sales personnel, especially management, were hired without the necessary experience to properly carry out their roles, and not enough training was provided to help tighten up any weak spots within this department.