Frontgate Reviews

Management, both executive & mid-level, is in total failure mode. They have a wealth of talented individuals working for them but they have smothered them with micromanagement and unrealistic workloads. Hours upon hours are spent proving work is being completed - hours that could be spent doing said work better. When management does solicit the advice of senior staff, it is summarily dismissed because the decisions have already been made. Understaffing is endemic &, coupled with antiquated systems, makes completing the smallest tasks an heroic effort. In the last 2.5 years there have been 2 culture surveys taken. The first resulted in the implementation of flexible hours & an employee recognition program. Results of the 2nd are still pending. If anyone in management is surprised by what will undoubtedly be overwhelmingly negative feedback it just proves they are clueless to what is happening under their noses.

I was lured to Ohio to work for Frontgate by a head hunter. I was put through a thorough interview and met with the CEO and his number two. Many promises were made and I took the position because I thought the CEO had good character as well as some of the staff I had met. I packed up and moved my family to Ohio from New England. The first day I was there, I found out that the HR person I was working with and was my liaison for introductions upon my arrival had abruptly left the company. My position was not as described, and soon found the the work environment was infectious with a poisonous atmosphere of hostility. I witnessed the CEO berate a young merchandising woman to the point that she cried, and he actually ripped apart the concept piece that she was presenting to him and dropped it on her desk in front of her. The "seasoned" individuals seemed like they were extras from the set of the film Stepford Wives and just did anything and everything the CEO did. Trickle down theory. The company was built by a very egotistical narcissistic individual from nothing to a successful catalog company, essentially purchasing very inexpensively made products from door mats to plastic Christmas Trees direct from China and glossing them up in print and selling them for a huge margin. This success was clearly due to some of the talent that was lured in and soon left. A virtual turnstile there, as chairs never really get warm from the people sitting in them. Future potential employees should give a good hard look at what the can endure and if it is indeed worth it. In the end, this cost me tens of thousand of dollars and my marriage. Want an example of the type of character the CEO has? The day a good percentage of employees was laid off due to a decline in profits they got to witness PT's new custom AMG Mercedes-Benz being delivered to him in the front parking lot. I am glad the employees were of better character than he or he would be six feet under. Honestly I am surprised he isn't yet, but with signals sent to the universe like this, there can't have a happy return.