Northern Commerce Reviews

4.1

76% would recommend to a friend

(69 total reviews)

70% positive business outlook

Northern Commerce has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 69 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Northern Commerce 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

69 reviews
2.0
7 Oct 2020

Proceed with Caution

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- The team is engaged, bright and extremely knowledgeable. - The projects can be very interesting and present fun challenges. - Yearly trip to Mexico. - Weekly lunch. - HR is professional, competent and easy to talk to.

Cons

The Company: - The pay is not up to industry standards, especially now that remote work is the norm. - The leadership team is prone to creating a "boys club" culture and loudly/publicly includes certain other male employees in expensive trips. - Ongoing complaints are rarely addressed at the leadership level. - Inappropriate behavior on work trips or at parties is always excused. - Anything that isn't immediately creating value or profit for the company is not deemed important. - No specific career plans are put in place until you ask for help. - The diversity effort here is nonexistent. The Project Management Department: - Clients can be combative and instead of helping the PMs forge relationships and create a better culture, higher ups swoop in and give clients whatever they want, effectively bypassing the PMs and lowering client/PM trust. - PMO Leader does not fully engage with the team and leaves us feeling frustrated and unheard. - Processes are changed on a dime and rolled out without any clear plan or help. - Talented PMs leave regularly. - A specific group is deemed more important than other PMs and only their input is considered valuable. - Those same PMs are praised for doing the bare minimum, while other PMs are working over 50 hours a week to launch complex and important projects for the team. - Internal training is not a priority, and when PMs try to make it a priority, it is deemed less important than client work. - Resourcing : Ensuring that there are enough resources to handle projects does not seem to be important to anyone making those decisions. We are all overworked. - Projects are sold low, and discounts are given so that we are set up to fail on even the smallest project. - If you want to feel appreciated or valued, I would caution against working here.

1.0
14 Sept 2020

Stay away

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Perks include a $25 bonus every two weeks for food - 5-day all-inclusive trip if you tolerated the workplace for over 1 year.

Cons

- From my experience, lack of clarity around working hours meant some employees worked 4 hour days and others worked 10 hour days. Every minute of the workday is tracked. You press play when you are working and pause when you take a drink of water or go to the bathroom. The rationale from leadership is that “data is important to us” - In one single day, three different employees came to me in tears having a work-related breakdown. - The leadership team allowed an extremely abusive and sexually suggestive individual to freely roam the office when he wanted, drank alcohol publicly during office hours, and there are rumours he pulled a knife on an employee which was caught on security cameras. This individual sexually harassed almost all female employees - leadership was aware and thought it was humorous - Members of the leadership team were heard saying racial slurs on multiple occasions - They boast "competitive salaries" on their website, but salaries are below industry/market average. - It seemed to me drug use was everywhere and was encouraged. - It seemed to me there was an exclusive enclave of men who run the office and all the decisions, even if they’re not the ones at the top. - It seemed to me that diversity was non-existent, no effort was placed on hiring visible minorities in our industry. - From my understanding, there was no internal or external Black Lives Matters statement. - A member of the leadership team publicly shares QAnon conspiracy content and anti-mask rhetoric on their social media channels - From my understanding, employees struggling with mental health as a result of the workplace are brushed aside and are provided with no support financially or emotionally (but employees are expected to call Northern their second home). - From my experience, a lack of internal communications resulted in frequent rumours, particularly surrounding employees who left the company. - From my experience prior to 2020, employees had to ask for a raise if they felt they deserved one and there was no transparency in salary - From my experience, cliques, seclusion and gossipy behaviour were rampant which resulted in clear social silos - Rapid employee turnover (particularly with regards to project managers and account managers) is a symptom of disorganization, lack of direction and little opportunity to progress. Senior positions were almost always selected externally and often resulted in disgruntled talent leaving - From my knowledge, on one occasion, employees had to take a vacation day to represent Northern at a charitable event. = - From my experience, almost everyone has a bad attitude (a symptom of being burnout), resulting in passive-aggressive comments and hostility between teams. - It felt like there was no clear rubric for advancement, creating a sense of favouritism amongst employees - From my experience, management is never around to solve problems and publicly claim they don’t know how the employee management system works. - Under-performing employees were never addressed and were often excused. - Over-performing employees were rewarded with free breakfast. - From my experience, employees were not held accountable for their actions. Instead, there was a culture of 'not my fault' where people are thrown under the bus, belittled and made to cry - Departments are very siloed with little to no communication between them. - The web development team is led by abrasive and condescending personalities. - Upper management would bring in more clients than the team can handle on a consistent basis, thus leading to stress, overwork and loss of current clients - The company was founded on creativity, but creativity is often stifled or limited The only thing keeping me there was my paycheck. And finally, it was all just too much. I was done and I left on my own volition. No amount of money was worth the mental stress and their isolation tactics. I still suffer from nightmares.

3.0
11 Oct 2020

Alright, but not great

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Perks like free lunch, trips, social outings - Mostly transparent leadership - Casual dress code - Some interesting clients

Cons

- Every second of your day is tracked depending on your position - Basically a glorified production line - Very pretentious and insincere, gossipy even at leadership level - Clique-y and not very welcoming socially - No defined career paths depending on department

Viewing 1 - 3 of 69 Reviews

Glassdoor has 71 Northern Commerce reviews submitted anonymously by Northern Commerce employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Northern Commerce is right for you.