WatchMojo Reviews

Dear former Employee, A media/content company's greatest asset are its employees. Since we cover pop culture & entertainment, we are one of the rare businesses where a lack of experience isn't frowned upon. We tend to recruit people whose skill sets do not generally lead to full-time salaried work. As such, to ensure we serve our young audiences well, we recruit a lot of young recruits and deficit-finance our programming. As we are overwhelmed with resumes and CVs, we offer competitive benefits in terms of vacation time and health benefits (no benefits, really? thankfully you've never had a long term injury), but when hiring people with little to no experience or out of school, indeed we favor "missionaries over mercenaries." We're arguably also one of the few content companies who not only have so many full-time employees who are writers, editors, creatives also participate in the company's profit share program! At a time when media companies are transitioning full timers into contract workers, or laying people off, I'm proud to announce that we have never had a single layoff. Not mentioned in your critique is the reality that all original 5 founders remain, we have very low turnover and most freelancers rely on us for their full time live employment; that reflects most people's job satisfaction wrt overall compensation we provide in terms of work/life/play balance. But by hiring young and inexperienced staff, sometimes we recruit individuals who think they are better than others, who refuse to take constructive feedback when they fail to meet expectations (for the record, there's no punishment or quotas at the company, we set targets and accommodate when they're not hit). I'm unsure if you think I'm a dictator or in selectively venting to a significant other they think I'm one, but by most entrepreneur standards, I'm tame. But yes, I don't tolerate people i) refusing to learn and improve when they aren't meeting expectations, or ii) who think they are better than others/have clique mindset despite no track record to speak of, then so be it, I can live with that label. However, the fact that our editorial is driven by a fairly democratic suggestion tool & employee-consensus does negate that label/accusation, so perhaps that "dictator" sentiment may be a reflection of your ideas just not being as good as others' in the company. Even then, in ten+ years of running WatchMojo, I've rarely raised my voice at anyone's direction, but yes, I do get upset when the Product or Processes are affected by one's lack of focus or professionalism. I run the business passionately as if I ran a sports team but treat everyone like family. After the diplomatic communications & constructive criticism goes in one ear and out the other, the harsh reality is sometimes, "someone's gotta do the yelling" because the rest of the team is working passionately and recognizing the opportunity, and the laggards hurt the organization, complaining but failing to offer solutions. So believe it or not, a true leader steps up and calls it like it is. Most people welcome that, you may not. But no one's obligated to be a member of our team. Anyone that has spent any time in any other organization will attest that we have a very diplomatic, laid back culture. And are you sure you worked at WatchMojo? The Montreal HQ? I personally urge balance and the office is pretty much a ghost town past 6pm and weekends... Yes, occasionally people may have projects to complete but this whole complaint about "work around the clock, over time, nights, weekends" is patently false. Let me finalize by stating that the fact that experienced, seasoned veterans from outside approached to join and choose to work with me/us, turning down other opportunities at our US-based competitors again speaks for itself. We do promote from within, we hired students out of school who today are VPs and managers. But if you were overlooked for a position that went to an outsider, then it may worthwhile to also look in the mirror and ask yourself why instead of blaming others. To conclude, I appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback, I only wish you would have done so in person so we can actually have a conversation. You know my inbox/door is always open and available. You're welcome to vent and discuss what you wish your future trajectory to be and as others have grown, you will too.

Thanks. Some of your observations are fair but they do lack context. Everything at the company is based on constant feedback. I take everything people say & use it to improve the organization. Re your rebuttal comment, as people can anonymously say what they want here, it's my responsibility to add facts that are omitted. Do you really prefer a short boilerplate statement from HR or a sincere response from the company CEO? I wish people who apply & work at WatchMojo followed the industry more. Last year our larger competitors Vice, Buzzfeed, Vox all laid off staff. Despite having no investors & relying on one revenue stream, we didn’t & in fact gave everyone bonuses & upped salaries. We're not talking mere inflation-based increases; the majority of staff have seen 10-35% increases in pay for the past few years! But while there are outliers who over-perform, there will be the under-performers, too (who complain here). When someone underperforms, they're not disciplined via demotion/dismissal (despite a "hire slow, fire fast" mindset these days), we put them in a new role. In that exceptional situation, sure, we may not give them an increase even if we're entrusting them with more responsibilities. Judging by your comment, perhaps I should've been less Tony Robbins & more Gordon Ramsey. Each employee provides value but demand (applicants) for positions outstrips supply (positions available). That's how compensation works. We create employment for many & hire a lot of young employees, but as we're not doing Commercial or Corporate work, we may not be able to pay those new staff what they'd like at the onset. That said, how many YouTube channels do you know that hire 50+ creatives (out of an org of 75 people) in full-time salaried positions when the industry's trend is for those kinds of gigs to be contract positions? Ultimately, you’re talking about an organization that has retained 90% of employees & seen less than 10 people quit. Over time, people are content with their compensation & other benefits. How many companies give bonuses to junior creatives? Everything seems like a "joke" to you so to add some objectivity: The general consensus from anyone who's ever looked at our company (including Ernst & Young who awarded us the Media & Entertainment award in 2016) is that we're a well-run company, especially compared to our peers. If a business that has raised $0 in funding can provide employment to 75 people, never laid anyone off, retain 90% of staff & have a general positive work environment is a "joke" to you, so be it. To say anyone is overworked is a reflection of your lack of experience: 99% of people state in evaluations that we have very good work/life balance. People rarely work overtime even though in 2018 media is a 24/7 business (you wouldn't notice it working at WatchMojo though). I guess you left in 2017 but we encourage & empower the team to a) pitch ideas & ii) use the studio (built in 2017) to create originals. We have deficit-financed shows with no sponsors on board at 100% loss. If at some point the audience doesn’t justify it & sponsors don’t support it, sure, we may shelve a new show. That’s how the media industry works. Nonetheless, how many companies do you know where anyone can go to the CEO, pitch something, then get the approval & support to make it happen? Moreover, I’m not sure the “girl” is HR & that whole comment is a bit sexist, ageist & unprofessional. She manages administrative matters; ultimately for better or worse I’m responsible to ensure stakeholders are happy, & that includes the employees. I realize some won’t be comfortable complaining to the CEO but I assure you I care more about people’s well being & development than most HR departments elsewhere. In fact, you make an excellent point re introducing new staff but that’s not on-boarding per se (which pertains more to training, feedback). We have grown considerably but I’ll ensure we do a better job there. We used to literally walk new hires around & make introductions, but at about 40 people, that was just distracting & ineffective. That’s partly why we brought back the monthly pizza lunches once we outgrew the resto outings. We used to have unlimited sick days; it was abused (ditto flextime) and some colleagues complained so we adopted the 3-days. Companies have to cover 25% of health deductions costs, we cover 50%. Wouldn’t call that bad, especially for experience level & industry. I don’t like to let people go, so if people don’t think the pros outweigh the cons & choose to leave, I can live with that and perhaps that’s the method to my madness. Turnover at our rate (< 10% over 10 years) is a healthy but necessary evil as it creates openings for others while letting those who are unhappy seek greener pastures, regardless of whether or not the grass is greener on the other side. Thanks for your contributions while you were here & appreciate you recognizing the many pros.