Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide full-time for more than a year

Pros – Wonderful, friendly people.
Good work-from-home option.
Nice benefits.

Cons – Sorority-based team leadership: you've gotta be "in" with the right leaders to be recognized as a "rock star."
Lot of talk from the CEO about "people are our #1 asset," but the long work hours and the lay-offs every year are hallmarks of a place where *clients* matter most and where budgets aren't managed in an upfront, smart way.

Advice to Senior Management – Decide what your core approach really is: PR? Integrated comms? Media relations?
Don't say you're transparent: BE transparent.
Prioritize other practices as much as you do the Microsoft account.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – The salary and benefits are great in my experience, the office is nice, and an effort is made to make employees feel welcome. Infrastructure teams offer scheduling flexibility (particularly to working mothers). Many great co-workers. Looks wonderful on a resume (interviewers nearly always mention it in a positive light). Dynamite internship program. Great place for the young single go-getter "rock star" to climb the corporate ladder relatively quickly.

Hours provided to volunteer, and many in-house events such as health fairs, etc.

Cons – The biggest and most glaring is a lack of work-life balance, and inflexible scheduling. All teams claim to be the exception to the rule in the interview process, but the reality (particularly on the MS account teams, which is most of the agency) is that the workload is consistently such that a team member can't properly accomplish their assigned tasks without putting in 60-70 hours per week. It wasn't unusual to see multiple team members still working away at 6:30 or 7 pm or even later, and then leave to go home and work more on their laptop.

The leadership tends to be out of touch. Example: One set of VPs "gifted" one of the account divisions with half-day Fridays for a month, "provided all work had been completed", only to be met with snickers from all, who knew there was no way all work could be completed even in a full week. The VPs left at noon to "Set the example" each Friday--everyone else continued until all hours as normal.

Woeful lack of understanding of true integrated digital communications. Their unwavering commitment to the old ways of PR (leadership is comprised of 20 year veterans, account teams of recent U of O grads) and to superfluous amounts of rigid process keep them from making real impact in many cases. This is particularly detrimental given their tech focus, where the competition is often faster and nimbler.

Infrastructure teams are much less glamorous, less often in the spotlight, but also offer much better work life balance. Those teams seem happier and healthier than the account teams, and would recommend them much more readily. Also MUCH more flexibility in scheduling there.

If cheery verbal encouragement and a good financial/benefit bottom line are worth 60 hours of your week, you can grow here quickly and effectively. Otherwise, I personally recommend you look elsewhere to find an agency where overtime is the exception, leadership is willing to invest in the mid-levels as much as the interns, and big ideas are welcomed with open arms.

Advice to Senior Management – The nice facilities, great benefits and verbal overtures about how much WE values its employees make for a great entrance to the agency. The leadership seems to really believe in these ideals, its just that they just never seem to realize that the values are only being lived out in a verbal fantasy world. In reality, overworked talent gets burned out, underappreciated, overloaded, over-critiqued, looked over, and so on. When each new wave of once-eager talent suddenly and unceremoniously departs, management never seems to question why or attempt to curb the tide. Please start to question it--ask why people are willing to leave a job with a good salary in this economy, even if the person tells you they just "found another opportunity". They may just feel too unappreciated. stifled, or insignificant to tell you the truth on their way out.

Also,

-reduce the excessive attention to process over impact, you're wasting talent and hundreds of hours on needless briefings, re-caps, meetings about meetings, etc.
-learn the fundamentals of true digital communications , and then lead with them. You have the size and resources to compete with the big agencies, if you are willing to truly innovate.
-don't let your mid-level people get lost in the fray. They are some of your strongest talent. If you had a way to develop and invest in them as much as the interns, your retention would go up. VPs and Interns are largely the only ones with exposure to our founders, for example. Promote them more--recognize them more, rather than only remembering to meet with them when there's a new project to drop on them or when they are being reviewed.
-re-vamp the annual company meeting. It's not helpful in its current form. We want to meet other teams, interact with top leadership, get REAL answers (not PR answers), and dream together. We don't care if it's messy--but it should have more real substance.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – Excellent benefits, nice offices (even though a cube environment), strong and longstanding commitment to community giving (including paid volunteerism), and robust internship program and international exchange program.

Cons – Notice the recent rash of positive reviews? They may be true but they are also the product of a PR push for boosting employee satisfaction rankings. This is exactly how WE operates: managing perceptions but not truly addressing the real issues. Employees are either brand new, just graduated interns who cycle through the agency and out in 2 years, or are career stalwarts, long-timers with 15+ years. While moving leaders around to manage fundamentally different departments of the company can often bring new ideas, innovation, and energy, more often it is used as a reward rather than a strategic move in response to a business need. Sometimes decisions are swift (like laying off senior members of IT to bring on entry level help desk reps), and other times leadership is paralyzed, not getting rid of bad managers below them who consistently make bad business decisions because it is easier to ignore them or do nothing.

Advice to Senior Management – You are doing many things right, but need to get back to the basics and master those. Business needs to be profitable. Do long-term relationship building with clients; don't just cycle through new accounts. International offices are not for show, they are for business. Make long term strategic goals and stick to them; don't just go through the motions. Bring on external consultants to objectively evaluate leadership, then take their advice. If you get real business leaders in there and you treat the agency as a business instead of a group of friends (some of whom you talk to, others you shun, depending on mood), then you might be surprised at how much real progress and profit is made. Then the story you tell will be the story you live.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – WE is a great place to start your career. You get to work on some top-notch PR accounts, while being mentored by some great people with increbily knowledge and experience. You have the opportunity to do some great things. The benefits are nice. The peopel of WE are the best. I honestly made some life-long friends while I was there.

Cons – One of the HUGE disadvantages of WE is the pay. It's low, and raises and promotions are handled with great secrecy. If you get promoted "off-cycle," you are not eligible for a raise come reviews, which to my disappointment, I found out in my very-positive review. While money is not everything, when you regularly work 50+ hours a week, and the occasional 60-80 (yes, I said 80) hour week, it's easy to realize that there are far better opportunities out there, and that other companies are willing to pay considerably higher.

The entry-level pay at WE is literally only a few hundred dollars above poverty level... Now that I've moved on from WE, to a job that pays quite a bit more, it's easy to look back at the work that lower-level employees (AC-AE) do, and wonder how they are not paid twice what they are. I don't think they realize how much the work. This is why so many lower-level employees bolt after a few years, and why there are so few AEs at the agency. The ACs and AAEs get fed up with their compensation and leave.

Unfortunately, there is no real cure for this. It's not like WE can just start paying everyone 15% more, but it is a big issue and talent is not being retained because of it.

I've also heard of a few managers who have "looked out" for themselves before their direct reports, while avoiding the tough questions about what happened and why things were done the way they were.

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest and upfront with your direct reports about EVERYTHING, even the tough questions. We work in PR, and can smell BS from a mile away. Practice what you preach, TRANSPARENCY.

Current Employee – been working at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – The people are wonderful: you can build life-long friendships here with those who truly care about high-quality work. The company offers flex schedules and work-from-home options - these are necessary given people's large,deadline-focused workloads. Everyone's voice is considered.

Cons – The downside of "everyone's voice is considered" is decision-making death by consensus. It's arduous to get anything done; we're on again, off again with new ideas or new projects. Most importantly: In 2009 when the economy tanked, leadership pledged "only 16" layoffs ... but many more than 16 were cut quietly: here today, vanished tomorrow; no explanations given. That created an environment of fearful silence & paranoia. Then suddenly in 2010 there was a rush to hire many people, again with no explanation as to what magical switch had been flipped. Now in early 2011, we are "belt-tightening" again & laying off a few (quietly) - apparently we were overly optimistic with our spend in 2010. Tough to understand why the company is making investments in India, So Africa ... but cutting infrastructure to help meet revenue goals.

Advice to Senior Management – Better transparency needed between top leads and staff. Engage in REAL and thoughtful planning that doesn't gyrate in wild directions from year to year. Fix the trust issue between the digital team (smart specialists) and the PR teams (afraid of digital; worried about the future; protecting their budgets). Figure out how to truly "be global" - or just be true to US culture.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – Waggener Edstrom is a great place to work for name recognition. People respect the agency because Microsoft has been a long-term client. You don't have to say much of anything else to get an interview/job offer when you have Waggener Edstrom or Microsoft on your resume. The salary and benefits are also not too bad.

Cons – The agency will make promises during the hiring process that it will not keep. Work life balance is a favorite buzz phrase and the more they're saying it the more it's not happening (they talk about it all of the time). I accepted a position that was much lower than my experience and skills would have indicated, but unfortunately I did not know anyone at the agency and did not realize that until I was already employed there. From there I experienced endless turnover in management (it appears they placed me on a team with low visibility which I would never have known from the outside looking in...and no one wanted to be on that team). The managers I had consistently took credit for my work, pretended my prior experience wasn't relevant (though it was agency work, it wasn't for Microsoft!), and generally did nothing to help advance me even though the clients liked me. Whenever I asked how I could get the coveted promotion I had been promised in a short period of time on the way in, I received vague responses, no responses, or even anger that I would have the nerve to ask. Another favorite manager tactic seemed to be failure to pass on pertinent client information (job security on their part I suspect), and then comments about the need to be more "strategic" (unfortunately when client information is hidden it is quite difficult to demonstrate your strategic planning skills). Many managers gave just enough information to do all of the tactical work and withheld the rest. I began to doubt myself after a couple of years in this environment, but when I moved on to another agency where I was the only client contact (and those above me had better things to do then hover and make my job more difficult), low and behold I remembered just how good I actually was...and got promoted very quickly. The lesson? The better you are at Waggener Edstrom the more of a threat you present. If you want to work there, go in at the bottom (you won't be a threat and you'll learn a lot) or management (you'll already be "one of them"), but stay away from the middle.

Advice to Senior Management – Sync up with your human resources team and find out what they are promising new hires. Remember high turnover is expensive (it might eventually effect your bonus!) and the turnover is higher when you mentally abuse your employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – Provides insight into public relations work
Creative people are present
Company hires smart people
Fun atmosphere

Cons – Hiring promises do not meet actual work environment
Focus is often solely based on client satisfaction rather than actual public relations
Promotions and recognition more dependent on personal relationships rather than results
Hours limit ability for personal life

Advice to Senior Management – Start looking at the utilization of hours; it's not sustainable in the long-term
Realize who is doing a share of the work
Management present, leadership often absent
Cost of digital innovation is completely overpriced

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – You have exposure to serious PR with one of the most demanding clients in the world. Waggener has terrific capabilities on the cutting edge (digital, SEO, etc) and if you find the right manager and team, your possibilities can be really unlimited.

Cons – Silos, and a bad manager or a difficult client can stymie your opportunity for growth. Hard work is not as rewarded/recognized as highly visible work - so your team really dictates your growth potential. Despite alot of talk around collaboration, you'll be pressed to find it. I can't believe how difficult it is to find information that we should all be sharing.

Advice to Senior Management – Find a better way to recognize people beyond their manager, who may not have time.

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – If you want to learn how to do PR for Microsoft, but not work there, this is the place to be. They have grown through random acquisition and management doesn't know anything beyond tech PR.

Cons – They were at the top of their game in the mid-90s, but since the arrival of the Internet they have scrambled to catch up.

HIGHLY political company that does not support a work life balance. Expect to be checking your email from 8 pm and 10 pm each weeknight or get dinged in your review.

Ironically, run by an "old girls club."

Advice to Senior Management – Get more involved in the business of ALL your clients, not just the one with multi-million dollar budgets.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Pros – When I first joined, it was a great place to be and learn. As time went on, i noticed a lot of preferential treatment towards certain people and limited opportunities for advancement.

Cons – Certain people tend to be treated better than others and there is a lack of promotion opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management – I would recommend that the senior management learn to listen and not just talk. Feedback goes both ways. I do believe in the company as a whole and do hope they return to the leadership and success that I signed on for when I started.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend