50 Below Reviews

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – The company is on the cutting edge of Website Development.
Our products are always evolving to meet our customers' needs.
The industry we work in is never stagnant thus it doesn't have time to get boring.
The people we work with are great.
The atmosphere is fun, driven and rewarding.

Cons – I can't think of any since ARI purchased 50 Below. The new management is great.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the improvements. Our future is bright.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – With the acquisition of 50 Below by ARI, 50 Below has become a much more stable place to work. It is once again a vital, dynamic company with great prospects for the future. Management is much more responsive, and people are held accountable for what they do.

Cons – Considering where the company has been, the downsides are minimal and transitory. Facilities could use some improvements, which is something that will soon be resolved.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the improved communications, continue to reward and recognize employees for excellent work.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The starting salary is good for the area. The people I work with are a great group that care about their jobs and the customers we work with. Despite the setbacks over the last few years because of mis-management by prior owners, our customer service still remained top notch. That says a lot about the dedication and heart of the employees here who continued to work hard and remained loyal throughout that time. Since taking over the company, ARI has continued to impress and support both our employees and our customers alike. Our company has a bright future.

Cons – Most of the things I would consider cons are being improved upon.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -New corporate management.
-New products that are being pushed forward faster.
-Great stability with a great outlook to the future.
-The people working here really care about their customers.....awesome work enviroment.
-Substantial growth which leave plenty of room for career advancement.

Cons – -The weather in Duluth is sometimes a pain.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the great work. The future looks great!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than a year

Pros – Pretty decent money for the Duluth, MN area

Cons – not a stable company and would recommend looking at other options

Advice to Senior Management – let the management run the company rather than the owners. I think they would be better off.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at 50 Below full-time for more than a year

Pros – The people that are surviving there, the few satisfied customers offer some comfort, close to the lake. Okay, basically no Pro's for 50 below

Cons – No career advancement. Un-qualified managment all around. Business model is very poor. Un-even and un-ethical treatment of current employees. Delayed pay checks are to be expected. The "help force" mentality is basically a way of saying "we are a call center, and we do not care about our current customers."

Advice to Senior Management – .A lot of favoritism is very evident on the sales floor. People feel threatened by this. Treat all employees equally and create a standard that holds true across the board.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at 50 Below full-time for more than a year

Pros – The people you work around, and learning from them.

Cons – Numerous times paychecks have been late in the 1 year 9 month period I worked here, once for about 12 days which makes living paycheck to paycheck 'interesting', not to mention extremely stressful. Regularly asked to hold checks, while being in the lower bracket of salaries is just assumed to be normal. Also, finding out your check bounces days after depositing damages your credit, and there's essentially nothing you can do about it, but take it. Being told there are printer issues instead of getting your check in a timely manner gets old too, especially since it is 2012! And direct deposit is a standard practice for most businesses anyway.

Constant politicing is used to maintain employees' motivation and hope for a raise with a small chance of getting one, even over an extended period of time(1 year 9 months in my case). Not too mention the increase in responsibilities along the way. That is unless you decide to quit, and see what you get offered then.

Highly repetitive work in an assembly line process can be a valuable learning experience in the beginning, but only for so long then leaves employees to burn out and become dissatisfied with their job. Also, the company is structured in a way that allows for limited creative freedom as a designer, and is more thoroughly effective in making you feel like a photoshop robot.

Office environment is rough, desks/chairs are rag-tag and computer equipment can be extremely slow and outdated. Proper ergonomics aren't addressed for a position that requires 'extended periods of sitting.'

Cubicle arrangement was designed to minimize communication between employees, effectively keeping employee morale low.

Overall, this company gave some good experience right out of school and helped me develop some great skills in starting my career. Also, the company has a decent product and could be very successful under the right circumstances. However, as it's currently structured to benefit certain departments and positions drastically more, it becomes an abusive and toxic work environment after so long. One that's perfect if you're interested in politicing your way up, dealing with regular payroll issues, and taking on more responsibility with a small chance for increased compensation in a non-rewarding environment. Best of luck to them in the future, but my best advice for current employees would be to think about a back up plan, and move on when it's time.

Advice to Senior Management – Sell the company, if someone would buy it. Or figure out a way to run an ethical business from here on out, both externally with clients/dealers and internally with treatment of your employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at 50 Below full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great learning Environment
They treat the customers very professionally
This IS NOT a call center, but we really help our customers with being effective on the web

Cons – As the company has grown and experienced bumps in the road, it is hard sometimes because of how the local paper presents the company I work for.
We employ more than 250 people and people really don't know what we do

Advice to Senior Management – Grow additional management skills to deal more smoothly with the growth.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at 50 Below

Pros – There are some amazing people that work at this company, and I learned so much from my coworkers.

Cons – The company doesn't pay well, they don't value the work you do or respect their employees.
They take complete advantage of you in every way they can. They will not pay you on time, and if they do there is a chance of the paycheck bouncing and leaving you with fees and late payments to deal with.
They do not pay their taxes or insurance premiums on time. My health insurance was cancelled and I was left to pay the difference for a period of time until they found a new company which hardly covered any medical situations.
The company also snakes their way around with their vendors. Banks and credit card companies drop them constantly because of unpaid bills or other unethical situations 50Below puts them in.
I have had many challenges due to the morals of the company and the shady ways that issues are dealt with. There also is a major lack of communication between the departments and management with their teams.
The last 3-4 weeks I worked at 50Below there was little to no work for entire departments. This has happened one other time within the short time I worked there. Employees get the runaround about why there is no work and we worry for their jobs.
Aside from the times where work was very short, I feel that I was able to use my talent but only to a degree, a lot of my time was spent trying to work around the restrictions that are in place.
There are cords hanging from desks and extremely outdated computers and software.
The morale of the employees is extremely low. It is hard to even tell people I worked for 50 Below. With the news and talk of the company’s moral and financial situations, it was a very difficult place to work.

Advice to Senior Management – The issue is with ownership, they do not lead the company with the mentality of leaders. They cannot admit when they've made mistakes, and they've made many. There always seems to be another reason for things going wrong… Taxes not paid, checks not given, sales not being made, lack of communication, lies; all these things are huge issues but what makes the problem so much worse is the fact that the ownership cannot admit they have made a mistake, apologize, and try their best to make it right.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at 50 Below

Pros – I had learned a lot in the beginning of my employment. Strengthen my skill set, I would even call it design boot camp. The employees are really the best part of the job. You work with some of the best staff around. They make the job worth it.

Cons – You work for a failing business that has some unethical practices. There is also zero effort to change or improve by upper management/ownership. It is a strictly sales based company. The only way they see the company succeeding is increasing profits. Narrow thinking like this prevents the company from turning a profit.

The work is repetitive and mind numbing. Don't expect something creatively uplighting. Was once told by upper management that it didn't matter how the sites looked, just how they worked. So be prepared to design some ugly and terrible websites.

The pay is drastically below both national/state/and local averages. Don't bother hoping for a pay raise, even with moving to a senior designer. You are expected to just be happy with $30K a year (despite having a degree that makes you an expert in that field). I was even told that if I cared about money, I shouldn't of gone into design.

Pay checks will bounce. You won't always get paid on time. You can't guarantee that your health insurance premiums have been paid, because they tend to also get dropped by health insurance companies. They also tend to get dropped by banks.

Also, the office has a serious mold problem. Plan on getting sick often. It will happen. The equipment is out of date and runs slowly. Tends to break down a lot. Watch what you do on your computer, they monitor everything. The office furniture is a joke. You will be crowded into a small space with many other people.

Do any internet research on this company. There is a lot to say about this company and it is all negative. Many people have been burned and hurt working here. My advice look elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire a CFO or at least an accountant. Chances are they won't because they are doing something seriously wrong with the money. (Considering that they can't afford to pay their employees but can afford to live in a penthouse on top of the Sheraton).

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend