Active Network Reviews in San Diego, CA Area

Pros

It is a very casual work environment. There are a lot of healthy activities outside the organization. Semi-competitive benefits and salaries.

Cons

There is a complete lack of leadership from the CEO down. The management doesn't seem to understand how to run a company. They are more interested in gathering more direct reports than utilizing the people they have. Entire departments are picked up and shuffled to other groups without any thought put into it.

Employee turnover is tremendous. In some departments it was 100% in just a year. Money is wasted on projects that never get started. Resources just sit in the corner never to be used. This is not a company that will empower you to get stuff done.

Management reviews are consistently late and not relevant. They are more interested in attacking you on the negatives than celebrating the positives. No training for manager or supervisors so that they can be placed in a position of success. Several manager where promoted, then abandoned, then terminated because they didn't meet their objectives. This was a no-win situation for many.

No clear leadership or planning. This was apparent by offering a 401k match to have it removed less than 6 months later. It shows poor planning and lack of vision.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a serious look at who you have running your company. Several VP's and Directors are more interested in empires than what is best for your company. I strongly encourage you to also look at the ethics of several of them. If you're going to succeed you are going to need to do a LOT of house cleaning.

If whole departments just up and quit I would not be surprised.

Pros

Good benefits
Casual work environment
Short work hours depending on department

Cons

Management does not have a clue. There is a VP with one prior job experience who believes they know better than all. Most upper management is nowhere to be found. The division of workload between departments and teams is illogical. Some teams need to work day and night to get their basic job function done while other teams come in late, leave early and take 2 hour lunches to participate in the company's Active Wellness Programs. There is no clear direction to the company. Management changes structure and jobs on the fly and then asks "why isn't this working?"

My favorite part about working at this "technology" company? NOTHING WORKS!

Advice to Senior Management

You pay for what you get. Don't ask yourself how you can motivate people without paying them more and taking away bonuses. You want to know why we're not motivated? You suck the life out of us, is why. My favorite part of the day is when I push off work to look for a new job!

Pros

Very interesting industry leading products for a socially conscious field. What better mission can a company have than to help people lead healthy active lifestyles?

Cons

Very political atmosphere that does not necessarily reward performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward results over outside friendships. It is possible to be a great contributor without being a runner. Yes, it really is. Warren Buffet would have been fired within a year...

Pros

As a division of The Active Network, Inc., Active Marketing Group is a digital media and marketing services firm that leverages its direct relationship to communities nationwide to help brands connect with active-minded consumers. With leading online media assets, a national network of partners and deep integrated marketing expertise, Active Marketing Group creates authentic connections that drive brand value.

Cons

services include a wide range of marketing solutions including Online Advertising, Sampling, Direct/Database Marketing, Ambassador Teams, Sponsorship Activation, Field Marketing, Market Research/Consulting and more.

Advice to Senior Management

They have done a good job working with employees to grow the company. I like the management and hop to work here for a while

Pros

Fun people. Fitness-oriented employees. There are a lot of ways to get involved with the company outside of work. Very young crowd. Even though management is out of control, they are very forthcoming and easy to talk to.

Cons

Management doesn't know up from down... policies change on a minute by minute basis. The products stink and we are not competitive with our rivals.
Commission structures fluctuate like the weather. No choices for sales makes any sense. There are policies and procedures in place solely to waste our time.
Scare tactics are used to get employees to overperform. Raises are not granted, and trying to get into another job internally is a complete nightmare. And, to boot, the benefits are horrid.

Advice to Senior Management

Get your act together, Active.

Pros

Growth of the company provides significant opportunity to learn new skills as an employee but the entreprenurial environment still allows folks to see how their work impacts the company.

Cons

With significant growth, its always changing. Hard to keep up.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue communicating the vision and find ways to connect with the amazing, talented staff.

Pros

The company has pretty good potential, and could be a great company if the right management is put in place.

Cons

It is pretty clear that the company has grown too large for the current Senior Management to handle. There is an extreme lack of communication between departments, and the management does not seem to want to approach the issues. One of the greatest indicators of this is the huge turnover rate. Active has a bad reputation in San Diego as a "turn-and-burn" shop. Another area of concern is that current growth has not been organic, but rather through acquisition of smaller companies that are often of questionable health.
The software itself is poorly designed (hence the many dissatisfied reviews from the online community), and the IT infrastructure is outdated and unable to handle the current capacity, much less growth. Security is also a major concern, and one that needs to be evaluated ASAP.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want to create a sustainable company, FOCUS ON THE PRODUCT, CUSTOMERS, AND EMPLOYEES!!! This includes everything from the customer interface, to the back-end infrastructure. You need to determine why your technology departments are in such turmoil and disarray, and act immediately.

Pros

employee culture; knowledge sharing among teams; win-win culture; if you're a problem solver and solutions oriented you'll be very successful at this company. If you need hand-holding you'll never survive. Employees are passionate about sports and activities and take it outside of the work place.

Cons

high growth company which can lead to a lack of focus and unclear priorities; low compensation relative to other companies its size. There's minimum investment in leadership/training for management.

Advice to Senior Management

Clarify divisional strategies, fine-tune tactics, and laser-focus priorities. Repeat as often as necessary.

Pros

The corporate culture is young, motivated, and active...hence the name. You are surrounded by people who lead an active lifestyle, which in turn keeps you motivated to be active as well. Show me a person who has worked at Active for over 6 months, and I'll show you a person who's training for some type of race. Three days a week, there's a boot-camp-type workout that's available to us - and a good 50 or so people take advantage of it. I would say it's the number one reason employees stay with the company.

People call Active a cult, because we all hang out together, work out together, and are constantly talking about our company. Call it a cult, but I call it a lifestyle.

Cons

The company grew really fast, and they promoted people who weren't necessarily right for management. As we all know, a good sales rep does not always equal a good manager. It is a chaotic environment and communication is lacking at best. Training is non-existent and it's really an environment of fight or flight. Employees are not given to tools to succeed - they have to find them on their own.

Also, there are several markets within the company that have been developed without the proper market and competitor analysis. Quotas are thrown at sales reps who are not trained or prepared to be successful. They have to research the market on their own - which would be fine if quotas weren't doled out so lackadaisically, and base salaries weren't set so low.

There is a lack of structure, which is great for some, but detrimental to others. Active can feel like a revolving door - it's a high turnover company, and everyone is alright with that.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees! Often times, employee ideas are ignored. Other times, they are acknowledged, but no one follows through with them. On several occasions, I have seen questioning management lead to reprimand, instead of compromise. Employees should feel free to question quotas, market analysis, and other areas that affect their day-to-day work, without feeling that it will threaten their employment status. It can feel as if management sometimes ignores the elephant in the room; problems need to be addressed and resolved.

The most important piece of feedback I could give Senior Management is that it is imperative to implement a training program. I have seen so many people come on to a sales team, and flounder, because there is no structured training program. I consistently hear people complain that they are not thoroughly trained, do not fully understand the products they are selling, and wish they had more resources. Fixing this problem would make a world of difference.

The other piece of feedback that I think is pertinent is to research markets and fully prepare a manager, before hiring a gaggle of green sales reps to fend for themselves. It seems that there are several departments where the manager knows not much more, and sometimes even LESS than the actual sales reps who are calling into a territory. Sales reps need managers they can go to for help, managers they can look up to, and managers who they WANT to work for. If a rep cares about a manager's success, they in turn will be successful.

Pros

Money, enviroment , flex work time

Cons

Too much work, incompetence of management

Advice to Senior Management

None