Critical Mass Reviews in Calgary, AB Area

Pros

People are great to work with.

Cons

Salaries are slightly lower than other companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Have a closer look at compensation for employees and growth opportunities.

Pros

Great clients, lots of fun people, great company culture, Calgary office space is really nice.

Cons

I have never worked with a worse team of Account Managers and Project Managers. No one seems to know what is going on at the project level. Communication from senior project leadership to the production teams is almost non-existent. When issues are escalated to department management and/or team management there is little to no action ever taken. When employees become disgruntled the general attitude seems to be "love it or leave". Unfortunately many people do choose to leave and the do so frequently. In general I would advise to stay away especially if you are working remotely. Salaries are sub par as well.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate to your project teams and hire some decent Account Managers and Project Managers.

Pros

Great client roster, great people, fun environment. Lots of free beer, a games room. free breakfast and a hair salon.

Cons

Bad compensation, unpaid overtime, no opportunities for career advancement. It really is a sweat shop; they drop you in and work you as hard as they can until you finally get fed up and quit. Then they just hire a replacement. This seems to be just a part of their business model. I used to sit through their monthly "town hall" meetings listening to the BS about how much managment said they value their employees while in reality they treat them like crap.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want your good people to stop leaving offer compeditive compensation. Although I don't think you care because of your client list you will always have talented people banging at your door.

Pros

Awesome culture; cool office; no shortage of beer; fun staff; great in-house perks like a hair salon and a bistro; tons of knowledge sharing.

Cons

Poor performance review system; infrequent reviews/promotions/raises; endless contracts so they can avoid giving you benefits; lots of cliques.

For job searchers, your experience at Critical Mass is dependent on where you're at in your career. If you're a junior, you'll learn a lot and get great clients on your resume -- but you will be overworked and underpaid. The knowledge sharing is great, but there's very little in the way of formal training, mentorship or opportunities for career growth.

If, however, you're experienced in your discipline, Critical Mass provides plenty of opportunities for innovation and leadership. You'll work with some impressive professionals and have tons of input on top-notch brands. But before you sign on the dotted line, know your worth and negotiate up-front. Raises are few and far between.

Advice to Senior Management

We know you're happy to finally be the 'cool kids' on the block, but try to remember what it feels like to be the new guy. The clique-y crap needs to be dealt with from the top down -- don't forget about the little guy.

Pros

Amazing culture, knowledge sharing and environment. Friendly people and always pitching the next best thing. Admirable CEO and work with the best brands in the biz.

Cons

Cliques and crews dictate who gets promoted by who's liked and who's not, can someone say "high school"?

Unfair pay, actually let me rephrase. Brutal pay.

Unfair promotions and scaling of careers.

Do very little to keep good people form leaving.

Ego driven creative directors who have their favorites.

Very poor career pathing, again it's all about who likes you and who you're "in" with.

Mentoring sucks for young designers.

HQ is in cold a$$ Calgary.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop being hypocritical, you boast about people but you don't invest in them, you're a farm team for the pro shops and one day the well will run dry.

Pros

- Best people in the industry
- Endless opportunity to be innovative
- Laid-back atmosphere, no management/corporate BS
- Proud and seemlingly tight-knit company culture (at least in the past)
- Uber-efficient processes and technology
- If you can balance the cons and give up 2 years of your life, it will be great place to list on your resume

Cons

- Poor pay compared to similar positions in other companies/cities
- Complete disregard for work/life balance. CM cleverly circumvents the Alberta Labor Standards by forcing free overtime, with no time off in lieu. Nobody challenged this in court... yet..
- Cliques, rampant nepotism, unfair advancement opportunities, favoritism
- Very high turnover rate
- Abysmally long and complex performance review process
- Cult-like atmosphere. In a bad way.

CM is very talented in exploiting young, easily impressed recent grads who are eager to help and very naive. They will be hired, sucked dry, and replaced. My 3 year stint with CM felt like a brutally demanding internship rather than fully fledged career. On a bright side, this is a place where some will realize their value and learn how not to be exploited for the duration of their careers elsewhere. The experiences at CM will leave lasting mark on your psyche.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your people with more respect, your policies leave lingering bad taste for those of us (the scores of us) who left.

Pros

CM has some of the most prestigous clients in the world, and the bragging rights one gains by working on those accounts is tremendous. Lots of very talented staff, and a great commeraderie among employees. Relaxed dress code and attitudes.

Cons

Pay is terrible. Overtime is completely taken for granted. The best people are worked to death and shuffled off, while those who can schmooze at the office parties are most likely to be promoted. So much potential, but the mistreatment of employees leaves a terrible taste in ones mouth. There are a few dozen people in the "elite" clique, who seem to be "above the law" while the hundres of people who do most of the work are treated like dogs.

Advice to Senior Management

Put your money where your mouth is. You talk about how important the people are, but you treat them like garbage.

Pros

No shortage of lovely talented, decent people. Access to blue chip brands.

Cons

Surprisingly clueless about the conceptual industry, particularly in the cultivation and execution of ideas. Horrendous stifling, defensive and passive aggressive clique(s) that(s) promote the mediocre (who are willing to rut). Huge profits were once made from young hard-working graduates of nearby art college; this model no longer applies to the average digital professional.

Advice to Senior Management

Make an effort to allow individuals to exploit their specific talents; they are willing to make you richer. Demolish the closed fraternities/sororities that exclude most new talent. (Look in the mirror.)

Pros

Many different technologies and top brands to work for. Very liberal style work place. People are very nice. Lots of young people and Parties... Possibilities for relocating to other parts of the world.

Cons

Salary level is lower than average. You have to be able to voice a lot to get recognition. Performance review is flawed. Quality of work tends to average out with entry to mid level people.

Advice to Senior Management

CM tends to believe PR is better than Performance.

Pros

People are excellent and the clients are highly respected.

Cons

Compensation is not at the top end of the industry although the client list is top-notch. Seeing top quality people leave the company is hard for morale as others wonder if they should also leave. Recent departure of several senior management has started rumours that they may know something that others do not.

Advice to Senior Management

If Critical Mass wants to be at the top of the digital space, then it needs to pay closer to the top of the digital space. Management has said that Critical Mass will never be at the top in regards to pay - so how is great work to be done?