Critical Mass Reviews

Pros

Big name accounts, challenging work, fun relaxed environment

Cons

Sometimes aimless or not thought through on plans

Advice to Senior Management

Need better communication between offices

Pros

Surrounded by smart coworkers in a fun working environment.

Cons

Limited opportunity for advancement and career growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more opportunities for career development and advancement.

Pros

The people are great and fun.

Cons

Bad project planning and management and employees expected to work their butts off to make up for it. No emphasis on career growth. Favouritism and cliques.

Advice to Senior Management

Evaluate people on more than just hours worked. Plan for the future instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Pros

great culture. great work. little hierarchy.

This company is a fit in or eff off kind of place- which in my mind is a good thing. People need to understand that only they can make their own future, work hard, bring great ideas to the table and push relentlessly to be the best in your own class. The company recognizes people for that level of effort. Complacency is unacceptable.

Cons

Having a billable hour based business model makes it difficult to explore new ideas unless they are approved by a client's budget. I think this is the biggest issue there- but one that most organizations recognize as a barrier to innovation.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people. They are your greatest advocates and assets. Show them the reasons why you make the decisions you do and reward them when they help make the company great.

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

There used to be some amazing people at CM Toronto, and there still are a handful that, in my opinion, are some of the best in the industry. These people made you feel confident that you were part of something special; that you were part of a team that was designing and creating outstanding products.

Cons

There is a "changing of the guard" that is occurring at the senior management (director and VP) level. Managers from another Toronto agency are establishing a new leadership team in Toronto. For better or for worse, this is causing an inevitable exodus of the old guard. Both managers and front-line staff are looking to other opportunities, as they witness the end of a "golden age" of CM Toronto.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize that you're bleeding people. Don't just see it as an opportunity to bring in your own people. You are squandering the potential of working with a new group of peers and subordinates, who can offer you new perspectives at approaching problems. Above all, communicate openly about the challenges of a brand new leadership team integrating into a group of fairly well-established front-line staff. Work together with the staff, and be willing to concede and compromise just as much as the staff are compromising. The staff that are sticking it out will most likely not be able to advance their careers at a regular pace, as you (the new leadership group) are trying to figure out how to run your new agency. Don't think that they understand the difficulties you're facing. Talk. To. Them.