G2 USA Reviews

Current Employee – been working at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Chance to work with some great concepts on the strategic, web design and analytics front
- Great learning experience across different projects
- Convenient location in New York City

Cons – -The gossiping and name bashing that happens in this place is on a whole different level, but I'll also chalk that up to the workplace in general and the younger age demographic of the advertising industry
- Not as diverse as it may seem
- Groups operate in silos/do not share information freely. What makes this particular point dangerous is that I have seen this trend happen between members of the same group.
- Little room for professional advancement (have to be with the "in-crowd" in certain cases, again, I'll partly chalk this up to general office politics)
- Review system is terrible and forget about pay raises/bonuses
- No investment whatsoever in professional development (classes, certifications, etc).
- No positive reinforcement for many of the more hardworking employees.
- No focus, or understanding of process across many of the departments. This creates a cascading effect that costs the agency morale, timing, efficiency, and in some cases, clients themselves.

Advice to Senior Management – Your business is only as good as your employees and the services you provide. Consider making significant investments in those two things to start.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – Location near Madison Square Park!

Cons – Lack of leadership, communication, talent, process

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – There are some smart people there, sure, at least in the academic sense. I worked on ok accounts. I also picked up some skills that are definitely an asset for what I do now. I made some solid professional connections. Probably the best thing about G2 was its location (New York).

Cons – G2 is a transit shop, as in no one in their good mind stays there past 3 yrs, if that. While I was there I learned more from my own initiative than from any offerings from the agency. The culture absolutely sucks: they place more emphasis on gossiping, name bashing, finger pointing and ghetto politics than collaboration. Trust me, your time and peace of mind are more valuable than any amount of money anyone can throw at you, and G2, at least while I was there was notorious for immature, downright ridiculous office cliques. If you are the type of person that is still stuck in high school and likes all the drama, irrespective of your educational background, then you'll probably fit right in. Truly bright and mature people don't stay long there. Their inability to hold clients testifies to that. I have no regrets about my decision to resign from them and move on to better things.

Advice to Senior Management – Teams in offices usually take on the traits of their leaders. Your leaders, at least while I was there, sucked. Smart, yes, but no leadership backbone whatsoever (there were one or two that I respected). More than anything, work on redefining your culture. Stop promoting people based on favoritism. Work on increasing the personal space for your employees, and stop having them sit so close together. Work on hiring people who more than anything truly know how to collaborate and function in a team environment, and not insecure ego maniacs who proactively spread rumors and character assassinate for their personal gain.. Beef up your HR team and have them be more visible in the office. Encourage your leadership to place more stock in their subordinates on personal and professional levels. Promote a culture that frowns on office cliques.

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

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA full-time

Pros – Casual, relaxed atmosphere. Great location.

Cons – Many employees feel completely undervalued and go unrewarded. Many managers are out for personal gain at the expense of team members, so sucking up and playing politics wins out over hard work and talent. Company lacks communication and a cohesive work environment.

Advice to Senior Management – Communicate. Respect your team. Eliminate favoritism based on politics or personality preferences. Recognize good work and promote/reward accordingly. Look for and value feedback from team members regarding work related issues.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – There are many great creatives and sharp and professional account people who make the work day tolerable. They do 401K matching and provide healthcare insurance.

Cons – Often not sure of who was really in charge. Chaos. Disorganized. No accountability for those who did not pull their weight or failed to deliver.

Advice to Senior Management – Check in with your staff and really listen. Yes, you have your own work to manage. But you also have to connect with your team and provide leadership.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at G2 USA full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – G2 has some very bright and talented people across a range of disciplines...

Cons – ...but the upper management that oversees creative, strategy, and new business will be their ultimate downfall.

Advice to Senior Management – They need to find upper management that can actually work together and not act like a bunch of entitled spoiled brats.

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

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – New G2 TAG training system

Cons – Few opportunities for growth and advancement

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Nice offices. Good location. There are pockets of truly talented and dedicated people there. Good variety of interesting brands and clients.

Cons – They have lost a lot of great people and a lot of clients. Very large agency that is segregated amongst disciplines with a lot of finger pointing and little unity. Upper management seem to live in an insular dreamland and are visible to only a very few. Pay is crap. Hours are long.

Advice to Senior Management – Put plainly, you aren't very good. Try something else.

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

Current Employee – been working at G2 USA full-time for more than a year

Pros – G2 analytics has come a long way while i've been there, and the ability to custom engineer products and build new services has definitely been a great opportunity. We've been able to build some very advanced capabilities and within the analytics group we have strong support.

It's been a very positive experience and there have been many times where i've been extremely proud of what has been accomplished.

Cons – Upper management can't seem to get out of there own way. Departments are siloed, and you feel like you are constantly battling internally over every little detail. Account and project management teams seem very redundant and both groups seem to think that they should have the final say in any project at any time. Client access is generally restricted, which leads to a very difficult development cycle, and more than once, ended up with subpar deliverables because account teams were not equipped to communicate technical information.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop in-fighting and integrate the departments. Create synergy not animosity, and don't be afraid to try new things. Invest a little capital into the company and create some new capabilities, G2 is well positioned in the industry to take over emerging areas in digitial, but that won't last.

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

Former Employee – worked at G2 USA as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – The pay is competitive and you work with amazing people. Agency work isn't for the faint and especially not in NYC. Work can be long and hard, but it depends on what department you're in. The office is in a great location.

Cons – It's a big agency, so lots of people coming and going and so sometimes it's hard to make a connection with folks. As a contractor, it's even harder because I'm guessing that people are so used to seeing new faces that they don't really bother to try to get to know you. Sometimes it's hard to stand out in the crowd. There are some young people there who have only worked at Grey and only know that way, so they aren't the nicest, but that's the exception.

Advice to Senior Management – I would do a bit more to welcome people and create a more personal work environment. It really was just a job to me.

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