Organic Reviews

Pros

It's a family. Everyone has opportunity.

Cons

It's a little disorganized. We don't have a distinct identity as a company.

Advice to Senior Management

Decide who Organic wants to be and market accordingly.

Pros

- Great work life/ home life balance
- Great about working from home
- Good salary
- Pleasant atmosphere and people in the office, very family oriented
- Office staff very helpful for newcomers - pleasant surprises include veggie day on Thursdays, fruit day on Tuesdays, bagel/ donut day on Wednesdays
- Opportunity to grow management skills, opportunity to take on new projects and roles

Cons

- No formal training for employees upon arrival. Sometimes this is okay but not to the point where you have a hard time learning about your new responsibilities, it can be limiting and makes it difficult to get up to speed
- Extremely laid back with not many processes in place - sometimes this can be a hinderance instead of being refreshing
- The account our team worked on was lost, so our entire team is being let go

Advice to Senior Management

- There was a lack of communication when our team was told about the loss of the business and transition plans, etc. Whether or not management was in the dark with the rest of us, there should have been at least some sort of communication about what was going on and how much was known or not known
- The best way for rumors to start flying is by not communicating at all - this happened constantly because communication was not what it could have been
- There were so many talented employees, it is a shame for this to happen and not have any plans to continue offering media or other client services in quite the same way

Pros

- Good healthcare benefits for full-time employees
- Good business development efforts to win new clients
- Ability to work with some talented team members across all departments
- Good opportunities to work on some challenging projects

Cons

- A lot of "management" levels for such a relatively small company, and it's unclear what they do or what value they add for the clients or project delivery
- Lack of clear repeatable processes for "exceptional" delivery
- Second rate, cramped office space with outdated equipment
- Seemingly random promotions for ineffective

Advice to Senior Management

Help support the people actually delivering the work a little more with managers who know how to collaborate, motivate teams, and can set client expectations appropriately.

Pros

Organic is a great working environment. It is very fast paced with great learning growth. With the tools and skills you learn in this environment, you are prepared to work anywhere.

Cons

Due to economic downturns, like the majority of businesses, the money belt has had to be tightened.

Pros

Fun, startup vibe of the agency
The talent team brings in great people; I've made friendships that I will stay in contact with. They made the job fun even when things were bad.

Cons

Lack of funding/resources to produce the results Senior Management wants
No room for advancement
Lots of talk, but little action

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership at Organic really needs to embrace the values they established (specifically collaboration) and lead by example.
Value your employees.

Pros

Great people, great culture
I met some people that I will likely stay in touch with and be friends for many years to come

Cons

Top down failure to build strong relationships with clients
Lack of strategic vision - from a business and people perspective
Too slow to change the structure of the organization to reflect the realities of change in the industry
Myopic view of business development (mostly chasing RFPs and AOR relationships) - not very good at building real solid relationships with larger client at senior levels
Process is undifferentiated and poorly documented
Overall, learned a lot of what doesn't work

Advice to Senior Management

Take a very good hard look at the vision, mission and values of the company - but this time be more consultative and involve the staff of Organic so that it matches the true nature of the organization (and no Carebears this time). Solidify the process in a practical way - not just the philosophy; it needs to be operationalized in such a way that everyone embraces it.

Form more face to face relationships with your clients - be where the client is, have people on the ground and align people to their business.

Stop managing by finances alone - sales/revenue takes care of most of the business issues that plague you now. If Organic spent more time thinking about the softer side of the account (the relationship, the strategy, politics etc.) and less about how to manage retainers, the benefit would far outweigh the risk.

Pros

- Good leadership team
- Collaborative, sharing environment with not much of an overly competitive environment
- Profitable
- Good work life balance
- Great company culture
- Bagel Wednesdays and Beer bashes
- Solid work comes out of here that addresses both business goals and consumer needs
- Constant workshops and trainings to better employees

Cons

- Not great for entry-level learning, though more than fair in promoting and increasing salary
- Will try to low-ball you in your offer
- Grows and shrinks rapidly - many contractors/freelancers that come and go
- Not great about giving feedback on work and performance
- Not the most creative agency out there

Advice to Senior Management

Doing a good job of turning things around at the agency. Still have a ways to go however. Keep rewarding those who deserve it and keep the long-term vision in mind.

Pros

The people at Organic are ambitious and creative. There is a lot of great opportunity to work on some very high profile clients.

Cons

There is a lot of great thinking that never gets beyond the tissue session. Middle management are often the obstacles to work getting presented to upper decision-makers and ultimately out the door.

Advice to Senior Management

Organic is very structured and there are some good processes in place. However middle management seems to be afraid to take risks or break from formulaic work.

Pros

Professional, courteous people who are best-in-class at what they do.

Cons

Depends on the office and the clients. A lot of Bank of America, which can be good for some folks but not forever. Leadership is not always decisive about how we will get to the future they have envisioned, but the vision is right.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay close to your junior staff. Make sure to motivate them and give them a career path that excites them. Don't treat them like people you can churn.

Pros

Opportunity to work on high $ value account; if on an interesting project the work can be interesting and you will get a chance to shine.

Cons

I've never seen a more politically infested organization. There is no 'cross network' collaboration, it's a constant battle between offices, teams and disciplines. Morale is the worst I have ever seen in a company with no clear direction on how to get past that--guess what, free bagels and beer once a week don't fix months of people fleeing, bad hiring decisions and political decisions that are mind boggling.

Advice to Senior Management

Revamp how work is spread across offices; get sr. mgmt working between offices as a mandatory so that they can see how things are actually running.