PointRoll Reviews

Pros

Great people, great client list. It is nice to know that in this environment you aren't the only one dedicated to your job. Through hard work and knowing the other employees are working just as hard makes you feel it is worth it.

Cons

Lack of knowledge throughout the offices. Main offices makes changes monthly and doesn't inform remote offices. Decisions that are made don't don't seem to have a rhyme or reason.

Advice to Senior Management

Just because you are good at your current position doesn't mean you know how to manage people. Understand how to give guidance instead of firing them.

Pros

The food is free and the non-management staff is a young, vibrant and talented group of professionals who know how to get the job done.

Cons

Shady management, cut throat firings, questionable salary freezes, decreasing bonus structure and lateral unpaid 'promotions' make this the most frustrating employer I've ever had the displeasure of working for. A decreasing bonus structure that was once robust and used to entice new employees to accept lower than normal salaries is used as the proverbial "carrot on a stick" in an attempt to string along existing employees to new levels of "ultra performance." The bonus is based on a mysterious sales 'number' that is often just missed by a couple of percentage points. This ever increasing and anonymous number is always just out of reach. Additionally, over the past few years the bonus has gone from monthly, to quarterly, to bi-yearly, to yearly and been cut about 75%. Meanwhile the lower than normal salaries still exist and the robust bonus is no more.

Performance reviews without raises are facilitated by a shaky and nervous management team with a promise of a brighter future. The problem is that the future of PointRoll hasn't ever been more grim. In the weeks following a recent round of "layoffs" new employees are hired to fill the seats of the long time veterans who brought with them to the chopping block years of institutional and technical knowledge. Remote offices are opened and closed frequently. Mass confusion in remote offices is commonplace as the training staff was also recently laid off after completing a large round of 'new hire' training months after a substantial layoff. Inexperienced new employees are thrown into the vast ocean of complexities while the true "sink or swim" mentality is finally revealed to them. Couple all of this with rodent infestation, a leaky roof, and a less than desirable location and you have Pointroll. Take it or leave it. I'll leave the first chance I get!

Advice to Senior Management

Give the employees the compensation they deserve. In times of greener pastures your flock will desert you!

Pros

Some might say free meal but the lunches and bagels have turned really poor quality.
You can definitely measure how much BS you can take.
I am sure that there are plenty of worse jobs.

Cons

It's not in a great part of town, next to a sewage treatment plant and across the street from a shady strip club. The building is in poor upkeep with vermin, leaks and riddled with power and HVAC problems. No kidding about mice, rats, birds and mold run amuck in the building.
Senior management is greedy and terribly INCOMPETANT!
Lying runs rampant. A lot of blame and finger pointing.

Advice to Senior Management

You've already ruined a great thing; what are you trying to prove now? Give up and go away quietly. Make sure you get your whole face in front of the barrel.

Pros

Great place to cut your teeth and learn what not to do. NY and Chicago offices are fun, good mentors in those regions. Conshohocken boosts committed people.

Cons

Poorly structured support teams, dated technology, hi employee turnover, inexperienced and egotistical executive team, weak partnerships, mid level management burnt out, no real global footprint. Becoming less relevant in the landscape every year.

Advice to Senior Management

Resign.

Pros

Pros? Hmm.. this is a tough category. the only notable pro i can dig up is the freedom to work from home and a few decent co-workers.

Cons

There's a serious lack of competent management here. I still don't think anyone knows what certain departments do day to day nor take the time to care. Employees are taken advantage of and I'm still trying to figure out why new positions are created for worthy people while other hard workers are terminated. There's a serious misconception of this being a great place to work. There are Jr, Standard, Sr, and Team Leader positions in which there is aboslutely no difference amongst the various levels. As a Jr, you're still doing the work of a TL so really everyone there deserves that title. There's also an issue with lack of resources where f/t employees are expected to also be available after hours and the weekends. As though putting in 60 hours during the work week isn't enough.

Advice to Senior Management

Raise the white flag and surrender.

Pros

great company to get online experience, known in the industry as a solid player, fun coworkers

Cons

loosing its grip on the market, too much turnover, factory worker mentality

Advice to Senior Management

rethink pointrolls place in the market

Pros

Amazing client roster. Touching the best creative made by advertising agencies all over the world has taught me a lot about rich media and advertising. Also, the people are great; a very diverse bunch, PointRoll employees tend to have a great sense of humor and a very fun employee culture when time permits.

Cons

I hate the fact that PointRoll acts like new people that they hire are saviors, all the while ignoring people who have been steady workhorses for years. How many times have they brought someone in with a senior title who turned out to be duds?

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure that our technology keeps up with our competitors. We cannot fall behind.

Pros

It is a unique work environment. Most people are passionate about their job and want to help clients. The Chicago office is a really fun place to work and the client service is great. The clients really working with PointRoll and most of the team really cares about what they do. None of the other rich media companies are nearly as good as PointRoll.

Cons

Work/life balance is not really possible. Everyone works really hard but it is satisfying work for the most part. There are errors and you have to be able to handle tough situations. Communication is not always good to all of the offices and being in an office that is not the main one can be challenging.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the people and understand what the teams and clients really need.

Pros

Professional client list, resume builder, rich media technology training,

Cons

Can be highly stressful, long hour time commitment particularly after 5PM and on weekends. Often there's not enough time in the day to fully commit to the processes that are set out by senior management, so unfortunately can result in lots of overtime particularly in holiday season. Definitely favorites played among senior management. However, incredible experience for the short term if you are looking for great clients to put on your resume.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to work on technological improvements that will make everyone's lives easier. Took a year to fully implement a system of - Flash file naming conventions - that would have saved many unhappy clients. Definitely need to structure an environment that fosters better technological solutions and implementation of employee suggestions.

Pros

There are great people at this company. It is an exciting space, with all the cutting edge technology and all. Plus we get to work with really awesome interactive creative agencies. Since the future of banner advertising is looking good, there is job security (sort of, see below).

Cons

Long hours and tight deadlines. I don't think the pay is a good as it should be. The expectations are very high, and people are getting fired or quitting because they think what is asked of them is crazy. Plus they are having layoffs now, which is shocking, even though the economy has started to break. It is stressful.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the turnover. Hire more staff and pay them more money.