Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Reviews

Pros

WE is a great place to start your career. You get to work on some top-notch PR accounts, while being mentored by some great people with increbily knowledge and experience. You have the opportunity to do some great things. The benefits are nice. The peopel of WE are the best. I honestly made some life-long friends while I was there.

Cons

One of the HUGE disadvantages of WE is the pay. It's low, and raises and promotions are handled with great secrecy. If you get promoted "off-cycle," you are not eligible for a raise come reviews, which to my disappointment, I found out in my very-positive review. While money is not everything, when you regularly work 50+ hours a week, and the occasional 60-80 (yes, I said 80) hour week, it's easy to realize that there are far better opportunities out there, and that other companies are willing to pay considerably higher.

The entry-level pay at WE is literally only a few hundred dollars above poverty level... Now that I've moved on from WE, to a job that pays quite a bit more, it's easy to look back at the work that lower-level employees (AC-AE) do, and wonder how they are not paid twice what they are. I don't think they realize how much the work. This is why so many lower-level employees bolt after a few years, and why there are so few AEs at the agency. The ACs and AAEs get fed up with their compensation and leave.

Unfortunately, there is no real cure for this. It's not like WE can just start paying everyone 15% more, but it is a big issue and talent is not being retained because of it.

I've also heard of a few managers who have "looked out" for themselves before their direct reports, while avoiding the tough questions about what happened and why things were done the way they were.

Advice to Senior Management

Be honest and upfront with your direct reports about EVERYTHING, even the tough questions. We work in PR, and can smell BS from a mile away. Practice what you preach, TRANSPARENCY.

Pros

The benefits are fairly strong, the knowledge sharing is frequent and great, the standards are high, and the people are truly some of the best and brightest in the business. It's a very team-centered place to work, so people who like that environment will really thrive.

Cons

If you don't want to do high-tech PR, it's not the agency for you. As much as the agency says it makes investments in bringing in non high-tech PR accounts, as long as Microsoft remains its bread-and-butter client, the focus stays there.

Also, the process for getting raises/promotions is incredibly unclear, inconsistent across teams and largely frustrating for the majority of employees. Compared to other large agencies, WE is slower to promote, and it brings people in at lower levels than they would likely be in at other agencies.

Advice to Senior Management

If they want to keep strong talent, diversify the types of accounts the agency services and fix the lack of consistency regarding raises and promotions.

Pros

The people are wonderful: you can build life-long friendships here with those who truly care about high-quality work. The company offers flex schedules and work-from-home options - these are necessary given people's large,deadline-focused workloads. Everyone's voice is considered.

Cons

The downside of "everyone's voice is considered" is decision-making death by consensus. It's arduous to get anything done; we're on again, off again with new ideas or new projects. Most importantly: In 2009 when the economy tanked, leadership pledged "only 16" layoffs ... but many more than 16 were cut quietly: here today, vanished tomorrow; no explanations given. That created an environment of fearful silence & paranoia. Then suddenly in 2010 there was a rush to hire many people, again with no explanation as to what magical switch had been flipped. Now in early 2011, we are "belt-tightening" again & laying off a few (quietly) - apparently we were overly optimistic with our spend in 2010. Tough to understand why the company is making investments in India, So Africa ... but cutting infrastructure to help meet revenue goals.

Advice to Senior Management

Better transparency needed between top leads and staff. Engage in REAL and thoughtful planning that doesn't gyrate in wild directions from year to year. Fix the trust issue between the digital team (smart specialists) and the PR teams (afraid of digital; worried about the future; protecting their budgets). Figure out how to truly "be global" - or just be true to US culture.

Pros

Good job security, great benefits, well known company in the industry. The offices are nice and there's the ability to work from home when you're more established.

Cons

The pay for non- account (or PR) professionals is wildly low. Upper management is very secretive about future plans or hot issues. The chain of command is impossible to follow.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be nice if there was more clarity and transparency. Also, you can love your place of work, but if we're overworked and underpaid for too long, loyalty will be tested.

Pros

work life balance. great benefits package. 16 hrs of volunteer hours for each employee

Cons

still a bit old school when it comes to PR

Pros

The benefits were worth going to work but when there it was very unpleasant.

Cons

Poor training, poor communications, no consistant process in place. All over the board. If you want to work in a positive environment this is not the place.

Advice to Senior Management

Be positive and professional. It is a job not a competition.

Pros

The people are what makes WE a great place to work.

Cons

Sr. Leadership is not as experienced outside the world of Waggener as i would like.

Advice to Senior Management

Diversify.

Pros

very friendly colleagues
good working atmosphere
strong work ethnic
very organized and effective internal communication
handle multiple projects at the same time

Cons

sometimes the work is very repetitive and boring
large amount of workload that required over-time
difficulty to reach out to media outlets

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more training and mentorship to interns by guiding them through the duties assigned
Facilitate more internal employee bonding events

Pros

People
Senior management is VERY personably; they roll their sleeves up
The secret is in finding a senior exec guardian who will make you be known and will advocate for your advancement
Benefits are extensive, with perks hardly found anywhere else when it comes to connectivity

Cons

Lots of recent senior level departures = junior/mid-level staff confusion
senior management will try and spin the spinners = never a good idea; tell it to people straight; get rid of the "feel good" hype
Too touchy-feely sometimes = gets in the way of just getting things done
Sometimes too much thinking = gets in way of just DOING
Some client teams identify way too much with their client = detrimental when it comes to staying objective
Advancement is VERY slow if you are not taken under the wing of a senior exec = that will crush the motivation of key talent

Advice to Senior Management

Be real - don't spin on bad news, don't say the phrases you have taught us to say = and BE authentic; don't just say the goal is to be authentic

Take a look around and kick the tires at the habits that are well-engrained within the agency when it comes to processes, etc. We ask clients to do this; we need to do it ourselves and CHANGE if we want to grow.

I'd also recommend that Sr. Management swap onto other practices, other accounts, etc. If they have been on an account for too long, the business will suffer and so will those peoples' careers if they only know how to do PR for one business.

Pros

Entice you to work there by paying for you cell phone/internet bills; good health benefits; flex time

Cons

Slow to promote; lack of mobility/talent utilization; lack of creativity; reward/promotion not based on performance/talent, but on how popular you are; only cares about Microsoft, and rest of clients/practices are not important (at least this is the vibe).

If you are dedicated, hard-working and responsible, be prepared to have loads of work dumped on your plate (while your supervisors take the credit) because the culture here is to avoid as much responsibility as possible. I've seen LOTS of people here that do absolutely nothing. Skipping out at 3pm is the norm here.

Majority of senior management based in Portland, OR, which makes very little sense since the company's largest client is Microsoft. Clients unable to have proper face-time with senior leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Reevaluate your senior staff; diversify your client portfolio (for real, not just yelling it out at meetings); treat your employees with respect by giving them real incentives (promotion, recognition, opportunities as oppose to candies and excessive use of exclamation points)--this will truly uplift empoyee morale.