Pros
The best thing about the company was probably the discretionary time off policy (DTO) — instead of the usual PTO. But looking back, I really regret not taking better advantage of it. I was so burnt out that I just kept working, thinking I needed to be constantly available, but it was all just a hamster wheel.
Cons
Working at Shutterfly was honestly a nightmare. The leadership was completely out of touch with what was actually going on in the creative departments. The higher-ups had zero clue how to actually do creative work, yet they were always quick to take credit for anything that came out right. Meanwhile, they'd throw their teams under the bus for anything that didn’t go perfectly. The worst part? Three rounds of layoffs, yet the expectations for higher-level work just kept getting more and more unreasonable. They kept cutting staff while expecting us to do the same amount of work, if not more, without even considering the impact.
The company also went through five rebrands in three years — all for creative work. Five! It was like every other month they’d change the direction, make us redo everything, and then expect it to be perfect. Talk about exhausting and frustrating. There was zero consistency, and we were always scrambling to keep up with shifting priorities.
And don’t even get me started on the raises — or lack thereof. We didn’t get a single raise for THREE YEARS, despite having to work harder and harder every year. The expectations just kept climbing, but there was zero recognition or compensation for it. To top it off, we’d get these little care packages in the mail — just tea and coffee — like they were rewarding us for the extra hours we were putting in reworking everything that came down from the top. I guess they thought the caffeine would help us stay up later to fix their mistakes.
Some of the creative leads were the absolute worst. They micromanaged everything, but when something went wrong, they were quick to blame the team. Never took accountability for their mistakes. The whole place was drenched in that passive-aggressive Midwestern politeness mixed with condescending speech. It was like they were too scared to give direct feedback, so they'd just throw little jabs instead.
And then there was the CEO, who was completely out of touch with what was really happening on the ground. They kept hiring leaders who were MIA most of the time, only to reappear to deliver the bad news, like layoffs or the latest disappointing financial results. It felt like no one had a real grip on what was going on, and they were just playing damage control all the time.
Honestly, it was a mess. It felt like they were setting people up to fail while expecting miracles with fewer resources. If you're looking for a place that actually cares about its employees, look somewhere else.