Pros
Some of the people are nice, good if you are looking for entry level work
Cons
My experience with Annex can be summarized in these words: burnout, severe gaslighting and abusive. This company has a history of favouritism, the condoning of abusive behaviour and a lack of accountability. When I was first hired, I was told by a number of employees that my manager had a history of being abusive and aggressive, as a warning for what was to come. Even with their warnings, I was not prepared for the onslaught of abuses that came in the form of constant screaming, unjustified blame, and unrealistic demands that I was blamed for when they could not be met. There were also numerous occasions of verbal abuse, gaslighting and harassing behaviour. This manager caused me great emotional distress during my time at Annex, for which I sought professional help for. While it is easy to place blame on this abusive manager, this individual wasn’t the biggest problem. It’s the people in upper management who propped this individual up and allowed them to be abusive. When I finally reported this abusive behaviour to HR with detailed documentation of incidences, dates and eyewitnesses, nothing was done and this manager faced little to no accountability. In fact, he got a salary increase and continued to be paraded around like the best thing since sliced bread. Ultimately, this company cares more about revenue than the well-being of their employees. As evident from other reviews here, Annex does not pay their employees well, and the benefits package is measly. Some editors make as little as $38,000, which does not reflect the cost of living in Toronto. Staff are often tasked with overseeing three or more publications at once, and they are not given a pay increase that adequately reflects the work that they are doing on any given day. Annex also does not pay staff for overtime and is often reluctant to compensate staff for in lieu of time. This is especially troubling, given how much of an unrealistic workload Annex burdens employees with. Employees often have to cover events outside of working hours, or are expected to come into the office on the weekend to catch up on the workload, and receive no compensation for it. Do not let this company’s constant advertising of their “Women In…” events fool you – this company does not treat their female employees with the same amount of respect and dignity that they give their male employees. Female employees are paid significantly less than their male counterparts who have similar roles, and even some with less experience. This company would rather hire a man that has no journalism or sales experience than promote a woman who has been with the company for years, and has years of experience. You will be told you are not qualified enough to be promoted, but somehow qualified enough to train the useless man they hired for that same role. This company is sexist at its core, and it shows. I do not recommend this company, at all.
