Custom Ink Employee Reviews about "work environment"

Pros

- Team & leaders really care about one another, it feels like my second family - Huge amount of care and respect for our customers - Honest feedback provided, feedback also asked for and listened to - High expectations, which challenge you and make you feel proud of your accomplishments - Comfortable work environment (and we love food) - Solid benefits - You don't have to wait a year for a raise, performance based earnings plans reward you every period if you perform above expectations, which most of the team does (then raises are also given once certain levels are hit, and expectations are communicated so you know exactly what you have to do)

Cons

- We're experiencing rapid growth, which does present challenges like having many new team members trying to learn at the same time - While we're growing quickly, many new opportunities are in different offices and would require a move (all opportunities are very competitive, since we have a ton of awesome people here) - Because many team members join the team right out of college and don't have a lot of other experience, sometimes the way things are here are really taken for granted - The majority of the team is fantastic and loves to be here. Then, like anywhere probably, sometimes you can experience a lack of professionalism or negative attitudes.

Pros

As an adult coming from the mean world of work I have to say that the team environment at Customink is amazing. I don't wake up and dread going to work. Work/Life balance is easy to achieve over here. Benefits for us include outstanding low rates and lots of perks. Food available all the time (no charge for a lot of it) and catered 2x a week. If you work hard your able to over earn on your bonus and there are lots of opportunities for growth. I appreciate everyday what an amazing company I work for.

Cons

Pay could be better, but its a balance. I could make more elsewhere but not be happy in my life. Required OT is at least paid but still required. There will always be negative Nancy types but the good outweighs any of the bad.

Pros

I love being surrounded by positive, good hearted, and talented employees. The work environment is fun and collaborative. Lots of opportunity for internal learning and development. The t-shirt and jeans dress code allows for employees to truly feel like themselves. Very generous time off, plus holidays. Leadership is visible and very approachable. It is apparent that leadership cares. The company is growing rapidly, but does an incredible job at communicating upcoming changes and being open to employee feedback throughout the process.

Cons

Hard to think of any downsides! Custom Ink is truly a wonderful place to work.

Pros

Great inker community! Custom Ink puts a lot of thought and attention into making sure it's employees have a pleasant work environment.

Cons

None that I can think of.

Pros

Everything, honestly! At least at the Dallas location(s). -Good pay, increases as you move up. -Great opportunities to move up as the company expands. -Catered snacks/lunches are awesome! -AMAZING benefits -Ceo is a great guy and loves his employees -There isn't much of a hierarchy, unlike most companies -Fun job and work environment -Somewhere you want to stay for good!

Cons

Nothing so far! -Lunch is only 30 minutes, but I don't need an hour anyway -Because lunch is 30 minutes, you get off early (not a con, a pro - this site won't let me submit unless I write more)

Pros

Love the level of communication and family. They provide the tools, support and guidance but still allow for your individuality to show through.

Cons

I miss the in person office atmosphere but the Company actively supports a Hybrid work environment.

Pros

- Office culture is casual, but sometimes deceptively so. You may wear flip flops to work but you're also expected to know your stuff and kick butt. - Cultural traditions are prized, but never out-of-bounds for a reality check. As a result the culture has stayed pretty similar over the course of my time (from 200 employees to 1000+) or improved. - 99.9% of people genuinely enjoy coming to the office. It's reflected in how people treat each other, and the dedication they put into their work. - Compensation in ops roles is great if you're a recent grad (almost too good to leave), but level out over time. - A truly open, honest, caring environment. I can honestly say I've never seen someone treated differently because of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or age. - Benefits are stellar.

Cons

- The VAST majority of personalities are awesome, but a few sour apples have a large impact, and while upper management is aware, nothing substantive is done (or at least perception is as such). - Two words: Peter. Principle. This is slowly being rectified as the company fleshes out roles. - Most of the hires in ops roles are recent grads. Not having a non-CI work environment to set a standard means sometimes people feel entitled about little things (like snarky Wanna-be-Yelp-reviewers of the free lunches), or don't know how to respond in a 'grown-up' way to the challenges/expectations set upon them. Finally, this is more of a mix than a con. I saw other reviewers say that they feel it's hard to move upwards in the company. This is very true as often roles are super competitive. However, the people who succeed are ones who put their necks out and make their own opportunities. Lots of Inkers seem to feel that simply being good at their current job warrants moving up or out of their departments. Managers are looking for people who are looking to move towards something specific, not just away from their current roles.

Pros

This company was a dream come true when I first started and continued to be everything I could ask for an more even after the first 2 half years of working with Custom Ink. I was challenged, paid very well for what was asked to accomplish day to day, easy to understand and achievable pay structure, almost 100% paid for benefits, extensive Paid Time Off, free meals twice a week, game room, gym, fun caring atmosphere, opportunity to grow, a lot of Overtime, as well as fun summer company BBQ's and holiday parties. The fun, genuine, caring culture was something I did not think any company was capable of producing based on my past experience from corporate businesses. In short I excelled, thrived and quickly felt like I was in apart of a company who truly cared about me as a person and saw what I was capable of when others had not. This was all based on the three morals of Custom Ink, Ownership, Golden Rule and Innovation as well as strategically positioning myself under a smart, capable manager.

Cons

About a year ago we experienced a big change in leadership specifically in the sales dept. and nothing has been the same since. Change is not something most of us come easy by but we all understand that it is necessary. Most Inkers are champions of change and can role with the punches especially when the company is growing at such a large rate. However what is more important than how employees handle change is how the leadership team manages it for their teams. New bonus structures were introduced, which were initially described as simple, easy to understand and for our benefit. The idea was great but the implementation was nothing short of a disaster. Sales employees no longer know how much in bonuses they will make until the last minute before their paychecks are issued. The managers for each team do not have the power to control or make exceptions for their team when situations arise that are out of the reps control such as a spam customer rating an employee low which results in the employees bonus being taking away since they did not have a high enough customer rating at the end of the month. Examples of this are a daily and multi employee problem. When managers went to upper leadership to be advocates for their teams they were met with answers such as No we cannot make an exception and run around responses which did not resolve the issue at hand. Changes to the pay structure were sent out to team without little notice and were heavy in business jargon and difficult to understand. The sales floor mentality of the Golden Rule, treat others like you would want to be treated went out the window and it became a shark eat shark sales environment. Reps cancel other reps orders, they trick customers into placing orders so they can bump their bonus and would use unethical tactics to make sure they had a sizable bonus at the end of the month. When Managers and team Leaders would see this happening on a daily basis and brought it to the attention of the Upper Leadership teams, no guidelines or rules were created. Instead they were asked to provide feedback to those representatives and hope it would not happen again. Custom Ink once was a company who equally cared for its customers, the business and the employees and now has turned into a company who has forgotten how to properly care for the employees. It has created an emotionally unsafe and discouraging environment to work in. The bottom line is the new target and it shows in every decision that is made recently. It looks great on paper but is dying on the inside, and at what cost...

Pros

The relaxed work environment and perks like lunches one day a week are nice. For the most part people are friendly. The office location and office space is great.

Cons

The glowing reviews posted on here sound as if they were written by HR themselves; really fake and overly positive, ignoring the issues that are endemic in Sales Service at CustomInk. Take them with a grain of salt. - Management is seriously inefficient and lacks the skill and intellect to do their jobs properly - New hires are poorly trained. They are nervous and obstinate about taking initiative, and asking the right questions to work learn to do their job more effectively - Constructive feedback/criticism is shunned and you will get backlash for it. "Don't speak up" is the overtone here. Feedback must be extremely polite otherwise you will be scolded. - "Anonymous" monthly feedback surveys are not anonymous at all and are read by management - Pay is a joke and often times your own manager will not know if you are being paid correctly. The standard response is: "we'll look into it and get back to you" HA! - Bonuses are monetarily very small and are very infrequent; no annual bonus of any kind - False promises, lack of a clear path to promotion (favoritism and sexism exists, so those who are less qualified get fast-tracked for promotion) - General lack of consideration and forethought in decision making, further drive morale into the ground - Painstakingly slow process for anything to change, but most changes are not for the better anyway - Plenty of double standards - Focusing on the wrong areas and not paying attention to the areas that actually matter - Heavy reliance on meetings that accomplish very little, which leads to groupthink

Pros

Very comfortable and friendly work environment. People are very encouraging.

Cons

Not for you if you like to dress up for work.