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ALIVE Magazine

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Toxic workplace - Anonymous employee ALIVE Magazine Employee Review

1.0
Jan 6, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great stated mission and stated values. For a time, I worked with a lot of very talented people.

Cons

Doesn't follow through on promises to partners, freelancers, and staffers. Directly, intentionally dishonest to partners. Doesn't pay freelancers or staffers well or at all (warning to freelancers: they don't pay on time, ever.) They over promise to partners, use them for all they're worth. Then they don’t understand when no one wants to work with them. Managements embarks on reckless pursuits without doing their homework or listening to warnings/advice (even from respected industry leaders), then blames the failure on staff "short comings". Really negative office environment; extremely tense, unprofessional, chaotic, and disruptive. Management sets out to turn staff on one another. (I had a staff leader tell me all of my coworkers were bad-mouthing me behind my back. After the meeting, I investigated this claim and all evidence pointed to a calculated move to create distrust.) Management does not invest in staff in a healthy, productive way; instead of paying at or above market value, investing in education, or supplying decent employee benefits, management would placate us with trade and provide extremely inappropriate "professional development" programs in the form of a "shaman", who questions your allegiance to the company in front of the entire staff, or brainwashing/manipulative yoga sessions, where everyone is forced to divulge personal information, that is later used against you by management. I could go on.

Explore other reviews about ALIVE Magazine

5.0
Jan 2, 2023
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

flexibility, communication, benefits, culture, and freedom

Cons

I Wish we were better compensated.

2.0
Jan 5, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working at ALIVE, there are many preconceived pros. The most beneficial asset ALIVE gave to me was resources and connections. By having a title at ALIVE opened doors.

Cons

ALIVE's business is built on creatives and small businesses in the Midwest. That's what attracted me to the brand in the first place, the sense of community and getting stories out about good people doing good things. I quickly learned that this was all a front. I was promised a health membership upon signing on, this never happened. I went above and beyond during events, working loads of overtime, bringing great results, but was paid about $15k/annually under the normal rate for what I do. Besides being overworked and underpaid, the perceived values of the company were not actually being upheld internally. Brand dissonance is a major issue within ALIVE--saying they are one thing but business practices not matching up. For example, ordering food for business meetings from national chains instead of a locally-owned joint, or saying they were authentic and transparent but only giving half truths to the staff and not being true to their values. ALIVE management was not honest with the staff on many levels, especially the state of the company. Management was not up to par, hiring and promoting people based on favorites, not actual management skills, which ultimately lead to my departure. They are not authentic, they are not transparent.

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