Pros
Met some lovely people there. Hour paid lunch break. Good base pay.
Cons
Very high turnover rate. People are frequently fired, meaning every time a little mistake is made, you fear for your job. It’s not unusual for multiple people to be fired, out of the blue, in a week. Deeply unserious work. At best, you’ll be writing dry, repetitive emails with false claims. At worst, you’ll be making up awful stories to manipulate older people into fearing for their health so badly they are prepared to spend hundreds of pounds on supplements. The funnels use clickbait ads which are pure fearmongering and pseudo-science. Even though the pain points you are targeting are very much real (fatigue, arthritis, gut health problems, longevity), the benefits of the products you are selling are doubtful. The products aren’t tested very thoroughly and often don’t work. The promises you make are huge and insubstantial. Even if you do a good job in a promotion, it’s hard to feel proud because the efficacy of the products is extremely dubious. The advertising can be so dodgy, one of the Malaberg brands has had lawyers involved because of false advertising. Reliance on AI. Of course, a lot of businesses are leveraging AI for a competitive edge, but the way Malaberg uses it is unregulated and dishonest. Often, whole pieces of writing will be written using AI and will contain lies about the products, ingredients and benefits. Images will be created using AI which look really fake and sell false promises (like exaggerated weight loss). Jokes would often be made about copywriting jobs being taken away because of AI. Disorganisation. So many people are hired and fired that there is no stability or sense in the hierarchy of the company. Often, I would do a week’s worth of work to someone’s brief, only for it to be overhauled by another person, meaning I would have to re-do everything at short notice. There is a lack of communication between departments which leads to stressful, very tight turnarounds for big projects. When I raised this during my exit interview, I was told this was because of the ‘fast-paced’ nature of the company. It’s not fast–paced, it’s broken. “High agency”. The Malaberg principles champion taking risks, ‘asking for forgiveness, not permission’ and ‘high agency’. What this means is that they expect you to put way more effort than the job deserves into your daily life and come up with revolutionary new ideas every day in order to stand out. If you don’t do this and you don’t become friends with management, it becomes impossible to stand out and progress. As well as this, the principle of ‘high agency’ just means it is frowned upon to ask for help. If you have a problem, you’re told to have ‘high agency’ rather than given any guidance. Culture of misogyny. One of the reasons it’s hard to stay afloat is because of the culture of misogyny which permeates the company. Some of the higher-ups would make misogynistic comments in meetings and get away with it. On multiple occasions, a female member of staff would have an idea and it would be ignored. Then, a male colleague would say the same idea and it would suddenly be heralded as the best idea they’ve ever heard. Lack of work-life balance. When climbing the ladder at Malaberg, you are expected to do extra work and be contactable out-of-hours. It would always be extremely busy, with the general model being to make as much money as possible, even if that means making impossible targets with absolutely no logic behind the decisions. Mental strain. Working here is not worth it. All of this and the fact you’re spending 40 hours a week basically scamming people makes it emotionally gruelling. There’s a lack of support and concerns would constantly be brushed away with the promise ‘it’ll be quieter soon’. The commission is calculated by one of the founders of the company. How it is calculated is a complete mystery, and the numbers would often not make sense compared to the amount of campaigns completed the previous month. As well as this, I’ve heard of them withholding commission from previous employees and also failing to pay it to others. A lot of the positive reviews are prompted reviews by senior members of staff to improve the image of the company. They would rather do this than address any of the problems the other reviews have mentioned. Lack of benefits. We were constantly promised a staff discount on products which never materialised. But, then again, why would I want to buy products which don’t work? Their goal is to hire as many graduates as possible, especially from Oxbridge. It may look good on paper, with promises of high pay and ‘writing for a living’, but don’t fall into the trap. If you can, do an internship or workshop at Malaberg to see if their culture and work aligns with your values. If they don’t - and I promise you they probably won’t - then run. Just because the job market is rough, doesn’t mean you have to debase yourself and wreck your mental health here.