Without wasting too much time on such a bad company I want to give a few points to stop anyone who’s being sucked in and to save themselves from such a toxic environment:
The company prides themselves on looking after their employees mental health, even giving a ‘mental health hour’ back per week. Now I never found myself pushed to this point cause I knew they weren’t worth it, but within one week of working there I saw 3 people crying in the office from stress. Many of my friends still there are working till the late hours of the evening just to get the unreasonable work load done and say they feel under appreciated and like they could be replaced any second, making them feel on edge and anxious all the time. You really don’t quite realise how bad it is until you’re out of there and in a much better situation, hence why I can see it’s difficult for them to leave because it does on the face of it seem a ‘cool’ place to work. Numerous stories about people having to take mental health breaks and time away because of the work, there are some gorgeous souls that work there and have just been ruined by the company.
They have a super high turn over of staff which speaks volumes, very few have been there for more than two years or more and employees are culled without a thought for them. The work you did was never enough, the work you presented and spent hours on barely ever got a positive word of appreciation and sometimes who you were showing spent more time looking at their phone. It isn’t a company you can grow with, it’s a one strike and you’re out mentality.
Staff are severely underpaid, and when they’ve asked for pay rises life has been made very difficult for them to get it, along with promotions. If you want to progress at snail speed then this is the place for you.
So many stories that I’ve heard even after leaving that shows the company is exactly the same, the cherry on top is things that were assuringly said to be ‘told in confidence’ were told to other members of staff, making my friend feel very awkward in the environment now. The whole place is so disjointed but everything is blamed on it ‘being a start up’…
I was treated awfully at the end of my time at Papier and would never recommend any creative to work there, since leaving and telling my experience other creatives have actually said they’ve heard that about them so hopefully the word will continue to spread.
They have a wholesome Instagram look and fake brand image, don’t fall for it, history continues to repeat itself within the company. I’m just happy and very lucky to be in the most incredibly amazing team in my new job. At the end of the day, it’s just notebooks guys, nobody should be treated so badly, have such poor mental health / breakdowns in the company over …notebooks.
