Overworked/Underpaid and Frustrating Management - Anonymous employee WatchMojo Employee Review

Thanks. Some of your observations are fair but they do lack context. Everything at the company is based on constant feedback. I take everything people say & use it to improve the organization. Re your rebuttal comment, as people can anonymously say what they want here, it's my responsibility to add facts that are omitted. Do you really prefer a short boilerplate statement from HR or a sincere response from the company CEO? I wish people who apply & work at WatchMojo followed the industry more. Last year our larger competitors Vice, Buzzfeed, Vox all laid off staff. Despite having no investors & relying on one revenue stream, we didn’t & in fact gave everyone bonuses & upped salaries. We're not talking mere inflation-based increases; the majority of staff have seen 10-35% increases in pay for the past few years! But while there are outliers who over-perform, there will be the under-performers, too (who complain here). When someone underperforms, they're not disciplined via demotion/dismissal (despite a "hire slow, fire fast" mindset these days), we put them in a new role. In that exceptional situation, sure, we may not give them an increase even if we're entrusting them with more responsibilities. Judging by your comment, perhaps I should've been less Tony Robbins & more Gordon Ramsey. Each employee provides value but demand (applicants) for positions outstrips supply (positions available). That's how compensation works. We create employment for many & hire a lot of young employees, but as we're not doing Commercial or Corporate work, we may not be able to pay those new staff what they'd like at the onset. That said, how many YouTube channels do you know that hire 50+ creatives (out of an org of 75 people) in full-time salaried positions when the industry's trend is for those kinds of gigs to be contract positions? Ultimately, you’re talking about an organization that has retained 90% of employees & seen less than 10 people quit. Over time, people are content with their compensation & other benefits. How many companies give bonuses to junior creatives? Everything seems like a "joke" to you so to add some objectivity: The general consensus from anyone who's ever looked at our company (including Ernst & Young who awarded us the Media & Entertainment award in 2016) is that we're a well-run company, especially compared to our peers. If a business that has raised $0 in funding can provide employment to 75 people, never laid anyone off, retain 90% of staff & have a general positive work environment is a "joke" to you, so be it. To say anyone is overworked is a reflection of your lack of experience: 99% of people state in evaluations that we have very good work/life balance. People rarely work overtime even though in 2018 media is a 24/7 business (you wouldn't notice it working at WatchMojo though). I guess you left in 2017 but we encourage & empower the team to a) pitch ideas & ii) use the studio (built in 2017) to create originals. We have deficit-financed shows with no sponsors on board at 100% loss. If at some point the audience doesn’t justify it & sponsors don’t support it, sure, we may shelve a new show. That’s how the media industry works. Nonetheless, how many companies do you know where anyone can go to the CEO, pitch something, then get the approval & support to make it happen? Moreover, I’m not sure the “girl” is HR & that whole comment is a bit sexist, ageist & unprofessional. She manages administrative matters; ultimately for better or worse I’m responsible to ensure stakeholders are happy, & that includes the employees. I realize some won’t be comfortable complaining to the CEO but I assure you I care more about people’s well being & development than most HR departments elsewhere. In fact, you make an excellent point re introducing new staff but that’s not on-boarding per se (which pertains more to training, feedback). We have grown considerably but I’ll ensure we do a better job there. We used to literally walk new hires around & make introductions, but at about 40 people, that was just distracting & ineffective. That’s partly why we brought back the monthly pizza lunches once we outgrew the resto outings. We used to have unlimited sick days; it was abused (ditto flextime) and some colleagues complained so we adopted the 3-days. Companies have to cover 25% of health deductions costs, we cover 50%. Wouldn’t call that bad, especially for experience level & industry. I don’t like to let people go, so if people don’t think the pros outweigh the cons & choose to leave, I can live with that and perhaps that’s the method to my madness. Turnover at our rate (< 10% over 10 years) is a healthy but necessary evil as it creates openings for others while letting those who are unhappy seek greener pastures, regardless of whether or not the grass is greener on the other side. Thanks for your contributions while you were here & appreciate you recognizing the many pros.