Great people, antiquated management style. - Anonymous employee Wright Business Graphics Employee Review

Unfortunately, my experience overall working here was not good. They hired me at less than I wanted, with a promised raise at ninety days. This never happened, and in my nearly 3 years there, I only received one very small raise, even though I was regarded as the new star employee in my first year there. The problems I had with Wright were primarily in middle mgmt. My co-workers were all fantastic, and the CEO was/is a very kind and approachable person. Middle mgmt, however, was not so great. This could be due, in part, to the recent acquirement of Wright by the Ennis Corporation, and the trickle down effect of pressures to keep costs low and productivity high; however the problems existed prior to Ennis and steadily worsened over the course of my employment there. The primary problem was extreme understaffing, with the resulting problems being the overworking of existing staff, morale problems, and exhaustion/burnout. On top of this, there was a poor (almost non-existent) reward system for these hard-working employees, across the board. I observed an oppressive management style from the production manager, including micro-mgmt, a blame culture, lack of support (machines constantly breaking down and not being fixed in a timely manner, if at all), unaddressed safety concerns, suppression of protected speech (pay transparency and discussions of work conditions and morale were routinely suppressed), threatening and retaliatory responses to the aforementioned speech, and a sometimes quite subtle (though not always) culture of bullying. Complaints to HR are dealt with in a biased and conspiratorial manner. Bullies are protected if they protect the company’s profits. Unfortunately, the management who I initially trusted and respected a great deal did not treat me with this same respect. They will tout transparency as a value but act in a way that is underhanded. They will use any unethical means for their own self-serving ends, but then make sure that on paper it looks like it’s “on the up-and-up”. When I say they, I mean a small handful of middle mgmt, and primarily the production manager. Other people in mgmt are decent, if a bit spineless when it comes to protecting employees from this pattern of power-abuse. There is an understandable climate of fear there, from the offices to the production floor. Unfortunately, people like me who set aside their fear to try to address problems and improve conditions for themselves and others, are almost sure to feel the sting of wrongful discharge. I have never left a negative glass door review before. But I feel I want people to be forewarned if they are considering working there.