Pros
People: - Talented people working here - Some very close friendships and bonds - Social life can be good (if you aren't all moaning about work and there's not a pandemic) - There is a decent sense of diversity among the employees Benefits (if you have a more fixed contract): - Some healthcare benefits - Usual Pension stuff Work - Flexibility of working from home
Cons
Having worked there for a long period of time, and knowing people that still do, I can safely report on the following: Work: - Overworking and burning out their employees - Crunch is expected and sometimes even considered mandatory for nearly all teams - Inflated schedules that support the utilization of crunch - Some people who are paid a lot less and don't have seniority are expected to do jobs that require seniority - Credit not given where it is due - Laborious work for developers/artists with no real creative freedom Management: - Passively and outright aggressive at times - Complaints fall on deaf ears - They will blame people under them if they themselves haven't done their job properly - Gas lighting - Not helping their employees but instead sending them to HR which doesn't help - Refuses to look inwardly to be better, but instead pushes on in hopes to finish their project - Used to working in large AAA companies but have little experience working for a smaller company such as themselves Career & progression: - You cannot openly discuss your title or salary openly without certain people telling you not to - Lack of career progression or conversations about it - They have been known to keep people in rolling contracts or internships for a very long time and rarely offer permanent jobs - Conversations about career development is like a carrot being dangled in your face to placate you for the time being, and then never given unless they're scared you'll leave - They tell you that you're getting a 'raise' when in fact it's just adjustments for inflation - Inconsistent salaries amongst people in the same professions or level Toxicity has slowly been growing in the studio and management blame their employees instead of addressing it themselves. They think that because their employees are talking amongst themselves about all of the injustices that have happened to them, that they are to blame for spreading a toxic culture. When in fact toxicity and culture is defined by upper management and how they treat their employees, not the employees themselves. But they refuse to address this as it have major impacts on their staffing for upper management. The Art Director of this company is someone worth commenting about, if you are considering a job here. This is someone who has had an unprecedented effect on every major facet and team in this company. I've even heard upper management complaining about this person, but nothing has been done. Behaviours such as: - Unprofessional comments to other staff members that would get anyone else in serious trouble - Gas lighting those under him - Throwing team members under the bus when the AD was the cause of the problem - Obfuscating information and pointing the blame at others so the AD doesn't get in trouble - Taking people away from their schedules and causing chaos which is hard to pinpoint (including people who don't even report to him) - Pulling you out of the room, out of the office and down the road to have personal conversations about your job without any warning (this is highly unprofessional and uncomfortable for the employees) I would highly suggest looking elsewhere if you are a developer/artist looking to make their mark on something, as this place will end up just being a short stop for you before you leave, or you'll be stuck here wondering why you ever chose Interior Night in the first place.
