JAKKS Pacific Reviews

Pros

It's a great atmosphere to work in (CSR department) , great products for the most part and you get good experience in costumer service.

Advice to Management

Invest in your employees, especially the ones who put forth the effort to learn and take on more.

Pros

Great Marketing Teams and company benefits.

Pros

- Exciting toy brands and projects
- Creative environment
- Free k-cup coffee and updated office building
- A lot of places within walking distance including a park and many restaurants/food trucks
- For the most part, friendly supportive team
- HR organizes some fun events (ex: Jakks summer olympics, health fairs, group walks...)
- Some opportunity for traveling
- Fast paced and busy, if you like that
- Have your work featured in stores like Target, Walmart, Toys R Us...
- Involvement in meetings and product brainstorms
- Fun holiday parties
- A good place to start your career, but not to stay long term
- Certain people have insider scoop or sneak peeks on upcoming movies, tv and toys

Advice to Management

-Create a healthier culture. Especially as a toy company, be more family friendly. Provide free snacks and drinks, not just k-cup coffee. You have large teams staying at all hours... help them out! Don't make them pay to use the kitchen. Take better care of everyone.
-Take a closer look at your management. There were several managers there that I wondered how they even got to that level. They didn't do much or even show up often. I noticed a few managers ran their teams by fear and panic. Managers should be calm and well aware... strong leaders! People beneath them were pulling ALL of the weight and getting paid close to nothing for it. This company has a lot of potential to be a dream job, but poor management is destroying it.
- Have regular reviews with your employees and learn how to communicate better. There is a lot of negativity and unhappiness... this is largely due to the lack of communication. People like to know where their careers are going and feel heard. Nobody should have to beg for what they deserve. This is a specialized industry, it's hard to replace good employees. Promote people to keep them!
- Recognize talent and don't tell someone they are too "green" to become something they want to be. Support your employees' goals and aspirations. Don't build walls and hold them down to a level they can never surpass.
- Hire project managers, we really need this work filtered and organized! This would take a huge burden off your creatives and allow them to be more creative!
- See where people are over worked and help your team so they can be more productive without staying at all hours of the night. That shouldn't be acceptable or normal. You should respect your employees time and personal lives.
- Hire a company to build showroom designs, or creative a team that is specialized to do it internally. People really need to own their own individual tasks so you can produce at a higher level as a whole. Don't cram too many tasks onto any one role.
- Don't make promises you can't keep.

Pros

It just felt like you were working with family.

Pros

-Get to work on some pretty big and well known brands.

-Friendly coworkers.

-You might get a big say in developing the product and/or packaging. If marketing wants your opinion, they will listen.

-It's a good place to get your feet on the ground and get some work experience. Not really good for long term, or if you want to advance your career.

-People will always look out for you if you need to stay late, and ask if you need help.

Advice to Management

-Keep Toy Fair much, much simpler. It's way too expensive for what it is, and it makes your employees unhappy putting it together.

-Appreciate your employees more. Don't just say "You're doing a good job". Promote them, give them a substantial bonus, or a reasonable pay raise.

Pros

Gain career skills and experience

Advice to Management

Start with some basic supervisory/motivational classes for managers. Find structural ways to be more efficient that does not involve squeezing more out of lower level employees.

Pros

You will get a lot of experience working with difficult projects which will give some essential skills in project management and cost reduction.

Advice to Management

Get to know your employees, and value their work especially when under stressful / unrealistic deadlines.

Pros

Learn quickly. Fast Paced. Good community

Advice to Management

Do more to keep your employees happy

Pros

- You meet *some* great and talented people in the industry working here.
- New offices are at least now in Santa Monica and not in the middle of nowhere because the CEO lived down the street
- Good place to learn if you're just out of college and getting started

Advice to Management

Get rid of dead weight (your executives) who are not helping the company grow. It's 2017, it's like you're still in 1999. Recognize your talent and keep them happy. Learn to take risks in this saturated industry. People take the job at the company to be a part of something great and help the company grow. You're only hurting the company and losing talent to companies that are doing better than you.

Pros

Free coffee... that's about it.