MSL Reviews

Cons

If you can't handle quick turnarounds, being able to multitask, or high pressure situations you might struggle here

Cons

This job made me quit PR entirely. I’m shocked by how much of these reviews resonate and it’s unsettling that things haven’t gotten better, and possibly even worse. I was on a toxic team with leaders who were MIA, spoke to you with little sensitivity, and played favorites. As leaders set the tone, effectively everyone else had to bend or be broken. As someone who was on the introverted end of extroverted, it was nearly impossible to get my voice heard on a team that was loud and aggressive. Somehow I managed to stay with this team for 3-4 years and never once was I asked to interview job candidates…again they played favorites. Our team culture was toxic and unethical. Never did I feel safe to ask for help and on the few occasions that I did, I was shot down. I was being bullied by a superior for some time and neither my manager nor a VP helped to rectify the situation. We fudged our reported numbers. We had strange budgeting and admin practices that made little sense and felt like a whole other job. No seriously. This job was like 4-5 jobs in one. I probably earned my JD. The agency needs to hire appropriately and that includes hiring paralegals, lawyers, and many, many more people to work on admin and finance tasks. If you were on P&G as I was, there was a long, long list of rules to adhere to and we had a word for this - one that my brain clearly doesn't want to remember. I cannot tell you how extensive this list truly is but it is oppressive and miserable being subjected to them. I distinctly remember a senior colleague telling me they didn't want me to succeed. That one hurt but I see their point now. What was the point of trying to grow in such an environment? We would also need to order product for our campaigns and because we said yes to the most condensed timelines imaginable, we would often have to ship out product through our personal Amazon Prime accounts. There is no work-life balance. I struggled to be a caretaker for my family and felt completely unsupported. I experienced intense burnout and was not listened to. I had so many breakdowns over this damn job and eventually, you hear that most people have too. One last thing to note: diversity and inclusion is not taken seriously at MSL or Publicis. It’s all virtue signaling. MSL once tried implementing a quota system for diverse hires. Their annual internship program is a great example of this.

Cons

The work-life balance could be better enforced, there seems to be a lot of gossiping/negativity among all levels of employees, the pay is not very competitive, and the work/clients are very demanding.

Cons

Leadership at MSL in individual offices and at the highest corporate levels. It seems like things have changed since I left and they removed certain individuals.

Cons

long hours, not a great work life balance, evening and weekend work expected

Cons

Questionable new leadership. Could get bad if changes aren’t made soon

Cons

It's hard to sum up everything that is wrong with this company but I'll give it a try. I completely agree with the other review that says actions of management is ‘toxic at best and unethical at worst’ - they treat their teams horribly and do not care at all about professional development. I can say that every single person on my team was struggling with their mental health due to their manager and workload. VPs and SVPs only care about bringing in more money through additional projects without a care for the fact that the teams are already lacking support they need. I came from another agency that was by no means perfect but at least the managers were held accountable to their actions by HR that would regularly check in and take action when needed. All complaints to HR are ignored or dismissed. The P&G teams are particularly difficult to work on and it shows with how much turnover they have. They’ll basically lie to you during your interview and omit just how much admin and account management work you’ll be doing that has zero to do with PR or marketing. You’ll spend hours weekly in excel moving employee time around so we don’t over-bill our clients for the work we’re actually doing for them??? Which was super sketchy and an issue to begin with. There is zero opportunity for career growth or emphasis on professional development. Managers will say they don't know how you go about getting a promotion and they don't even give you a formal review process, Even widely considered amazing employees were stuck in a role for 3+ years with the promise for a promotion for over a year. Senior management claims it takes so long because they have to run it up the flagpole and get Publicis approval but really they just don't care enough to push for you. The only few people I know that were promoted had to threaten to leave and say they were interviewing elsewhere. If clients were to look into the results of MSL's campaigns, I think they'd be surprised to see how little makes sense. Management frequently flubs numbers to make it seem like they hit their goals which is extremely unethical. No one takes any responsibility for their actions or behavior. There are so many other agencies out there and the opportunity to work with great brands they have as clients is not worth your mental health and sanity.

Cons

A very small team took in the load of 5 teams. Company had major turn over with young and diverse talent and knows it. Long term employees kick their feet up because “they aren’t going anywhere”, most of them not all… work load is very stressful. You will work 12-16 hours a day making up for the work of a very short staffed team. No real direction or team dynamic: direction from senior level was disregarded and overturned many times. Some really point the fingers instead of working toward a solid solution and working efficiently/effectively.

Cons

the health sector is not diversified for team members to experience different client works. MSL is also not e-verified so STEM employees cannot work here.

Cons

Badly wired electric in the washroom, frequent electric shocks