PixelSpoke reviews

4.3

74% would recommend to a friend

(9 total reviews)

87% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

9 reviews
5.0
Mar 3, 2022

Great company with strong values & culture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

PixelSpoke has been exactly what I was looking for in a company. What stands out the most to me is the super strong culture that is driven by our commitment to our core values (Enjoy the Journey, Everybody Wins, Improve Every Day, Solutions Not Blame, Curiosity with a Purpose, and Authenticity - I had to name them because they're so cool, right!?). It's a very employee-centric environment with flexible schedules and an emphasis on wellness and work/life balance. Employees get 20 days of PTO, 9 paid holidays, 100% employer paid medical/dental benefits, 401k match, everything you need for your home office (and then some), very cool acknowledgments of birthdays and work anniversaries, and we even have a Joy Team to help us celebrate the wins and bring some fun to our days! We're also an employee-owned co-operative (which means we're run democratically) and a B-Corp (which means we believe in business as a force for good). And we have a really cool employee-led donation program where employees get to choose charities that they are passionate about to direct our charitable giving towards. And, finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I get to work with just about the smartest, most caring, and most dedicated folks ever.

Cons

None that I can think of!

5.0
Jul 23, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

With both its clients and employees, PixelSpoke does business the way business should be done. The team here is not only incredibly smart and committed, but they are a caring group of people who don't gossip or backstab. This can in part be attributed to our highly selective and intentional hiring process and in part to our carefully cultivated culture, which holds each of us actively accountable to our six core values. Our values are not just posted somewhere in a break room; rather, we reference and live them every day. PixelSpoke understands that employees have lives outside of work and that work-life balance is not just a "nice to have" but absolutely essential to our happiness, morale, and productivity. We are constantly reevaluating processes to make them better and all feel that we have a stake in the future of the company. The CEO leads with authenticity and without ego, and he sets that tone for the rest of us. I'm 18 years into my career and this is by far the best place I've worked.

Cons

As a B Corp, we have an intentional social impact focus, but the nature of our daily work feels one step removed. Having previously worked in nonprofits, I miss feeling directly connected to a cause.

1.0
Nov 11, 2018

I knew I had to leave PixelSpoke

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The option to work from home is nice. The company follows a consistent website redesign process so it's fairly simple to learn how to do things the "PixelSpoke way" - rinse and repeat sort of set-up. Employees work hard and the company is fair to the clients they serve.

Cons

On paper, PixelSpoke is great. It's a marketing agency in the heart of downtown Portland with a purpose-driven CEO and a small team. So when I began to feel anxious and dread going into work, I didn't understand what was wrong. However, the latently abusive work environment began to become more and more obvious as time went on. With it being a small company, the individual personalities of the team end up driving the company culture. Inappropriate emails when deadlines/expectations are not met, uncomfortable stares when a meeting doesn't go according to plan, and a micro-managed work style are among the things I disliked the most about working at PixelSpoke. In addition, the work is often boring and repetitive. Creative projects are rare, and unless you are under budget, good luck enjoying the fun projects anyways! Every second of the day is clocked and those that spend the least time on billable work create the benchmarks for how much time should be spent on what. If you mention something is wrong, it will usually be turned around so that you feel like you're at fault for not "enjoying the journey." The truth is, once I picked up on the subtle ways in which PixelSpoke stifled creativity, allowed certain employees to pick on others, and emphasized process over people... I knew I had to leave.

avatar
PixelSpoke Response
7y
Thank you for your heartfelt and honest feedback. I appreciate your perspective, and it makes me sad to hear that the environment felt abusive and negative to you. Creating a safe and supportive space is something that I and our team are actively working to do. Starting in summer of this year, we redefined our value of Authenticity to clearly state that “We are prepared to be vulnerable, open, and honest with each other as we create a gossip- and politics-free environment of high mutual trust.” We have been creating opportunities to live the Authenticity value through quarterly team dinners and monthly margarita Mondays where team members can socialize and build trust, a foundational building block of healthy conflict. We also implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which gives team members a structured way to address issues we’re experiencing at the company in a safe, open, and honest space. Our issues list for our management team alone has fluctuated between 30 and 100 issues, and every team has an issues list where they are encouraged to report things that are not working. If a team member feels an interpersonal issue is too delicate to raise on the issues list, we have weekly check-ins and quarterly conversations between each team member and their supervisor to address them — though we encourage our team to work on issues with the people who are involved and provide coaching on how to do so as needed. We wholeheartedly agree that shutting down new ideas in meetings is unacceptable, and I have always been passionate about a culture where the best ideas win, not the biggest personalities. I and others have been pressing ourselves outside of our comfort zone as a way to model healthy conflict for the rest of the team, in hopes that our teammates will be comfortable to address their issues with us. There is, of course, always more to do, and we will keep working at it. I understand that it was not the correct venue for your creative pursuits — it is definitely a job where budgets, time tracking, and thorough process are critical to us being able to deliver high quality work to our clients. One of the most dangerous things about promoting a culture, job or business is creating the impression that it is “perfect” or “unique.” We are far from either of those, and our constant awareness of our imperfections is the only way to keep building something special. I hope that you have found a better fit in your new situation for your own happiness and fulfillment. Sincerely, Cameron CEO and co-founder
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