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      Atomhawk Design

      Engaged employer

      Atomhawk Design Reviews

      3.7

      76% would recommend to a friend

      (25 total reviews)

      Tim Wilson

      89% approve of CEO

      51% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.2

      Diversity and inclusion

      3.8

      Work/Life balance

      3.7

      Career opportunities

      3.6

      Culture and values

      3.6

      Senior management

      3.5

      Compensation and benefits

      Atomhawk Design has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 25 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Atomhawk Design employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      25 reviews
      1.0
      14 Aug 2019

      Poorly managed

      Concept artist
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      The artists are the reason to come in to the studio. Everyone is so kind and helpful, and always striving to make the best work they can no matter the job. You will learn and grow as an artist from others around you.

      Cons

      1. Lower than average salary. 2. “Boy’s club” environment that can be very condescending and juvenile towards artists. Voices in management are more often trusted than that of actual artists working on the projects. 3. Vancouver studio does not operate independently from UK studio, and are treated more like an outsourcing studio for them. 4. Studio was without an art lead or art director for over two years before one was recently hired. Instead they coerced low level employees to do the work of much higher positions without the pay of that position in order to make up for their lack of staff. 5. Attitudes from management towards artists are that they are easily replaceable. Artists were told on more than one occasion that “there is a line up of people waiting to take your job” and “you are lucky to be here”. 6. Poor communication between the UK studio and the Vancouver studio that result in projects being very poorly managed. 7. Overall the studio has a problem with managing their contracts as well as paying freelancers on time. 8. A former employee, after a year of doing work for the company, was made to complete two arbitrary projects in their personal time - they worked over 200 hours on their own time due to how poorly managed the test was. They were denied OT pay and told “having a full time job was compensation enough”. Another employee whose job it was to coach and mentor that employee was forced to do large amounts of OT as a result as well.

      avatar
      Atomhawk Design Response
      6y
      Thanks for taking the time to post your feedback. Whilst there are points in your review which we don't agree with, it's nevertheless disappointing to hear that your time in the studio wasn't enjoyable. To provide you with an update, our Vancouver studio continues to develop and grow. The team has an experienced Lead Artist who works with a talented crew of full-time in-house Senior, Intermediate and Junior artists on high quality projects. These are run from the Vancouver studio and supported by the UK only when necessary. Having women in leadership roles is something Atomhawk has been proud of throughout its 10 year history, so we're keen to replicate this in the Canadian studio. We have a dedicated HR Manager in the team to strengthen this part of the business. We are also transferring an experienced Production Manager from the UK team to support the studio's growth. Both of these senior positions are filled by women. We're continually looking for ways to improve the business, so taking on input, both positive and negative, helps us to do that. Thanks again and best of luck in your future career.
      2.0
      22 Jul 2020

      They ask for good reviews on glassdoor. They tell you to not discuss your salary.

      Concept artist
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Great artists. But they have an insecure culture; artists actively think they're "not good". I think management takes advantage of that and have heard of and seen people manipulated by this. Artists, know your worth. You can get some decent experience here, but I honestly don't know if it's worth it.

      Cons

      Management is a mess. Agree with the other negative reviews. By the way, they have actually emailed the whole company in the past, asking for better reviews on glassdoor, lol. There are enough studios out there that pay more and treat you better. I honestly think that working a normal job and grinding to get to an 'industry standard' with is better than experiencing the toxicity that management produces in this particular studio. Especially with the online resources out there today.

      avatar
      Atomhawk Design Response
      5y
      Thanks for taking the time to leave a review and provide feedback. The points you raise don't match the culture or environment we aim to provide. Your status says that you are a current employee and have been with us for less than a year. I'd strongly encourage you to take up your concerns with your manager (or with me directly offline) so we can discuss them in more depth. All members of the team have biannual appraisals along with regular one-to-ones, providing opportunities to provide direct feedback and discuss concerns and any support required.
      2.0
      9 Sept 2019

      It's shiny on the outside. It'll give you experience. However.

      Concept artist
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      - The artists who work here are amazingly skilled and kind people. The artists are the glue of this place. They're hardworking, passionate, dedicated, and humble. - You will gain experience, good and bad. You might get lucky with a project that could help your career out, you might not. - UK Studio appears to have a decent culture and management; however, Vancouver is definitely not there. I will be speaking from experience on the Vancouver side. - There perks towards gym memberships, life-drawing, movies. I do not think these perks make up for the lower pay. There are plenty of other Vancouver studios that will match, with higher salaries.

      Cons

      - Vancouver management has no women; balancing this would be a good start. - Management claimed they are trustworthy/acted as HR in the past. Unfortunately, trust was broken on multiple occasions. - For almost an entire year there was no art lead, art director, or senior artist in Vancouver. This, unfortunately, lead to project times being mismanaged, poor communication, extreme lack of support for artists, and missing information. In my opinion, this should have never happened, and I can't think of a single company that I've worked for in the past or present that hasn't had an art director. - Miscommunication between studios seems to be very frequent, needs work. - Management seems to side with management, I think they should listen better to the artists. - Unfortunately, women were not having a pleasant time with management at the Vancouver studio, and even left in uncomfortable, unprofessional situations. - Hiring was always being advertised, and many 37.5 hour tests went out. No one was hired in the length of my stay. - There were many unanswered questions. Sadly, out of ignorance of their rights, an employee worked (no OT paid) 3 weeks in a row to go away for 5 business days. Reason given was "because of a project", even though the project was delivered quite ahead of schedule. - Another employee was asked to do two more art tests outside of work, unpaid. It was clear that employee could lose job if they didn't. After complaints, they allowed employee to do the rest in company time. Employee's total hours outside of work were ridiculous, and they asked for pay. Unfortunately, they were refused. Employee called the ESA and went over their rights. ESA confirmed this was against BC's labor laws. Interestingly, after this was brought to management's attention, they paid employee overtime.

      avatar
      Atomhawk Design Response
      6y
      Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. It's through feedback that we are best able to keep improving the team. We agree with you that our artists are the beating heart of the team. We're always looking at how to continually improve working conditions, remuneration and benefits. I'd like to use this opportunity to address a few of the points that you've raised: - When an art management position became vacant in the studio it was important that we took the time to find the right person to fill this role. We have filled this position, bringing experience and creative leadership to the team. We have also brought multiple Senior artists into the team and continue to review existing artists' grades on a biannual basis through appraisals. - Atomhawk's UK head office has always been proud of having women in senior roles across the studio. We're keen to replicate this in Canada and have recently hired and are transferring women into two managerial roles, heading up HR and Production respectively. - Art tests used in recruitment are voluntary and are issued on a case-by-case basis to give applicants the opportunity to demonstrate skills not shown in their portfolios. Work undertaken as part of a test remains the property of the artist and has no commercial value to Atomhawk or its clients. We're sorry that you didn't enjoy during your time with us but wish you the best in your future career.
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      ReviewsAtomhawk Design reviews

      Glassdoor has 29 Atomhawk Design reviews submitted anonymously by Atomhawk Design employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Atomhawk Design is right for you.