Pros
Like most people say, you'll like your coworkers and sometimes the books are cool.
Cons
IPG has a lot of talented people, but they’re stymied by how poorly the company is run. Most of the big decisions are made by a group of mediocre white men who have risen to the top without any demonstrated talent other than going along with the fiction that the CEO is a good leader. The CEO inherited the company from his father and has no business leading an organization. He’s not aware that he’s not very smart because he’s never had to earn anything on merit. He doesn’t care about books or the publishing industry, it’s just the company his dad happened to give him, and his disinterest in the actual work of the company is obvious. He has what he thinks is a hilarious “bad habit” of acquiring new companies every year or so. The existing staff is expected to absorb these companies and all the added work without ever being given additional staff, resources, or the proper tools. Most employees work on laptops that barely function, using company-mandated software that crashes daily. Investing in things like functional technology, professional development, employee salaries, or anything else that would improve retention are clearly not a priority to the leadership, so turnover is always high, but especially in the last few years, when people haven’t been able to offset the bad working conditions with in-office camaraderie. The c-suite frequently complains about millennials and Gen Z not being willing to go the extra mile and find “creative solutions,” when the fact is that people who are chronically underpaid, promised promotions year after year that they never receive, and forced to follow the whims of a man-child have absolutely no motivation or reason to do more than the bare minimum. The CEO was enthusiastic about creating a DEI committee in 2020, when he thought that’s what all the cool CEOs were doing. But once that committee started to examine the partnerships and practices that IPG conducts, and he realized that an actual commitment to DEI would force him to take action—notably by ceasing to distribute books that openly incite violence towards minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community—he took away the DEI committee’s responsibilities and never took any action. When he found out that a group of employees were communicating privately about how to protest this inaction, he fired the organizer immediately. Sexual harassment is common, and a great way to bond with the boss. The CEO and CFO used to drink at a bar across the street from the office every day, where they’d frequently discuss which of the female employees they were attracted to. So the female staff have that to deal with, besides the fact that women are generally not listened to or valued. If you’re a boring man of average intelligence, this is the company for you. Everyone else should look elsewhere.