Amazing Owners, Horrific Management - Anonymous employee Vest Advertising Employee Review

If I were to write all of the PROs for Vest it would be a very loooong description. Hands-down the best company I have worked for. I have worked within Louisville advertising agencies now for 24 years. I have worked for or with most every ad agency in Louisville. I can tell you from personal experience you won't find many companies like Vest that let you express yourself creatively or personally. Yes, everyone will have their opinion when working for an agency. Some want the NY City ad agency, what-I-see-on-TV ad life, the high-rise office by the window... but others want to have an excellent work-life balance with a chance to work directly with clients and make a difference. If you want the big city ad agency life there are companies in town that try to mimic that. But, you will also pay the price with egos, cut-throats, LONG hours and salary pay. I personally choose to work for a company that is family-oriented, balanced, creative and at-the-end-of-the-day... fun to work for. I truly feel like part of the team/family with Vest. I could not be more thankful for them and how they have treated me over the last 8 or so years. I will honestly stay with them for as long as possible. I think they will have to close the doors for good or drag me out before I will leave. The pay is EXCELLENT, I am very happy with my salary. Could I make more money, sure. I have been offered 6 figures to work for one of the "Big City" agencies downtown. No thanks! I took a $10k+ pay cut to come work for Vest and I am sooo happy I did. I will stick with a company that lets me have a voice. A company that lets me have freedom to do my job and also have a life outside of work. I've been there... 16+ hours a day, seeing my kids for 10 minutes a day... I will never do that again. Life is too precious to waste it pulling my hair out and not feeling appreciated for working my butt off! Vest is my home-away-from-home. I love it here and look forward to many more years of working with/for them!

Cons...hmm. The only Cons I have are the disgruntled bad reviews about Vest. Vest goes above-and-beyond to let you be a great employee, help you grow and put their trust in you. If you choose to take a different path and work against that, move on. But don't call out a great company over your bad decisions!

-free coffee - 2 hour lunches - no performance reviews -bring your dog to the office - no dress code, you can wear pajama pants - free parking

Laid off 13 people last year. No one in a leadership position has any idea what's going on. One person in particular calls in sick conveniently when there is a deadline, a presentation, or anything that requires him to do any work. He is in no way qualified to be in his role - has a theology background with absolutely no advertising experience. He takes a two hour lunch every day and when he's at work, he hides in an office in the basement. He has actually admitted that on more than one occasion, that he's hiding. They have lost so many great employees over the last few years because this place doesn't value talent. If you are good at your job, you are rewarded with more work - other peoples work, to be exact. For every one, hard-working person, there were five people sitting around doing nothing. That is the culture here. Good behavior is not rewarded and bad behavior is not reprimanded. Quite possibly the worst leader I have ever come into contact with. He sat around while everyone around him did his job and made less than half of his salary.