I needed to call this out because I believe it’s misleading. The reason for all the recent 5 star reviews is because the company is asking its employees to provide great reviews as part of its employee referral program (where you receive compensation for a hired referral). It’s not by mistake before the first 5 star review a few months ago that the company’s Glassdoor rating was at a 2.1 star. Instead of trying to trick people to thinking this is a decent company to work for, why not put in the effort to actually make it one.
#1 - Implement 360 degree feedback for managers/supervisors. There are so many people in director roles or higher who have MUCH to improve on in terms of people management, but the company is too focused on “visibility” and “personality” to try to realistically evaluate if these people are good managers or not. Just because they get stuff done, or speak eloquently or are smart does NOT mean they are great managers/leaders. One big hint, if turnover is that high it’s probably because the managers DON’T KNOW HOW to actually manage and motivate their reports/team. I can’t tell you the amount of times I hear about employees feeling they aren’t supported by their managers, or don’t trust they have their interests in mind, or care about them at all.
#2 - Burn and churn. Realize you’re consistently understaffed. Everyone is stressed. That’s not because of the “crazy environment”, it’s because 2 jobs are the responsibility of one person, mistakes are made or inefficiencies are identified but everyone is too busy “defending their teams” to try to actually come up with a solution to issues, and because this environment encourages silos. Forget the continued talk about collaboration. When teams are inherently taught it’s brand vs sales vs COEs vs finance vs EVERYONE, it leads to poor communication. Heck, the same people on the creative team where one is responsible for finalizing content and one for uploading don’t even talk to eachother.
#3 - Lack of empowerment. I get it, the founders built the company from the ground up. But when you have on a consistent basis EVERY detail checked by execs who are traveling half the time, you know what that leads to? Micromanagement on EVERY LEVEL. You can tell how much of a dog and pony show teams have to put on to prep for these meetings with execs. While this is not entirely driven by the execs, some sort of culture of fear or lack of autonomy drives this need for VPs to feel they need to keep execs informed and to get approval on every single detail. It’s because whether anyone in senior management will admit it or not, it’s because they are scared. They are scared of backing up risks/recommendations their teams make. What that ultimately drives is this environment of lack of empowerment, distrust, micromanagement, and ultimately a large amount of employee dissatisfaction. It is foolish to continue to try to masquerade “collaboration” and “executive buy in” as an excuse to operate this way. Not everyone needs to be on every decision in order for one to be made. Otherwise, why did you hire experts for these roles in the first place if they aren’t in a position to make a recommendation or decision?
#4 - Politics. Lastly, let’s not pretend politics aren’t rampant everyday at Spin Master. Just because you tout in orientation it’s a “no BS, no politics” environment, doesn’t mean it is. Let’s not pretend that VPs don’t present their team’s work and get all the kudos and credit for it. Let’s not pretend that those with the most boisterous personalities and buddy buddy relationships aren’t more noticed that their coworkers who deliver results. Let’s not pretend it isn’t about who you are close friends with in the company that determine if you get promoted or go far. Let’s not pretend that everyday people are disrespected by senior management who routinely show up late or have side bar conversations and whole meetings are stopped or halted until they are “ready”. Let’s not pretend that when the word of someone is pitted against the word of another, and often the more “known” one with more friends is given the benefit of the doubt versus further investigation. Let’s not pretend someone senior whose pure “feeling” a person isn’t doing a good job isn’t more heavily emphasized as a measure of performance versus actual concrete and solid feedback/performance. Let’s not pretend that you don’t hear everyday managers talking to their teams or one another with such a lack of respect based on their level of seniority. I have worked for many companies over the years, and no where is it truer than here at Spin Master that politics, nepotism, favoritism, biased evaluation, and disparity in treatment based on role is so rampant.
