First, the most important thing to understand about Brafton is that none of the cons in any of these reviews are surprises to them. There's no new information here. The problems Brafton has are built directly into their business model. It has never been an issue of lack of information or feedback on what makes employees unhappy, it's simply a lack of motivation in fixing the problems. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's move into what some of the most common problems that a Brafton employee encounters.
Burn out: This is one of the biggest problems at Brafton, and it stretches across nearly every department. Writers, Account Managers, Social Media, video, tech, etc are given a client load that is nearly impossible to manage. Work becomes an assembly line, with not much thought going in to what is being delivered. Not only does this lessen the impact of our product, but it decreases the client experience and the value of the Brafton brand. The idea of not taking work home with you on a nightly basis, or not working through the weekend is nearly unheard of. Production teams silently cheer when a client cancels their subscription because it means it's a momentary relief from some deliverables before a new client is assigned. It's rare to see an employee last longer than a year, because between workloads, balancing client communications and deliverables, and playing into company politics to keep their coworkers and bosses happy, employees tend to find the environment draining and unfulfilling. The company has seen people leave for positions with a lower-grade title or leaving the company with no real plan for what they'll do next, simply to escape.
Pay: Pay is atrocious, and wildly disproportionate among departments. Let me start by saying, all departments are underpaid. But some are far more underpaid than others. The two departments that produce the overwhelming majority of deliverable work for clients are also the two lowest paid departments in the company. Furthermore, the only way to improve your pay situation is to receive a promotion, or threaten to quit. No raises based on tenure, no performance based bonuses for production departments. It's laughable, especially when you consider the company is based in three of the most expensive cities in the country. Potentially the biggest issue here, is that because of the "we're in this war together" mentality, everyone knows what everyone else is making, which generates bitterness and discontent across departments.
Support from Management: The short and sweet, here, is that it doesn't exist. This is a game of Russian Roulette. In my time at Brafton, I had a number of managers, only one of whom I found to be efficient in their role of actually managing people. This manager provided the right amount of support without micromanaging, and provided new opportunities for growth and development. My other managers ranged from incompetent to manipulative to straight up insulting. Support was at a minimum, and when frustrations with the company were raised, they fell on deaf ears. Towards the end, it felt as though I had no other option but to leave. Finally, when you do decide to seek out a new opportunity, you are made to feel thoughtless, ungrateful and deceitful. This has happened to numerous individuals who clearly were not in management's favor. Realistically, those employees were so leveled by burn out that it made more sense for them to move on. However, management took every opportunity to foster a healthy disdain in the office towards those who found new work. The announcement of departures was highly inconsistent and always agenda-driven, surprising considering just how common turnover is. There is a pervasive bitterness held by those that leave the company.
These are just three of the biggest issues I encountered. The final straw that caused me to leave was seeing how beat down the friends I made there were, and how relieved and happy they became at their next jobs.
