A Company On Its Way Down and Out - Anonymous employee Marketing Breakthroughs Employee Review

There are too many negatives about working for Marketing Breakthroughs to name. Pretty much every single one of the following negatives falls squarely on CEO Steve Klein's shoulders, as you will quickly realize if you decide to work here. The first con is the over the top hypocrisy that Marketing Breakthroughs is managed under. Steve Klein continuously preaches and attempts to force a culture of respect and accountability among all employees. Sounds great on paper, but unfortunately this is very rarely adhered to by Steve Klein himself. Employees are regularly and unfairly chastised and berated, in addition to being bad mouthed to other coworkers behind their backs. The real kicker is that more often than not, the "reason" for Steve Klein's displeasure is the fallout from his constant overselling, unrealistic promises, ridiculous deadlines and assumption that anyone who works for him should be at his beck and call whenever and wherever he wants. Steve Klein preaches respect, but then turns around expects employees to work ridiculous overtime hours and weekends without additional compensation, and often doesn't notify you (notify, not ask) that you're needed until the absolute last minute, regardless of whatever personal obligations you may have. To be clear, this is not legitimate overtime that is to be expected in a project-based marketing firm. This is daily and weekly overtime that needs to be worked because of poor planning, even poorer project management and a sporadic work schedule that changes whenever Steve Klein decides. You can expect to have no idea what your work day will entail, whether Steve Klein will be in a good mood or bad mood, or when your day will be finished. Secondly, Marketing Breakthroughs is on a downward spiral in regard to both quality of work and culture. Projects at Marketing Breakthroughs are sold without the proper foresight or consultation with operations or the people who actually do the work, resulting in grossly under budgeted projects and deadlines that are doomed to fail from the start. As an employee, you’ll be expected to work as part of an understaffed team on projects that lack any real planning or thought into whether or not the scope of work or deadline is even achievable. The result is lackluster projects and missed deadlines, which results in employees being berated by Steve Klein for “underachieving”. Doom your employees to fail right off the bat and then berate and degrade them when they don’t live up to your ridiculous expectations – not exactly a winning strategy. This is a regular and ongoing occurrence for virtually all projects at Marketing Breakthroughs. Thirdly, employees at Marketing Breakthroughs can never expect to be anything more than temporary pawns in Steve Klein’s chess game, hired and fired when it suits him. Within a 2 or 3 year period at MB – if you make it that far – you can expect to see upwards of 25 or 30 people come and go. Sometimes the firings are justifiable, but most of the time they’re sporadic and a knee jerk reaction to Steve Klein being dissatisfied with how HIS company is running. Rather than ever sitting down and truly working with people to learn why they’re under performing, Steve Klein is more inclined to give you the boot. Steve Klein regularly reminds you that Marketing Breakthroughs is his company, so don’t ever expect to be more than a sidekick, regardless of how well he tries to sell you on career potential (again, if you’re not fired within a few weeks or months). Lastly, and by far the most disturbing, is the fact that because of this culture of hypocrisy, poor management and unrealistic expectations, there is a prevailing feeling of mistrust and uncertainty at all times. That’s because you’re never really sure if you’re being talked about behind closed doors. And that’s not an issue of one or multiple employees being paranoid. Steve Klein regularly speaks poorly of his employees when they are not around. Respect your coworkers (and Steve) at all times, as the company policy states, but sit and listen intently while your boss openly berates your friends and colleagues (especially those he’s decided to fire) with seemingly no realization of his own hypocrisy and the inappropriateness of the situation. People are not happy at Marketing Breakthroughs, regardless of how the messaging is spun. This is an overworked group of people who spend most of their time spinning their wheels and trying to figure out how to deal with a narcissistic boss who never seems to be pleased with anything his staff does. But you’re expected to shut up, smile and grind away under whatever constantly changing system is put in place otherwise you’re likely to find yourself without a job.