They'll make you regret working here - Graphic Designer VMG Studio 520 Employee Review

Let me first start with laying out my experience in the last few months I worked here: The start of the end was when the management blindsided me with disciplinary action on a time-reporting mistake that I unknowingly made. I had not received a single piece of verbal feedback or correction for the 5 months I worked prior that my efforts had be unsatisfactory. Their punishment? Revoking my access to remote work during a time when the pandemic was possibly returning with the Delta Variant. A schedule that I had negotiated when taking the job to care for my dog which they were suddenly entirely inflexible on . I voiced my disapproval in the process, but I met their demands and started the new schedule of being ever present in the office during work hours, even when no work was available. As a salaried employee, they began to nickel and dime me for every 15 minutes I spent in the office. Did I take a 30 min lunch? I should stay an extra 30 mins at the end of the day so they get their money’s worth. Did I take my dog out for 15 minutes to go relieve himself? Better tack that on to the end of the day too. Pray I don’t take too long of a bathroom break. I became more micromanaged here than at most service industry jobs that I’ve worked. And this was with a glowing review of the quality my work and my ability to make deadlines. The straw the broke the camel’s back was the retaliation against me when I reported another employee for verbal harassment through a messaging client. After an investigation, I was informed that I also would be punished because they claimed unsubstantiated hearsay that I had cursed under my breath to myself when I read the offending messages. Just another way they would levy petty criticisms to strong-arm their employees into compliance. By the end I felt so constantly under attack that it was less stressful to be unemployed. The other reviews really got it right when it comes to toxic positivity. They force everyone to go around and say what they’re grateful for every Monday morning during our staff meetings, and then go exert the full extent of control over their employees work habits, work-life balance, and completely disregard any personal or professional needs they might have. They treat their post team like second class citizens, despite the fact that they fundamentally rely on them to do the operational work for the business. Post team employees are essentially chained to their desk, expected to be diligently working on billable client or productive work for 7 out of the 8 hours of their day, the rest reserved for meetings. If you need to leave your station for more than 10 minutes, you owe them that productivity later, even if there is ZERO work for you to do (and there often is). You must request specific permission to better yourself in any way during company hours, even in ways that would help them in the long run. These rules do not apply to sales or producer teams, who are still working “hybrid” Work From Home schedules. But don’t worry, they’re organizing fun events like baseball games and fair visits later this month to boost morale. It’s a constant bid for arbitrary control by the ego-maniacal tyrant of an owner and her ever-present quest to exert dominance over her workers. No matter how flawlessly you perform your job, she will keep pushing and micromanaging you until she finds your breaking point, just like she has to the so many creatives before you. The truth of the matter is that this company functions on exploiting creative experts who do not know their worth. They put up with these unreasonable demands and policies because they so enjoy working with each other and the inspiring work they’ve been able to achieve together. I took this job at a substantial pay cut in order to be inspired by the creative experts that work here, until extremely poor management made that impossible. These people could be making 6 figures at a tech company yesterday, they deserve so much better.