Group Publishing Reviews

They repeat the phrase "We're all in this together," ad nauseam, but that's just not true. Everyone is a cog, and cogs are easily replaced. Or not! There have been a number of layoffs in the last few years, and that work doesn't go away. It's just spread out among the remaining employees who are already working a full-time+ job. Because of past success, particularly with VBS, they're sure they have the answer for the church's needs. But their answer is to just make everything look like VBS. How is that innovative? As sales have slipped, they've also turned into a fear-based operation, telling people that if things don't turn around, they'll make more cuts. How is that motivating? How is that leadership? As though people aren't already doing everything they can to make the company a success... They also aren't loyal. I said everyone is a cog, and I meant it. People who have been there 10, 15, and even 20 years have been let go in the last few years. It's an easy way to cut $ from the bottom line, but it just shows that anyone who has stuck it out as a loyal employee has a target on his or her back. When I started there, it was a great place to work. I loved what I did and enjoyed coming to work every day. Over the years things shifted, and it's not even close to the same place it was 10+ years ago. You don't want to work here, unless you like being an overworked cog.

While I worked at this company, I recall hearing at the monthly staff meetings what a wonderful place it is to work, and I kept wondering when it would get wonderful. Bribery is alive and well at Group Publishing. When the company realized they were getting some negative reviews on Glassdoor, they began asking employees for positive reviews. To "share the magic"... They even went as low as to offer gift cards to the company cafe as bribes for good reviews on Glassdoor. Furthermore, the company frequently offers gift cards to the cafe as bribes for positive reviews on "Best of Loveland" for nominations for best restaurant. And then they preach about positive values. They also talk out of one side of their mouth as they criticize the church and point blame. The church is their market. And somehow they're surprised that their market is shrinking back from their blame. As if it's not enough to blame the employees, now they're blaming their customers, too. When does this all begin to sink in for them? The ship is sinking, and there are only a few people who've been there through it all and can be held responsible. If you overwork your employees, underpay them, and throw them out with the bathwater anytime things get uncomfortable, you're going to find yourself in a big mess at some point. And when I say overwork employees, I mean that I knew some people who literally never stopped working and were still told to do more, then reprimanded for not doing enough. It's crushing, crippling, hypocritical workloads and deaf ears that are sending this company down the tubes while the highest upper management takes lofty vacations and brags about them at staff meetings. Employees are not dispensable as you may imagine. While everything falls apart, there's still a positive outward appearance to keep up. The company is very busy fostering good graces with the community outside.