SMG Reviews

What can I say, a very toxic and hierarchical culture in this business. They focus very much on wanting to be known in the industry via social media (LinkedIn), and state they are a team first, sadly this isn’t what I experienced. If you have any feedback or improvements, you are gaslit into being told you are not positive enough. People in management roles are unqualified and micromanage. If you have any suggestions they are not received positively, if you're not senior your suggestions are void. PIPs are so common here it’s sad. Rather than HR analysing the situation to understand why this is and speaking directly to employees to understand the constant turnover in staff/ people off with stress they just back the business. Most people are doing the job of 2 people and even if you are churning the output, it isn't good enough if you are not in the clique. Often I'd go home in tears, I genuinely felt bullied by how some seniors spoke to me. Nobody should be spoken to how I was at the time in this company.

In my opinion, the company’s manifesto is misleading when it comes to its ‘people-first’ mentality. While this is heavily promoted both internally and externally, in practice there’s a noticeable lack of genuine care for employee wellbeing and day-to-day support. People are often overworked and significantly underpaid, yet still expected to perform at consistently high levels. Progression is extremely slow and pay rises are underwhelming. A constant review culture, combined with managers who regularly shift the goalposts, creates an environment where employees are pushed to operate well above their level under the guise of 'proving themselves' — often without recognition or reward. The workplace has a strong sense of hierarchy and a noticeable culture of blame, which undermines collaboration and trust. It’s not uncommon for individuals — including line managers — to deflect responsibility or throw others under the bus to protect their own image. In my opinion, there was a very intense and overwhelming 'cliquey' and 'mean girl' energy amongst senior members of the People Team which, from my standpoint, contributed to their lack of credibility to properly deliver a service to the rest of the company. Overall, this is a company that seems far more concerned with its image than with actually supporting its people.