Directive reviews

2.8

33% would recommend to a friend

(28 total reviews)
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Garrett Mehrguth

36% approve of CEO

30% positive business outlook

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28 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

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1.0
Apr 30, 2025

Be ready to make Directive your #1 priority

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Like most other reviews have said - the people. Directive has some very smart, creative strategists and designers working for them. The healthcare benefits are very good. As is the case with most agencies, there's opportunity to learn a lot by being exposed to different industries, paid channels, and strategies.

Cons

Work-life balance is a serious issue. Strategists are regularly assigned more than the stated client limit, and the strain from the workload continues to grow as new deals are closed and team members continue to burnout and leave. Leadership recently started to acknowledge the problem but are slow to make meaningful changes. The company culture heavily prioritizes revenue and hustle, often at the expense of employee well-being. It seems like the executive team lives and breathes Directive and the employees who thrive at this company make work their #1 priority. Unless you're willing to be thinking about your client workload 24/7, this may not be the right fit. Like many other reviews have stated - the onboarding process is a grueling 3-4 week process stacked with assignments and presentations. While the process is intended to weed out new hires that aren't up to Directive's standards, it's also definitely designed to prime you for the high-pressure environment that follows. Unlimited PTO is an advertised benefit but you will be too busy to take advantage of it. While the salary and benefits are appealing, they don't outweigh the chronic stress and lack of work-life balance.

4.0
Jun 6, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Directive has pretty much everything that we are all looking for in a company in 2024. The benefits and pay are great, the unlimited PTO is encouraged to be used, and the remote-first policy is real. Even with all of us being remote and all over the place, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with your team and others too, which is nice. It's rare to find a place that can really do remote well and create a sense of comradery between teammates. There are also really great referral programs and bonuses that give you that sense of appreciation for your input to the company's success. I also really like and appreciate how seriously the client load limits are taken, and that people are checking in on your mental health/wellbeing throughout the process. It's clear that leadership here cares about teammates and wants to implement feedback along the way. The dynamic way that feedback is put into processes is reassuring that we're being heard. There are also lots of resources here, and people who have been doing this job for awhile that have done it well, so it's great to learn from them and be able to collaborate on accounts with them. I've loved the perspectives and insight I've gained from more tenured teammates.

Cons

Not that Directive really hires beginner/entry level for strategists, but if you don't know your stuff, you will find it challenging. Some of the training materials and our resources are dated, so it can be hard to find the exact right information quickly. If you don't know your stuff and aren't able to quickly problem solve, you won't know what questions to ask to the resources available.

3.0
May 7, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote flexibility Standard senior salary + benefits Coworkers are some of the best in the biz

Cons

Overworking strategists knowingly and willingly with expected turnaround times the same day in some cases. Transition process is fundamentally flawed and causes undue stress and higher workloads. Review process is fundamentally flawed - at best i felt like a stand-in for the next person to get thrown on the account. There was no performance matrix, no career development, no mention of salary increase at certain milestones which felt an underdeveloped.

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Directive Response
2y
Like you, we also believe Directive is truly blessed with employees who are the very best in the business at what they do. Thank you for being a part of that, and for the work you did while you were here. We also know that workload management is critical to keeping our team balanced and delivering the high quality of work they’re capable of, and our clients expect. For that reason we maintain strict guidelines for when, and how many, accounts can be assigned to an employee. Thank you as well for your feedback on our review process, and I’m sorry if our system while you were here did not meet your expectations. Our People Operations team is working to overhaul our entire performance management system, including performance reviews, in the back half of this year. Although our current system is functional, we believe we can do better and are working to make those improvements. We wish you all the best, and thank you for your time and feedback.
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