Directive reviews

2.8

33% would recommend to a friend

(61 total reviews)
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Garrett Mehrguth

36% approve of CEO

30% positive business outlook

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61 reviews

Reviews about "Culture"

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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.
1.0
May 6, 2024

Welcome to the Grindhouse

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- "unlimited vacation" - Nice, smart people to work with - Healthcare is a nice positive - Revolving door of strategists/managers so you'll constantly get to meet new people

Cons

- You will be overworked to death, burnout factory. Garrett mentions "work work balance" consistently in office hours with some odd sense of pride that work is the end-all-be-all for your life - Little to no resources, Garrett laid off all our specialist support and increased all the SoWs so much that you need to work 50 hours a week in order to stay afloat. Where is the help??? We are all drowning - Completely unprofessional attitudes from executives, it starts from the top down. I've personally witnessed the CEO belittling the team and managers to the point that it was downright abusive - Sexual harassment from Garrett that was swept under the rug. No amount of "fighting the narrative" can fix your poor actions and the way you treat your employees - Processes change all the time & more things get added on to your plate. - You'll have to get used "figuring it out!" since Garrett doesn't like "processes" or educating the team. The CEO has little respect for any of his employees because in his mind "everything can be done in 5 minutes" or he is the "only one who can do it right" - No career opportunities or training. Very little support for managers - Constantly changing SoWs with little guidance on how to get all the things done

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Directive Response
2y
Working at a digital marketing agency can lead to burnout, especially when you’re as driven and ambitious as our team is at Directive. We try to avoid that outcome, by capping the maximum number of clients an employee can simultaneously work with, and by monitoring workloads and utilization every week. But despite that, we also recognize that in a rapidly growing, service-driven agency, there can be times of increased work that may disrupt work-life balance. We care about the well-being of all of our employees and are always working on solutions to provide better support and resources to our teams. We also take the respect of our employees very seriously, and believe no one should ever feel belittled, taken for granted, or abused. As the Head of People Operations, I assure you my team and I have never received a complaint of sexual harassment about a member of our executive team. And if we ever did, my team and I would investigate the matter fully. I am always available if you would like to discuss any of this further, or you can reach out to a member of my team.
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