Pros
Enjoyable fellow employees, paid time off & sick days, great for someone starting in the industry looking to get more experience and build their resume. You do learn a lot in the trade from the daily standard printing order process, to paper stocks to installation and best vendors to use for outsourcing (sublet). From time to time there are few opportunities to go to Alphagraphics National Sales training course with the corporate team which does teach you a lot for sales growth. There's also opportunity for Sign & Installation courses that offers certifications. Great customers and lots of opportunity to make connections and lasting work relationships. I'd take the opportunity especially if you're looking to fill a resume gap or build your experience, but wouldn't count on making a career from this location.
Cons
Short Scope: Doesn't offer many raises/incentives, odd processes in place, expanded job duties without pay raise or title changes, outdated equipment, overall leadership was lacking, no employee recognition/social atmosphere. Overall the owner makes all his business decision based on what's best from a dollar perspective, but not what's best necessarily for his employees. Long Scope (go ahead and grab a cup of coffee): During the interview I was explained that bonuses were given often based upon positive reviews through the Alphagraphics review requests submitted to the customer at the end of each job. The bonuses were anywhere from $20-$100 per employee. During my year and a half at Alphagraphics, I only received 2 bonus payments of $20 based on those reviews, though we reviewed the positive reviews weekly. Additionally, I was also told commission would apply after 90 days employment was filled, which never was applied. The owner doesn't clue you in on major company changes until it happens or is just about to happen - like acquiring a new Alphagraphics branch, or moving office locations. Or when an employee has submitted a resignation notice. Several times the team had no clue a member was leaving until it was their last day or they had already left. With little to no notice, it leaves the staff with little time to plan actions to take to prepare for the major changes. Overall, it just felt like there wasn't honest transparency of what was happening behind the scenes of the company. If employees were fired or left, not much of an explanation was provided. The owner would tell the team that he intends to replace them in a month or two, but several MONTHS to a over YEAR would pass and no replacement would come on staff. Instead he expects the employees still there to fill more job responsibilities in all departments - customer service, sales, bindery & production and design - without a title change or pay increase. And this goes on because he sells it to the staff that it's only "temporary". "One on One" meetings for a chance to review performance and discuss pay changes have been brought up, but has not been followed through. Equipment was very outdated and a large amount of orders we had couldn't be produced in house as a result. We had to outsource a lot which made our quote return time delayed, production times longer and our pricing high. Actual sales on outsourced items had a lot to do with positive customer service. In many cases, design or production wouldn't look into a job until the day it was due. Some cases this was fine, but other times it would result in realizing stock wasn't in or the art was more complicated than expected which would delay the order or cause the team to rush through the order. And rushing almost always ended up with extra expenses whether that's in materials or reprint because of internal error. And while this happened often, a new process was never put in place to prevent it in the future. Odd practices were in place like getting approval on any estimates worth $1,000 or more from the owner before submitting to the customer. But it was difficult to even get in touch with the owner. If he wasn't in a meeting he was traveling between branch offices, or would go on trips to Florida with no prior notice, or full week vacations out of the state or country. We've lost several higher amount estimates due to this delay in quote return time. Finally, there wasn't much of a social employee atmosphere. VERY few times (like 3) we'd have pizza bought by the employer, but many times if breakfast or group lunch was provided, an employee bought it for everyone. No holiday BBQ, holiday potluck or Christmas parties were celebrated. No birthday recognition, or employee anniversary dates. If the employer was pleased with something by the group it usually was a "good job guys" on the production meetings. Beyond that, there wasn't brand identity in the office space. It wasn't a place you were eager to go to or proud to present to your customers who walked in weekly for pick ups. And the downsizes space at the new Vinings location doesn't leave room for visiting with customers for consultation.