Focus Camera reviews

4.3

88% would recommend to a friend

(35 total reviews)

Abraham Berkowitz

89% approve of CEO

83% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

35 reviews

Reviews about "Culture"

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1.0
Aug 1, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-There are some generally nice people here. -The company allows people to leave at 1 to 2PM on Fridays. -You can learn a lot about ecom and sales if you apply yourself and come in with the right mindset. -You are given a paid lunch if you dont make your lunch break longer than 30 minutes. -You are allowed a 10 minute break during the day in-which you are not required to clock out. -The company does sometimes pay for employees to attend educational events or vendor trade shows. -Lax dress code

Cons

-Health insurance is not subsidized. Employees pay 540$ for health insurance. -There is no 401k. However there was talks of implementing one when I left. -Everyone clocks in and out into a time tracking system using a fingerprint scanner. No exception to this, unless you are the owners of the company. -You are paid based on how many hours you work, even if you are a salaried employee. Hence if you work less than 40 hours, you will not receive a full pay check. -Lunch is scheduled. Employees are not allowed to take lunch whenever they like. -Being late is not tolerated at all. -Stepping out of the office to take a personal call without clocking out is not tolerated. You will be reprimanded for stealing company time. -Lunches are no longer than 1 hour. -Employees accrue very few sick/personal days. More on this later. -If you take too many personal (unpaid) days, you will be reprimanded by the CEO. I took 3 personal days in a month, and had it pointed out to me by leadership. -The company observes jewish holidays and is closed during a number of them. This is totally fine. However, employees are NOT paid for a large number of these holidays. Combine this with the fact that there isn't a real salary payment structure here and you end up making less money than you expected since you simply worked less hours (since the company is closed for many jewish holidays). The company "mitigates" this by forcing employees to use their own accrued personal/sick time during these holidays. That means that an employee will get paid for that holiday, but at the expense of their accrued personal/sick time. Employees are forced to sign waivers allowing the company to do this. If an employee does not have the accrued sick/personal time to cover this involuntary holiday closure, they will not be paid for it. How this is legal is beyond me. -Often times, when a paid holiday occurs during a weekday, it is mandatory to come in on the Sunday prior to that holiday. -The company solicits employees to post reviews on Glassdoor. I was asked to post a review on Glassdoor within my first 4 weeks. -The vast majority of the positive reviews here are fake, often times they are solicited in exchange for cash, or simply from kind-hearted employees who have worked there for a long time and dont mind posting a fake review. -There is an office intercom through which the CEO will call people and ask them to go to his office. This happens constantly. -Office moral is very poor. The CEO of the company is the top contributor to this. He routinely berates people, talks down to them as if they were children, and chastises them infront of others. This is inappropriate conduct for leadership. I have heard him referred to as a bully by many people. -I had the experience of being short paid on my paycheck twice. I very politely brought it to the attention of HR both times and clearly stated "if there is something that I am not understanding how I am being paid, please explain it to me so I can understand". Both times the company wrote me a check for the difference that they owed me, however on the second time they changed my payment structor to be hourly, instead of salaried. This was done as a way to "avoid any confusion in the future" I was also verbally talked down to during this meeting. This could have been avoided if they explained their payment structor more clearly. It was at this point that I lost all respect for the company. -For all the reasons above, and many more, the turnover at this company is very high.

avatar
Focus Camera Response
6y
We are sorry that you did not find some of Focus Camera's policies favorable. We aim to create a pleasant working environment for all employees and therefore your feedback is so very important to us. It seems that there may have been some areas of confusion. It's always best for an employee to reach out for clarification (and further clarification, if needed) so that we can foster long and positive relationships with our employees. Focus Camera contributes a percentage of health insurance premiums on employee's behalf. In 2018 this amount was on your W2 form. The amount you quote is the most expensive of the 3 options that Focus Camera offers to its employees. Salary agreements are clearly typed up and signed by both employer and employee, placed in each individual file with a copy handed to the employee. The Holiday Schedule is reviewed with each employee during the interview process so each employee knows exactly what to expect with regards to paid holidays prior to starting with the company. It is completely up to employees to elect when to apply their PTO1. It is because employees have the choice that we hand out forms, so that the employee can write the number of PTO hours s/he wishes to apply, if at all. Glassdoor encourages employers to solicit reviews from employees however does not allow compensation. Focus Camera fully abides by these rules and does not compensate, coerce or otherwise pressure or incentivize employees to leave feedback. With regards to the usage of the intercom system, it was recently brought to our attention for the first time, through a different Glassdoor review, that some employees find it bothersome and we have taken immediate action to remove intercom rights from those that used it regularly, including from the Operations Manager. Since you had difficulty understanding how our salary structure works, it was discussed and agreed on by both employer and employee to switch from salary to hourly. The turnover rate at Focus Camera is quite low and we are extremely proud of our longstanding employees in a wide variety of departments and positions.
5.0
May 2, 2019

Excellent place to work

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I truly enjoyed my time at Focus, while there I was able to initiate countless new projects because I had the freedom to make decisions or to work with management to increase sales in countless ways. I watched as many people on my team were given the opportunity and freedom to change and adapt current processes to new systems which made our work easier and more rewarding. Focus was very flexible with regards to my needs to be around and home for my family as needed and to create a work life balance. There are a lot of strong personalities here, but not in a bad way, the result is a fast paced culture where there is constantly a vision of what can be achieved both from management and staff. If an idea was presented, it didn't matter who initiated it, if it had validity it was considered and often put into practice. Most importantly, it seems that Focus hires certain types of people, people who like to work hard and work well together, so there are strong working relationships throughout the company. This makes the workday feel quicker and makes getting things done easier. All levels of management are 100% accessible, anyone claiming otherwise has simply not tried to reach out. HR is always willing to hear employee concerns and work with them. I personally saw them go out of their way multiple times to work with team members to ensure that they could balance their work and lives.

Cons

Difficult parking, can be strict on hours, but flexible for personal needs

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Focus Camera Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a detailed review of your experience at Focus Camera. We appreciate your feedback. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
5.0
Mar 12, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I have been working at Focus for more than 20 years. This is a great company that treats its employees with respect and kindness. I feel appreciated and noticed for the work I have done over the years. Management has been extremely accommodating when I have needed to take days off for family and medical issues. The workplace environment is very friendly, with people always willing to help and train me to learn new things. I have developed my skills and built great relationships with my co-workers.

Cons

My workplace location is under a running outdoor subway station, so it can be very noisy at times.

avatar
Focus Camera Response
7y
Thank you for dedication and commitment to Focus Camera! We look forward to many more years together :)
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Glassdoor has 188 Focus Camera reviews submitted anonymously by Focus Camera employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Focus Camera is right for you.