Focus Camera reviews

4.3

87% would recommend to a friend

(178 total reviews)

Abraham Berkowitz

88% approve of CEO

82% positive business outlook

Focus Camera has an employee rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on 178 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Focus Camera employee rating is 22% above average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

178 reviews
1.0
Nov 19, 2020

DO NOT WORK HERE!!!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The half days on Fridays.

Cons

Stay far away. This is a great example of a place that does not care about your health. They require their employees to come in the office everyday, fully staffed, while there is a pandemic, expect for the 2 times when the government closed everything down. They say they adhere to NYC Covid guidelines, but I'm pretty sure having the office fully staffed is not one of them, especially for a non-essential business. And with the benefits they offer, you will be spending a ton of money if you have it or a ton a money if you get sick cause you can't afford their lowest plan. Managers are no help and will throw you under the bus, the VP is extremely rude. Family owned company that does not treat their employees fairly. This is by far the worst office environment I've ever been in.

avatar
Focus Camera Response
5y
The health and safety of our staff is top priority at Focus Camera. Focus Camera adheres to all COVID-19 guidelines in accordance with city and state regulations. In the office everyone wears a mask and is socially distanced to the extent possible. As for working remotely we accommodate anyone that has a serious request or valid concern working in office and have employees working remotely when necessary.
1.0
Mar 8, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fridays are half a day and you will have long weekends. (9 hours a day Monday to Thursday- 4 hours Friday)

Cons

1. Extremely unprofessional environment. 2. They say that they offer Health Care. But what they don't tell you is their cheapest option with a huge deductible and very low benefits will cost YOU $450 to $500 a month. With their pay rate, you cannot afford to have even that least and not good insurance that they offer. 2. CEO yells and humiliates the employees in front of others for no reason. 3. Your complaints are not going anywhere. If you report harassment they will not do anything about it. 4. Your paycheck will have so many "accidental" issues. You literally have to go to HR and tell them that they counted your hours wrong, or they changed your rate or even did not send your paycheck at all. Note: If you have to work there pay close attention to your paycheck. It will never be right. and keep in mind to read their handbook carefully. 5. You have to stay for Over Time whenever they ask you to do and keep that mind that you don't get paid for the first 3 hours of your overtime. (They stated that in the handbook but if you don't read your handbook carefully you will lose time. (They usually don't ask you to stay longer than 3 hours.) So you usually will work 43 hours for the same paycheck. 6. If they promise you to increase your salary after a few months do not trust them. I personally know 3 cases with the same issue. (so make sure you are comfortable working with that salary that you have agreed upon hiring for a long time. ) 7. The management lies all the time so be smart and don't believe what you hear EVER. 8. I have never seen in my life that a company fires that many employees just after their high season is over. (There is no sense of moral and they will fire so many long term employees after the high season.

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Focus Camera Response
6y
Thank you for your detailed review. Focus Camera will gladly make our handbook and insurance information available to any potential hire, so that they are in complete understanding of all company policies before coming on-board.
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.
Viewing 22 - 24 of 178 Reviews

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.