Leo Burnett reviews

Unfortunately, the position I was hired to do wasn't cultivated as it should have been and I, sadly, ended up being a paper pusher. Very disappointing to say in 2016 but they made sure the "boot licker" older male in the department ended up in a good job while women that had much more experience ended up as paper pushers. This was like a bad marriage - the gig started off with so much promise and then you realize you married the wrong guy. Better and happier agencies, that treat their people equally in Chicago for sure.

Bureaucratic Disaster - The organization is so beyond bloated that it's impossible to change clients, pivot roles, or grow immensely in any respect, which leads me to... Talent - Almost no chance to grow one's career by staying in the agency. Between the worst talent management (talent manager for strategy, I'm looking at you) I've ever encountered, near constant hiring freezes, and insane organizational politics, getting a promotion or raise is almost unheard of. You really have to advocate for yourself and have strong allies in this organization... and, if you do push for what you want, you'll make enemies. The people who should support your career development - managers, functional team heads - rarely do. Holding Company Relationship - ...Makes also zero sense. As far as I can tell, having to pass everything through Paris merely slows already frustratingly long internal processes. Holding company doesn't do much to foster unity and collaboration across partner agencies and competencies either. Lack of Vision - Especially with the heavily shifting leadership of late. North America and Chicago leadership parades out a new set of buzzwords and hash tags every few years to guide and inspire the organization, but they don't get disseminated to the people who execute. LB does not walk its talk. Rogue Regional Offices - The lack of a vision and mission coming from HQ filters down to regional and international level, which is deeply dysfunctional, disorganized, and the opposite of buttoned-up. Out of Touch Leadership - Management -- on client team and functional levels -- is rarely aware of the pain points of those in the trenches. When entry and mid level employees approach management to try to make changes and improve processes, they're frequently lashed out at as the source of these issues or downright disregarded. High Turnover - I mean, it's an agency. 'Nuff said. And there's no way to get ahead by staying there. Misleading Perks - Reading about organizational initiatives (global mobility, volunteer work, employee orgs, training opportunities, etc.) it's easy to get excited about LB. In actuality, getting to take advantage of these perks is a lot harder than it should be and many rarely come to fruition for any employees. Oh, and the Chicago office has the world's worst coffee.