Pros
VSA has some great individual contributors. Unfortunately, most of them are in lower/mid-level roles and tend to leave, get laid off, or never have good opportunities to lead projects. Depending on your team and project, the flexibility that remote work allowed was a big plus. The recent return to office policy will change that. VSA is willing to invest in extracurricular work if you can upsell it to management and plan to share learnings with the company afterward.
Cons
Management/C-suite is secretive and makes a lot of promises with very little positive outcome or change. Most managers at the company are people willing to bend under the pressure of those above them or the client, which causes a huge lack of creativity and no innovation. Client Experience/Account Managers are huge 'yes-men' and overpromise quite a lot to clients, resulting in intense crunch periods for the rest of the team, feeling very unfair. Project management varied greatly from project to project, with most projects feeling frenetic and unorganized. For an agency with a large creative legacy, their current scoped work is very corporate and allows for very little design exploration. No actual investment in what makes design/strategy agencies competitive in 2023. Constant talk of AR/VR/NFTs/experience design, with absolutely no follow-through. Culture tends to follow 'whoever is the loudest in the Zoom call', leading to tense conversations and arguments in team meetings. Sometimes in front of clients too. Zero pay transparency, non-competitive salary, and lackluster benefits. Three layoff periods during my time at VSA hurt employee morale and many people who got laid off were loyal, hard workers.
