Great place of work - Senior Paid Media Manager Audience Collective Employee Review

Only good thing I can say is that salary was paid on time.

Pervasive Toxicity: "Toxic City" is an understatement. The environment is fundamentally broken, characterized by a "blame culture" where senior managers openly yell at one another in front of staff. This aggression is the primary communication tool. Hostile Leadership & Bias: Leadership doesn't just enable toxicity; they drive it. Beyond the shouting and ego-driven management, there are deeply concerning exclusionary behaviors. I observed leadership demonstrate clear biases and what appeared to be racist undertones in how they treated certain staff or handled internal dynamics. It is an environment that feels unsafe for anyone valuing diversity or basic professional respect. Departmental Warfare: Heads of departments operate like warring factions. Rather than collaborating, they spend their energy protecting budgets, feeding their own egos, and finding ways to blame other teams for project failures. Founders Out of Touch: The founders seem trapped in a "how things used to be" mindset. They prioritize old-fashioned, aggressive tactics over modern industry standards, resulting in a stagnant business model that feels "putrid" from the top down.

- Hybrid working model. - Younger team.

- No formal training available—learning is reliant on external partners rather than structured internal support. - Unrealistic expectations – Staff are expected to perform tasks beyond their skill set without guidance or support. - Blame culture – Issues are often blamed on staff rather than management taking accountability. - Inexperienced staff placed in senior roles, leading to poor leadership and decision-making. - A cliquey and unprofessional work environment, often feeling exclusionary. - Given used and unclean equipment from former employees—lack of basic professionalism. - No clear career progression or opportunities for development. - Weak management with little direction or support. - No real benefits aside from occasional social events (if that’s your thing). - Expectations to understand company processes from day one with no proper onboarding—asking questions is often discouraged. - Hiring practices favour personal connections over merit. - Extremely high staff turnover—huge red flag! - Lack of structure & organisation – No clear processes in place, making daily work inefficient and frustrating. - Embarrassing to include on my CV - this job has been more of a setback than a stepping stone.