Pros
Esrock is a small agency which is great for professional development because it allows you the chance to exercise many different skills. Location is great for those who do not want to commute into Chicago daily. The work/life balance is wonderful considering this is an ad firm. Coworkers in my department were wonderful people and we got along great, making the overall experience a bit more tolerable.
Cons
This is a very harsh working environment which follows very old-school business practices. I'm not new to Advertising so I understand how rough it can be to handle at times. However, Esrock has a way of mentally demeaning great people into thinking they are less than nothing—I should have figured this out after having my entire portfolio ripped to shreds during my first interview.
There is a severe lack of leadership, respect & professionalism from senior management; professional behavior is almost childish in the way employees are spoken to and yelled at. Sadly, over time employees begin to adopt this same behavior towards one another since it's seen as acceptable, which is unfortunate.
Management constantly belittles and threatens employees with termination (this is the company's way of "inspiring improvement"), there is almost no workflow/process, deadlines and deliverable details are always changing, there is "finger-pointing" everywhere and reviews are consistently negative.
I was with the company for many years and both pros and cons remained consistent over time.