Pros
Reviews on Glassdoor are highly polarized for good reason. MGA has a lot to offer but falls short in so many areas. I will go over the shortcomings in the next section, but MGA isn't as bad as the worst reviews on here paint it to be. The best thing about being a creative at MGA is the lack of excessive layers of management interfering with design. if your manager likes your ideas, you can easily realize your vision with some exceptions. Management knows how to sell product in a challenging market filled with stiff competition. MGA stuffs the channel every year with more product and new brand launches. Honestly, if you're looking for good experience and need to fill your resume and portfolio, MGA isn't a bad place. If you are looking for more salary, benefits and promotions, look elsewhere.
Cons
Leadership: Isaac Larian is a whip-smart business leader but he is not a kind man. He is impatient, out of touch and conflates intense pressure with good leadership. He has built his company from nothing to the fourth largest toy company in the world and he owns it outright. Far be it for me to criticize him in that respect—he knows how to survive and thrive. His company can be better though… Organization: MGA tries to be organized, every couple of years they introduce some new system or process. Ultimately however, no training, or enforcement ever accompanies these directives and they fail or litter our workflow with unused or misunderstood technology and steps that only serve as pitfalls to efficiency. Hong Kong counterparts are overworked and designers have little support or guidance unless their manager knows how to do what they need. Some divisions lack project managers to help everyone keep to schedules set by planning—instead they rely too heavily on their designers to track everything themselves. In general many items and details get missed, making for an extremely sloppy process that is burdened by constant last minute fixes and running changes. Inexperienced designers have to learn quickly how to project manage several items quickly or fail utterly. The pressure can be crushing designers and the reason many choose to leave or are fired. Compensation: Salary and benefits are mediocre and raises…are anemic at best. I have never received so woefully inadequate a raise as I have at MGA. Some people are lucky to receive one in 3 years—when they do…it could be 3%. Inflation is at an alarming 5% in 2021 and the highest merit raise MGA offered its staff (without a promotion) was 3 pitiful percentage points. To add to the lamentable compensation package, the health insurance is mediocre by even US standards (or lack thereof). The 401k is rather weak and laden with fees, there is some match but nothing compared to Mattel. Remote work: It seems like the CEO is personally opposed to remote work—he built this campus to encourage communication and productivity (the last offices were a dump). He is not a trusting sort by any means. While they did allow workers to work remotely during the pandemic, there is pressure to return to the office that many workers are not yet comfortable with. To be sure, when the pandemic is over, there will be little discussion or remote days for employees. Exodus: Lately many talented people have chosen to leave. For many and varying reasons. I suspect the top three reasons will be lack of adequate pay/raises, lack of promotion opportunities and last, the intense pressure to succeed or else culture. The biggest reason to NOT work at MGA: Some companies in the toy industry will not hire you straight out of MGA over fears of lawsuits. Working at MGA, despite its amazing success is something of a scarlet letter for other HRs. MGA needs to rectify that situation so people aren't scared off from taking a job here because they worry they will be untouchable elsewhere.