Bullying is rife, company is run like a fifedom. - Marketing SmileyWorld Employee Review

We are upset and surprised to read that one former employee feels that way as the content is highly inaccurate. It is important to us to reply as we pride ourselves on our reputation and have never been involved in copyright theft. We have 4.98 out of 5 on Upwork with 45 reviews and 74 jobs posted. There has not been any complaint or lawsuit from any designer. We do have an HR department, with our CFO in charge and an external firm (one of the most reputable and biggest HR firms in the UK) hired to follow up all processes so everything remains transparent. We have policies in place to address discrimination, bullying, homophobia, racism, sexism and those are detailed in our company handbook which is shared with all our employees. Furthermore we’ve never received any staff complaints over alleged racist, homophobic, ableism or sexist incidents. Staff may elect to first discuss any concerns with their line managers or with HR. Any claim reported is then reviewed by HR prior to being referred to our external HR Consultant firm for further professional advice. We equally make sure all reported concerns/claims are dealt with swiftly and professionally. We do not film staff in their homes. Our web based systems are supplied by the likes of google, zoom, salesforce and other platforms used by countless companies while respecting all employment laws. We review the systems in place on an annual basis or earlier if required by law. We have notably decided this year to implement an Employee Assistance Programme. We’ll always continue to champion the right for staff current or past to report honestly their experience at Smiley. This is something we remain proud of. We have never asked an employee to write a review on glassdoor or hired freelance writers to do so. We have closed the very tough 2020 with a double digit growth and have been growing for 15 consecutive years, this is thanks to our CEO's business vision and would not be possible without the support he receives from our team and their capacity to constantly adapt. The company is not a fiefdom, the reality is that the CEO has restarted with his father a business that was bankrupt when he joined and multiplied sales by 100 over the course of 25 years. He has innovated in the field of digital communication and more than 10 scientific papers, several books and countless media articles have talked about his work. He has innovated in the way licensed IPs structure their team, build partnerships, how they are being promoted and distributed. He has open a path many companies have followed and have also improved on. For this reason our brand has been voted by Industry leaders as part of the Top 20 most influential brands of the last decade. And this is not only the result of talent but of very hard work and non stop dedication that makes him one of the very experienced executives in the Licensing industry, reason why he is often invited to speak at industry conferences. What you see as being changes is merely adaptation to very tough market conditions where most of our competitors succeed for a very brief period of time. Our licensees and retailers often manage portfolios of 20 or more IP's and often completely switch focus from one day to the next. The CEO has total trust in his senior management team who help the business reinvent itself on a regular basis and provide very interesting, albeit challenging jobs for all our team. Unfortunately as in every company, not everyone will succeed, some people don't get along or some team members will find different opportunities to build their careers elsewhere. Throughout all this process our CFO as head of HR together with our external HR consultant ensure that we respect all people and employment laws.