Miserable Work Environment - Designer StudioBinder Employee Review

1.0
Sep 21, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Snacks - Located near public transportation - Cool co-workers

Cons

- CEO micromanages everything and expects too much from his employees. - Hostile work environment including rampant gender discrimination and nepotism. - Illegally classified as contract employees. If you don't stay late off the clock you're reprimanded by management. - Lunch breaks are required to be taken all at once, frequently turned into meetings. - CEO belittles employees to other workers behind their backs, publicly shames employees, and leaves passive aggressive notes around the office. - Required to use your own computers and equipment. - Required to use software that is not industry standard. - VERY high turnover rate. - CEO will threaten to withhold letters of recommendation unless positive online reviews are made. - Poor salaries - No benefits - One bathroom for an entire floor, shared with multiple companies.

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StudioBinder Response
7y
Thank you for the feedback. I’m sorry you feel that way. First, we don’t discriminate against gender. In fact, StudioBinder’s CTO is female. We don't "reprimand" employees for leaving at the 8h mark. That’s silly. If someone is struggling with the duties of a job, they need help. This can sometimes be understood as "micromanagement." But there are very skilled employees who are left alone for days to be creative. So it really depends on the person. You are correct - there was indeed a time when we did a 3-month work-to-hire, but we've since retired that approach. Lunch breaks are taken at the same time daily and adhered to per CA employment requirements. Lunch is a great opportunity for employees to socialize (if they're inclined to). If an employee wishes to chat about the project they’re working on during this time, that’s great (but it wouldn’t be fair to refer to it as a “meeting”). People should be free to chat about anything they want. Management typically does not join employees during lunch (unless it's a catered Friday lunch). In the early days of the company, some freelance writers did indeed work on their own laptops. Now every employee at StudioBinder is provided an iMac or iMac Pro. The turn-over rate is something that we worked on in 2017-18. It’s a common challenge for companies, and we've made huge strides with our process and how we filter new hires. These days we have a "band" versus a "group of rockstars” approach and it’s been really positive. When the company was just starting out salaries were lower (though still higher than competing blogs), but it's above market these days with 3 weeks paid time-off. The pay is in line with the experience. Oh, the bathroom — We weren't fans either. We've since expanded our office and built our own en suite bathroom. - Updated 4/11/20

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Pros

StudioBinder's management are an absolute pleasure to work for. I've experienced nothing but helpful, insightful and communicative support from the beginning. There are few other jobs out there that allow a writer to first learn about a topic inside and out, in an industry they're passionate about, then share what they've learned to others equally as passionate. The platform itself is jam packed full of information and its tools are industry standard. No regrets whatsoever. Work/Life balance is also excellent

Cons

No cons come to mind

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5.0
Jul 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I have greatly enjoyed writing for StudioBinder's blog over the last several months. I have worked in similar positions for several other publications and companies. StudioBinder has similar expectations regarding workload but provides much better pay than those other employers, and my supervisor is helpful and communicates openly.

Cons

The directions in assignment templates have sometimes conflicted with feedback editors provide after reading article drafts. Hopefully this will be resolved with the new writing system.

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