As I mentioned, most employees graduated from college in the past several years. There’s a reason for that. ROI suffers from a severe turnover rate. There are a handful of employees that are lucky enough to be in the right time and place when a higher level position opens up, but those opportunities are few and far between. Most employees work for two or three years, get some experience in the field, realize there’s no more potential to move up at the company, and leave, so ROI relies on a constant stream of young college graduates that they can quickly train and subsequently replace when they leave. The issue is widespread and well known, but upper management has done little to nothing to solve the problem. It seems they are content to continue operating on this constant cycle of losing and replacing employees.
The promotion process can also be incredibly frustrating. There are six categories of performance that you will be assessed on. Every six months, you’ll have a performance review in which you have to prove to your team lead that you have exceeded expectations in said categories. But even if you prove that, your team lead and upper management still have the final say in whether or not you receive your promotion. Side note: the promotions aren’t major. They simply move you up a “level”, which will give you a little bit of a raise, but there are hardly any title changes or more responsibility given. So these promotions practically mean nothing outside of the company.
The company culture is great among the lower ranks, but the relationship between the average employee and upper management is poor and reminiscent of Stockholm’s syndrome. The most capable and talented people at the company seem to be stifled and limited in their potential because they are smart and brave enough to see the cracks in the company and say something, so they are penalized. While some of the employees who are the least technically proficient and worst in the day to day aspects of the job are rewarded the most because they brown-nose the higher ups and make sure they don’t rock the boat.
I mention Stockholm’s syndrome because the non-compete clause is draconian and keeps you captive. The contract you sign severely limits where you can go when trying to leave ROI. They restrict you from working at other digital marketing agencies and working for any ROI clients, and the company is not afraid of enforcing it. We once had an employee try to work for a client, and upper management made sure that the client rescinded the job offer and even held a company wide meeting to discuss this all. Were they simply sharing this information to be transparent? Or were they using it as a scare tactic to make sure no other employees tried the same thing? Hard to tell. Also, there’s a 20 percent rule in place. Every performance cycle, only 20% of employees can be promoted. No matter how much of Katniss Everdeen’s determination you have, the odds are not in your favor.
All in all, if you decide to take the position, make sure you are a beacon of positivity. Never show that you are dissatisfied or unhappy with a process at ROI. If you try to change things to improve, you will be forever branded as a negative Nancy, and you will be hindered in your advancement. Make sure you get on the good side of upper management and act as a teacher's pet, and they'll reward you for being a well-behaved pawn.
