Smithbucklin reviews

2.7

30% would recommend to a friend

(462 total reviews)
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Matt Sanderson

42% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

Smithbucklin has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 462 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Smithbucklin employee rating is 27% below average for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

462 reviews
1.0
Jan 29, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Learned so much about everything - IT/web, meeting planning, business, finance, project management - you name it I have done it! - Made friends for life - Great staff team, great client - Awesome direct supervisor - Meet great, smart, funny people - Love office location

Cons

As you can see I have been working and am still working for SB - for 12 years. It used to be a great, fun and rewarding company. The past couple of years have been almost unbearable. But because I work/travel so much and have young children I have not had time to commit to finding a new job. I barely have time to be a mom, much less find a job. If it was not for my staff team, client and boss I would have walked a long time ago. I also hate the fact that if there are a sting of bad reviews, then HR posts - Best Place Ever! - reviews. It is disingenuous and embarrassing. - Terrible pay - Not enough staff for the jobs that need to be done - ie - when I am on "vacation" I still am on calls and email - I have to because if I don't there will be 1 million emails and calls when I return. My staff is totally overworked, so I can't ask them to help. - They run you like a dog, working long, thankless hours - The ESOP profits -- because there's no skin off the company's nose when I'm billing out at 60-70 hrs a week and not compensated beyond my salary. - I have been here 14 years and received a $1,000 bonus. - The CEO is totally out of touch - I have seen him in the office just once since October and we are on the same floor. - Every Town Hall meeting we hear how great everything is and then get 2% raise - If you aren't in the boys club, you get nowhere - No work / life balance. - No career opportunities unless you take on more work and no more pay. Oh and nothing else gets taken off your plate.

3.0
Nov 21, 2018

Bootcamp

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The SmithBucklin Event Services unit is seen in the industry as event planning bootcamp. People in the industry seek out SmithBucklin event planners because of the level of excellence shown in our events and how hard of a worker SmithBucklin shapes its event planners to be. From day one, it's sink or swim, and not for the faint of heart. The pace is fast and you are responsible for more in your first year than you likely would be in your first 5 years at a private company or standalone association. This is awesome because you will learn heaps in a short amount of time and always be learning industry-leading best-practices from industry leaders. Event Services does a great job of ensuring the unit stays on trend with the industry in the hundreds of events they plan a year. The leaders within Event Services are consistently recognized by MPI, PCMA, ASAE, ILEA, etc. for outstanding achievements, or as innovators or leaders. The department has strategic partnerships with every vendor you could imagine so you really get to know a whole lot about multiple facets of events very quickly. If you are looking to work hard and willing to grow, this is a perfect fit.

Cons

It's sink or swim, it's seen as bootcamp, you have tons of responsibilities, and you are expected to work very hard for little pay and inadequate support. Every person's experience at SmithBucklin is different because your experience is entirely dependent upon your unit/boss/clients. In some units, people have one client and one boss and are able to come in and do their job and leave promptly at 5. In other units, you have 5 clients, 1-2 bosses per client, and a PDL (manager) and you never know what the day will throw at you. It's uniquely difficult because SmithBucklin is a matrix organization so there isn't another you in the whole company. You are the only person in the company with your set of responsibilities so there is no looking at how someone else did it/comparing to see if there are improvements to be made in your workload. SmithBucklin expects you to just innately know that you've been overscoped (even though you could be brand new), or know that you are doing work that you shouldn't be doing (even though your boss told you to do it and you do it on other clients). SmithBucklin absolutely fails its employees in this way by having many, many blind spots into its employees lives. They recently started using Glint (a survey service) to gain more insights but at 4 times a year, it's not really keeping a pulse on units and the general morale when 5 people quit in one month and no replacements have been hired. Bottom line: If you're working at SmithBucklin it can be a great experience, but from the day you start your days are numbered because of the high rates of burnout/turnover caused by the current model. There are at least 3 people in Event Service that have had physical health repercussions due to the amount of stress they were put under at work. THIS IS NOT OKAY. The running joke is "another one bites the dust" when people quit or that they "finally lost it". This is not a forever job, just a great learning opportunity. Unless you're into the whole "I can barely take a vacation and have to check my email over the holidays and get paid way less than my peers outside of SmithBucklin for double the work and poor support" thing. Then you could stay.

3.0
Sep 11, 2014

Don't be fooled by all of the 5 star reviews!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I had to rewrite my review because the fake reviews that are being placed are so comical/pathetic. Any review that compares SmithBucklin to Apple or GE means the CEO or HR is writing the review. Another giveaway? Any review that states the only negative thing to say is "it's not for everyone" or "the environment is fast paced". Especially when the review says "I don't think it's a con but others may". If the company focused as much on their employees/issues stated here as they do battling negative reviews on this site, they'd be in a much better place. That being said, depending on your service unit and client, you can gain some great entry level experience in the business world to take elsewhere. Great place to enter into the event planning industry.

Cons

Senior management is very aware of their low ratings here and are doing everything they can to get them higher, hence all the recent 5 star reviews. Unless you are a male coming in at a director level or above, go somewhere else - senior management will not care about you. They refuse to pay attention to the high turnover and low pay, as well as a model that simply does not work. I've never seen a more out of touch CEO.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 462 Reviews

Glassdoor has 468 Smithbucklin reviews submitted anonymously by Smithbucklin employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Smithbucklin is right for you.