Favoritism at Spoonflower is hard to get past. If one manager doesn't like you, you'll have problems.
There was also a lot of confusion about job titles, who to turn to for help, and what best practices are. Many folks have their own specific ways of doing things, and will train others to do it that way as well.
Work/life balance is hard to come by, you are somewhat expected to make work your entire priority and are rewarded for doing so. Those who have other things going on often found themselves on the outskirts despite doing a good job. I understand wanting your employees to be enthusiastic about their work but that is not all there is to life. This comes to play in advancement in the company as well. Starting out in operations, you feel pretty much stuck there unless you're wildly overqualified for another role or you make the role your entire life as previously stated.
While there is emphasis on best practices, healthy lifting habits, and other safety measures, the end goal is ultimately yardage out the door. The pressure to work faster causes employees to do tasks quicker, not smarter. Management will swear up and down that they want you to be safe, but if being safe costs minutes of your time that could be used printing or cutting, you'll ultimately hear about it in a review.
Pay structures need to be revisited. Operations and print staff should be paid more, hands down. They are physically demanding jobs that do end up hurting you at some point or another even if you do everything correctly.
