Flexible and values-oriented work environment - Senior Creative Strategist Common Thread Collective Employee Review

Lots of learnings, working with great people and clients

Hard work, as expected in agency life

You will learn quick what to avoid in future companies and employees. Every role after will be a breath of fresh air.

CTC is a chaotic, ego-driven mess, churning and burning employees and clients. CEO Taylor Holiday is a wannabe Twitter influencer playing entrepreneur, surrounded by an inner-circle of unqualified buddies. Strategy changes constantly, positive reviews are fabricated, departments are dissolved on a whim, and layoffs are routine. CTC demands unrealistic output from overworked employees, all while preaching a fake culture of “transparency” and “work-life balance.” Transparency means hyped-up financial updates paired with weird parties and alcohol, followed immediately by entire department layoffs. Work-life balance means 60 hour work weeks with a level of micromanagement I haven’t seen before or since. Not convinced yet? Welcome to leadership meetings where no one has a plan and everyone is too afraid to say the truth. Staying close to the in-crowd matters more than results or performance because it might just keep you your job. I’ll never forget CTC’s empty promises about development and achieving dreams, all while exploiting, discarding, and abusing everyone in sight. If you value your career, mental health, or basic respect, stay far away.