Good for those starting out or ending their careers - Recensione dipendente - Graphic Designer presso Praxell

Where do I start... I worked here for 3 years. While being a graphic designer my official titles have been: Operations Analyst, Implementation Support, Implementation Support & Graphic Designer to finally just Graphic Designer (at this point I would identify myself if it wasn't against Glassdoor Terms, but you know who I am). Titles are arbitrary in this company and I changed them mostly as I saw fit with other opportunities. Everyone is expected to do everything they can do to benefit the company as a whole. While this philosophy sounds good and family-environment oriented, it does not work as not all employees are upheld to this standard. As a graphic designer I still ran data analysis, did graphic design, answered customer support emails and calls, did operation support, performed Implementation Support, IT, web development, web design, and many other processes. While others are more oriented towards their specific field of compliance or accounting. The majority of daily work falls upon the Operations Team. This is a good example of "keep your head down" otherwise if you show a talent or a skill you will be given extra work (read extra work, NOT extra pay). I was continuously encouraged to "get curious" about various processes and tasks to do more (again, read: Do more, not earn more). Which brings me to the next problem: management. There is no management or supervision in this place. You are accountable for your own work. Which is amazing if you love freedom and not being micromanaged but terrible because no one is there to deal with conflicts or problems in the work place (There is no HR in the company). As an example I was once told by the CEO that people are complaining about my work and I was not meeting deadlines. He provided no examples of this so I had nothing to analyze and learn from, I just went back to my desk feeling crappy since I thought I was shining, not performing badly. If he told me a specific example of me not meeting deadlines I would've understood what happened and taken appropriate measures to correct this. Current CEO Moshe Golomb has repeatedly stated he does not wish to "micro-manage". You are the CEO you should know who does what. After 3 years I doubt he had much of an idea what I did at the place which made asking for raises so difficult. I showed him a complete list of tasks I performed which he disregarded, only to ask me for that same list again once I was halfway out the door, no thanks. You cannot be rightly paid for your work when the person paying you does not know what you do. Speaking of raises, every raise has been an absolute uphill battle. My coworkers and I had to fight for every penny. Often raises would be late and no backpay was offered or given. Several bonuses or promised payments have never happened. (All employees were offered a bonus during a busy time if they worked hard, only to be told at the end "You didn't work hard enough". Or I was promised $50 if I stopped a fax provider from overcharging us, which I have done easily only to never receive the bonus). In the 3 years here I have seen 12 full time employees leave, 5 interns leave, and most of the development team let go as the over-seas office was closed. This should show you the turn-over rate at this place, and the value placed on employees. Day-to-Day operations here are stressful. The environment is toxic generally, there are a few cool people that still work there but their number is dwindling. My co-worker and I once recovered $250,000+ due to a banking error. We worked hard all day and through lunch to get as much money back as we could. We did not hear a thank you or see any bonuses. There is a never ending pile of work which just cannot be completed with quality in mind. So you start doing work as quickly and sloppily as possible just so you don't get overwhelmed. At one point my team had a "Sweep-under-the-rug" box where we would put posted notes with all the work that needed to be done but no one would've raisen a fuss if it didn't get done. That box filled up incredibly fast, faster than I would have ever thought... We ended up throwing it out in fear of someone finding it and making us do all that pointless work. When I quit morale was so low that my co-workers received hefty compensation (my salary I assume) just so they would not leave. Operations Team once had 6 members, it was down to 2 when I left. Hours: 9am-6pm (Operations Analysts rotate weekends On-Call from home). Pay: Prepare to be underpaid. When I left my experience and skill set was valued around $60K on average for a NYC position. The position I quit for matched my pay requirements, and could not believe some of the stories I tell about Praxell. I was getting paid 48K at Praxell. Healthcare in the place is... okay I guess, if you're a young kid with no medical expenses. If you have any pre-existing conditions, need medication or procedures... you're out of luck (and money). No dental or vision. Bonuses? Occasionally once or twice a year workers can get a $100-500 bonus, but like I said I have not seen any bonuses as far as I can remember. Prior to me quitting I was offered a $500 bonus per month for 3 months to motivate me to work harder during the busy season, yeah no thanks. I quit maybe a week later. Overall: As advertised "Innovators of the Prepaid" there is nothing innovative about this company. The tech is still stuck in early 90's (and so were the websites when I first got hired). Most of the processes are manual and tedious requiring many hours of manual labor when a computer can perform the process in seconds (maybe shouldn't have fired your development team?). Those processes that are automated still breakdown daily or weekly and require human input to sort them out (TQ, Federal benefit payments, account purging, etc).