Vantaggi
It is hard to write too many pros about Ref, but one thing they do well is hire smart, talented and ambitious people. Truly some of the best people I have met in a work environment. That said, it made it that much harder to watch these bright young people come to Ref and start to lose their minds at around 6-8 months and then leave. The CEO hires well because she wants to have the best and brightest, the only problem is she doesn't let anyone actually use the skills they were hired for or have any creative ability so, once they figure that out, they leave.
Svantaggi
Lets just start by saying that the bad reviews on here are, in fact, very very accurate. There is a non existent Leadership team - they all left within six months of each other last year (50% of them lasting less than a year). HR is also non existent because the team they brought in to help with the morale issues and insane turnover rate ended up getting fed up with doing the CEO's dirty work and left - again all within six months of each other. Ref hires young people because they know they can pay them less and work them harder. Getting a raise or a title change is like pulling teeth. The only way to even be remotely successful at Ref is if the CEO acknowledges your existence, the VP stops tapping her foot long enough to learn your name and COO likes you - because honey, if she doesn’t, you won’t last long. Overall Ref has created a toxic work environment that has been further cultivated by the CEO's inner circle...imagine Devil Wears Prada, West Coast edition: No one can be trusted, everyone is pitted against each other and teamwork is not rewarded. When I see posts about women empowerment and ‘my meow my choice’ tees, I am almost dumbfounded that a company could promote something that is so opposite of how they actually practice. The CEO is a businesswoman who knows what sells well - thats it. She doesn’t empower women, she brings them down to level where she can control them and then she lets them go when she no longer finds them useful.