An old blog post from Joethelawyer linked to the glassdoor page for Wizards of the Coast.

My favorite quote?

Quote from: Anonymous WotC ex-employee over at glassdoorMarketing is a joke, they have no idea what they are trying to sell and won't learn.

No shit.

Anyway, the bad reviews (not all, but definitely in the majority) are disappointing. This is the company that prints D&D, for fuck's sake. It should be every game designer's dream job.

Quote from: The Butcher;814344An old blog post from Joethelawyer linked to the glassdoor page for Wizards of the Coast.

My favorite quote?



No shit.

Anyway, the bad reviews (not all, but definitely in the majority) are disappointing. This is the company that prints D&D, for fuck's sake. It should be every game designer's dream job.

Quote from: Same anonymous WotC employee over at Glassdoor2 trick pony. Magic and D&D. If it isn't named that it's not going to fly. Don't get your hopes up about a new game you made. Even if they like it, and say they want to do it, it won't get published. But they will own your idea from then on.

That is one of the reasons why I have never wanted to sell anything to WotC. The contract they want you to sign gives them the rights to your work in perpetuity, if they pay for it then it is theirs to do with as they please.

I'll say the same thing I said on Joe's G+ post of this.

If most of the negative reviews can be summed up as either:

* Man, why won't they just listen my MY great ideas!  Idiots.
* My boss is mean/incompetent and I have to kiss their ass
* Everybody hates me and I'm gonna eat some worms.


Then chances are it's just bitter ex employees who probably aren't the best representation of the company.

I've supervised and/or managed people for over 2 decades, whether it was in the military, coaching, or corporate environment.  80/20 rule.  You'll always have 20% of the staff take up 80% of your time because they are lazy, selfish, incompetent, or all three.  Give them a keyboard, and this is what you get.

This isn't to say there isn't legitimate complaints, but I'd take a site like this with a HUGE grain of salt.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;814356I've supervised and/or managed people for over 2 decades, whether it was in the military, coaching, or corporate environment.  80/20 rule.  You'll always have 20% of the staff take up 80% of your time because they are lazy, selfish, incompetent, or all three.  Give them a keyboard, and this is what you get.

I've been supervised and/or worked under people for over 2 decades and I'd say the split from my end isn't as complimentary... lazy, selfish, incompetent AND delusional about their own capabilities and value to the company seems to run strong in the management I've dealt with. There's a contingent of folks who just KNOW they should be in charge of others despite all signs to the contrary.
Not all or most... but too many.

Quote from: Simlasa;814359I've been supervised and/or worked under people for over 2 decades and I'd say the split from my end isn't as complimentary... lazy, selfish, incompetent AND delusional about their own capabilities and value to the company seems to run strong in the management I've dealt with. There's a contingent of folks who just KNOW they should be in charge of others despite all signs to the contrary.
Not all or most... but too many.

I'm sure you, and everyone else who has had to work with large groups of other people, know exactly what I'm talking about.  Those coworkers who do just enough to not get fired, but are always somehow at the center of every negative thing that ever comes up, and you're constantly covering up for their poor work.

As a manager, that was the #1 issue I had with the job.  Rather than be able to give as much time as I want helping those employees who are really good, and getting them the tools they need to succeed, you're spending most of your time in HR writing up yet another perpetual warning for someone who is a less than ideal employee.  And that's not fair to the majority of employees who are actually pretty good.

I used to work in research & development myself and strangely enough, any ideas i had while at the company became the company's, not mine, even if it wasn't related to my current brief! (strange that)

That people think this shouldn't be the case i find hilarious. Too many hobbyists think it's not a business. It is a business, not a hobby, once you start taking the salary.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;814360Those coworkers who do just enough to not get fired, but are always somehow at the center of every negative thing that ever comes up, and you're constantly covering up for their poor work.

I've had a few co-workers like that, sure... especially at the crappy jobs I had early on... I probably was one of them at times... but I've also worked places where no one fit that description except the boss/manager.

I think certain businesses attract young folks, both because they pay shit and young people are nervous and inexperienced and will go for it, and because 'dream job' makes for people you can jerk around.

But the thing is, young inexperienced workers often have no fucking clue what 'working at a job' entails, so many of these comments are slanted toward growing up.

So I'm torn -- it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a great place to work, but I take the complaints with a lot of salt.

Quote from: One Horse Town;814362I used to work in research & development myself and strangely enough, any ideas i had while at the company became the company's, not mine, even if it wasn't related to my current brief! (strange that)

That people think this shouldn't be the case i find hilarious. Too many hobbyists think it's not a business. It is a business, not a hobby, once you start taking the salary.

That is why you read the contract to find out what your obligations are expected to be before collecting that paycheck.

Is Glassdoor sort of like Yelp, in that you're mainly motivated to post a review there if you've got some sort of grievance?

If it is like Yelp, then the things you want to look for are a very strong tilt to the reviews, and if certain issues get brought up over and over and over again. Then you might have something. But take the reviews at face value? Nahhhh.

But I'm unfamiliar with Glassdoor and how reliable its reviewing culture is.

Quote from: One Horse Town;814362I used to work in research & development myself and strangely enough, any ideas i had while at the company became the company's, not mine, even if it wasn't related to my current brief! (strange that)

That people think this shouldn't be the case i find hilarious. Too many hobbyists think it's not a business. It is a business, not a hobby, once you start taking the salary.

My brother does concept art for a video game company in England. He's very careful not to display his personal work in any way that could be linked to his identity or on-the-job time in case the company tries to nab it.

I had a chat with a Magic the Gathering artist who apparently was in the habit of doing a piece as requested, deciding it was too good to give to WotC, hiding it, and then dashing out an inferior work to meet his obligation.

Quote from: Simlasa;814359I've been supervised and/or worked under people for over 2 decades and I'd say the split from my end isn't as complimentary... lazy, selfish, incompetent AND delusional about their own capabilities and value to the company seems to run strong in the management I've dealt with. There's a contingent of folks who just KNOW they should be in charge of others despite all signs to the contrary.
Not all or most... but too many.

I agree. I've worked in a variety of places and while I've seen poor employees the really bad stuff starts with incompetent managers who can't run the place. I had one manager, of a Walgreens, who aside from being incompetent couldn't form a straight sentence, I rarely had any clue to what he was talking about. I once told one of the assistants that I considered her the real manager of the store. She understood exactly what I was talking about. I had another manager who was a strict by-the-book a-hole who loved writing everyone up for every tiny infraction they made. I had an assistant manager who wanted me to join him on a "cant lose" plan to head to Las Vegas and win in the casinos.

I swear, 80% of the problems I've seen in places come from the managers. If you've been lied to half as much as I've been, if you've seen half of what I've seen, you'd agree.

I don't think too much of Glassdoor. It tends to attract people with grievances. Case in point, at the company I'm working for right now we have this terrible review on Glassdoor from a whiny employee who is complaining that we have too many cat .gifs in our official company email. We all laughed, and proceeded to email twice the amount of cat .gifs.

The things I look for is a consistency of poor reviews. Compare WoTC with Amazon. Here in Seattle Amazon has a turnover rate of about 98% in the first year. It hires kids out of school, works them like dogs, then chucks them aside after a few months. Ugly stuff.  

That WoTC review? Just a bunch of nerdy kids who can't grasp that they're in a corporate environment. Which can suck, but not uniquely.

Quote from: JonWake;814391I don't think too much of Glassdoor. It tends to attract people with grievances. Case in point, at the company I'm working for right now we have this terrible review on Glassdoor from a whiny employee who is complaining that we have too many cat .gifs in our official company email. We all laughed, and proceeded to email twice the amount of cat .gifs.

The things I look for is a consistency of poor reviews. Compare WoTC with Amazon. Here in Seattle Amazon has a turnover rate of about 98% in the first year. It hires kids out of school, works them like dogs, then chucks them aside after a few months. Ugly stuff.  

That WoTC review? Just a bunch of nerdy kids who can't grasp that they're in a corporate environment. Which can suck, but not uniquely.

Agreed.  I looked up my company, and most of the 1 star ratings were from people who were upset they had to do things that were core to the job function.  Don't like cross-selling?  Don't work in retail banking and work in some other part of the bank.  Doesn't make sense to put a 1 star review for a company that consistently ranks very high by companies like Gallup.

This same discussion came up prior to Christmas when forums hit the Glassdoor entry for Fantasy Flight games, which is if anything even more hilarious. I have no trouble believing that these companies are poorly run, because more often than not, the 'upper management' those reviews complain about? Chances are, that the managers were either parachuted - and so have no clue about the product they're selling, or how to sell it (Greg Leeds) - or are grassroots gamers who've 'risen in the ranks', and so more often than not may not have gone through the rigorous management experience other industries use to sort the wheat from the chaff. I don't take these reviews at face value, but I certainly don't jump to the opposite conclusion either, and write it all off as cognitive dissonance across the board.