I am writing this review about IDGB (idGroup)…read more I interned at IDGB during college and worked at night putting in over 13 to 14 hour work days. I worked myself this hard to take the opportunity to learn from Steve Tolerico. Steve's knowledge of his craft was one that I admired and I wanted the chance to get to that level. It wasn't always easy to work up to his standards, however, I knew it was to create a top of the line product for our clients. Our team meetings we're an all hands on deck evolution where even the most junior member (myself) had the ability to suggest ideas and run with it. Some of the most fun I've had was in our creative meetings. The end result for our clients was always phenomenal. It was an unbelievable feeling presenting our product to the client. Steve's direct approach and attention to detail helped me become who I am today. I consider him one of the most influential people in my life.

I've never spoken badly about any company or past employment where I've worked. It's not in my…read morenature and I don't like to burn bridges, but I should share my experience and save someone else the trouble. I left a really good digital marketing position with high pay, great benefits, and an amazing boss to work for Steve Tolerico at IDGB or IDBG, LLC. (formerly ID Group). He lured me away with an offer of higher pay, profit sharing, and it was a shorter commute. Taking that job was a HUGE mistake. It's the shortest amount of time I've ever worked anywhere and the only job I haven't given a two-week notice. My first day was spent in meetings. He yelled at his Creative Development Producer (fancy for Project Manager) in front of the Book Keeper he hired the same day. The Book Keeper quit too. It was extremely uncomfortable and unprofessional. I discovered Steve likes to have long drawn out meetings, most are him brainstorming. He wants you to sit through them and then complains about work not getting done. Then he'd want you to stay late and not pay you for it. He does that to his seventy-year-old project manager, keeping her there until eight or nine at night on a daily basis. Every company I've ever worked for has a clear purpose for meetings with a bulleted agenda and a time limit. Needless to say, I was never given a proper workspace with a desk and working computer in the short time I was there. He hired me initially because I have a skillset that includes digital marketing, content writing, graphic design, and web design. What I ended up doing in the short time period I was there were estimate worksheets and inputting proposals into their workflow management system. Accomplishing anything in this office is difficult because it's extremely disorganized with a system that he frequently changes. Frankly, it could be streamlined and simplified for efficiency. The brainstorming sessions and disorganization severely cut productively and cause headaches for everyone else. You're staying late for no good reason and he'll call you outside of working hours, keeping you on the phone at length. Prior to starting work for IDGB, Steve called me to give me company history. This phone call was really him bad mouthing every single person who worked for him. He didn't have one good thing to say about anyone. It was a huge red flag that I shouldn't have ignored. I went back the next day because I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I thought maybe he was just having a bad day. I voiced my concern to both his project manager and him that I didn't think the constant conflict and yelling was healthy for anyone. Then I discovered that his staff page on his website is a lie. Some of the staff listed doesn't even work there anymore and everyone who does work for him are 1099 subcontractors, freelancers he outsources work. The company is mostly him and his project manager who he's dependent on in a really unhealthy way. I got to meet a few freelancers who stop in the office once or twice a week. Everyone I spoke with discreetly is unhappy working for him and looking for other work because of the environment. Plus I caught one of his content writers copy and pasting directly from another website. Plagiarism. If the information is sourced properly, it's no big deal. The marketing posts she wrote were also subpar. The reason for this is because Steve hasn't been paying her adequately. Not that I'm justifying it, but this was a clear case of someone not giving their best because of frustration. If you don't treat people the right way or pay them, then they're not going to give you their best work. My last day he called his project manager a b*tch and told both of us to STFU. The funny thing is I wasn't even talking. I was just standing there listening to him yell at her. Honestly, I've never experienced anything like it in my life. I went home and spoke with my husband. I decided that in this unique situation I couldn't possibly give notice. I wrote him an email resignation that night. He never responded. I did call Howard and asked if he could find time to complete estimate worksheets and proposals since I wasn't going back for another day of abuse. I still have not been paid for my time. You can hire the best people in the world, but if the environment is unhealthy they won't stay.

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