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Site Enhancement Services

I've had some time to think about my experience here before writing this review. At first I thought it was just all in my head and I wasn't good enough and I should have done things differently but that's not the case. That's the sort of mental abuse that is cast down from the upper levels of management. If you think you will be safe from them by working out of a satellite office you are wrong. The company is structured in little fiefdoms and depending on who you will work with will determine how quickly you get burnt up and self destructive. The design director is truly a nice guy with his hands bound above his head. You couldn't pay me enough to have his job. He tries his hardest to keep his team from learning about what is really being said about them and from being escaped goated. Your only worth here is your billable hour. Which you will have to log in 15 min. increments until you leave. Every minute of every day has to be logged to a job. Which is great for those that don't mind padding and lieing about what they do all day. The culture here has drove off all of the designers from south bend during my tenure. Some of them mentally broke and will never work for a company again. Some are very successful art directors. After this drain of talented designers we were left to fend for ourselves. I aided in the hiring process only to alleviate the stress on me trying to put up smoke and mirrors for the unreasonable amount of work that needed to be done with little staffing. This went on for years. The work comes in waves so we were never adequately staffed for the pushes and when things slow down people get let go. Like 2 days before Christmas let go... (an actual event). I went above and beyond learning every rec. book they had to produce and even learned cad enough to take on a new account. With a vast knowledge of all things happening in the department you would think they would entrust on you oversight and value your opinion on the subject matter but that's not the case. They blame you for the under staffing issues that you raised as a concern 2 months prior and strip you from every important project you were apart of until you feel so useless you don't want to work on anything important anymore. The company culture here has permanently scared me and made me someone I didn't want to be. 

This job doesn't prepare you for any type of work outside of their company. There are only a few companies that do the sort of work that they do and they are easily staffed not needing veterans. I've been able to find some national manufacturers who were patient enough to let me learn the skills i needed for their companies.

I worked as a Project Coordinator at SES for nearly six years. A typical day at work included billing/invoicing, driving (locally) to pick up materials/orders, packing/shipping, emailing, phone calls, conference calls and working with various clients and vendors, general contractors, installers, architects, and graphic designers. Here’s a brief-but by no means complete-list of the most important skills I gained: a strong work ethic and shrewd attention to detail, effective time management, fiscal responsibilities (budgeting, billing, estimating, collecting, making monthly/quarterly projections, etc.) and lastly, COMMUNICATION. I worked closely with the Director yet reported (absences, leaving early/arriving late, etc.) to a fellow project coordinator coworker of mine who had seniority in the office. The workplace culture was bustling, friendly and laidback. I worked closely with my fellow peers/coworkers and the environment was open concept office with about 6’ of space in between desks so there was virtually no privacy. Sometimes we bickered and frequently got on one another’s nerves but we also laughed a ton and had a good time, too (and I was an introvert among extroverts!). For me, the hardest part of the job was the incessant communication required (at night, over the weekend, while attending a funeral or on vacation, etc.) via several mediums (phone call, email, video conference, text, in person, meeting, etc.) to many people (clients, vendors, installers, general contractors) often regarding snafus (i.e. the installation date was delayed, the glass broke in transit to the site, the client doesn’t like the color, the architect rejected the third prototype, the graphic designer is still finalizing the production artwork, etc.). I enjoyed having a full, busy schedule each day and rarely was I bored or idle. Work hard, be nice, communicate and you will succeed, thrive and even advance. 

I worked for this company for the Orlando office over 8 years total.  A general days work as a graphic designer consists of creating brandbooks for permitting signs, which includes photo mockups and learning each client's sign family and branding standards.  You have to bill every minute of your day to a job number. Unbilled time is checked at the end of each month and you will be reprimanded if you have too much. You are almost never provided training on what the client prefers. Quality is generally worked out by winging it and receiving feedback from the client. If you do good and accurate work, you will be handed more work. If you ask for help, you will be ignored or viewed as combative, unless you are one of the few who are the favorites, which generally are the people who are nearby the CEO in the main office in South Bend IN.

I worked so hard to be accurate, fast and communicate, but it was never good enough, and was generally ignored or received push back any time I had a suggestion to actually fix a problem vs band aiding it.

I can not recommend this company, the design skills and other knowledge you will need do not apply anywhere else, as there are just a few companies in the country that do this kind of high volume permit/brandbook work.  The environment and culture has never improved over the 8+ years I've been a part of it. The favorites get what they want and everyone else picks up the slack. I can count on one hand how many times I've heard good job or a thank you. I had gotten used to all of this just by the amount of time spent with the company, and planned on staying since I was the sole provider for my family, but cuts were made just before the holidays, which is an annual event that you will be sweating every year if you decide to work for this company. 

Took this job on a whim when it was offered just to try something new and give the office life a shot. The insurances benefits were great, but the pay was only “meh.”

At first I loved the loose atmosphere, but within a few months I came to realize that with this loose atmosphere came an overwhelming sense of chaos and utter lack of direction. 

A handful of people have defined roles that they specialize in, while the remaining 70ish% of staff are left at the whims of whoever their direct supervisor is. In my experience there, work was totally feast or famine, in the sense that you’re either swamped or you have nothing and you have to constantly go ask what to do like you’re a small child helping your parents around the house. Part of my job involved traveling a few days at a time to do installs, which were almost always poorly planned and communicated, giving minimal time to plan ahead and making personal arrangements if you’re in a relationship or have pets to care for back home. 

I enjoyed the #2 in charge, he was funny and personable and genuinely cared about my own well being. However, he was always so busy that I had to rely on others for guidance and generally these underlings were disinterested or completely unhelpful. The main boss was only around occasionally and always struck me as egocentric and annoying to be around. He held himself in very high regard while treating most others like they are replaceable and overpaid. He gave no guidance to anyone there (aside from complaining about one thing or another) and then left the middle management types to guide the ship, which in my case, always seemed to lead to confusion, frustration and regret for taking the job in the first place.  

SES provides the opportunity to take on more responsibility much quicker than what a larger company would and offers a wide variety of competencies that allow employees to grow professionally and enhance their skills such as; research, account management, branding, project presentation, project coordination, and negotiation. 

The starting salary is typically entry level, the company does recognize hard workers who are efficient and provide quality results, which can lead to getting promoted before others who may have been with the company longer. One of the primary strengths of the company is managements willingness to listen to employees ideas and its evolving culture that keeps improving the overall work environment. 

All in all SES is a fairly open work environment that creates a lot of learning potential and provides a solid foundation for future professional advancement and personal growth. The hardest part for most who are employed here is making the most of the opportunities provided by supervisors and management, as they are not always readily apparent or even seem trivial at times, but the overall experience gained and skills learned or sharpened is well worth time.

Working for Site Enhancement Services, I had a generally rather bad experience. Although certain colleagues were outstanding and some projects piqued attention, the management was rather lacking in direction and support. Employees were closely watched and had very little confidence in their ability to perform their jobs alone.

Unless you belonged to a preferred group, career progress was nearly nonexistent. The remuneration was not competitive given the stress and excessive demands placed on staff members. The surroundings were poisonous, rife with office politics and favoritism; top choices were taken with little to no openness in leadership's communication.

It seemed like a place where employee welfare was disregarded and hard effort wasn't appreciated generally.

I thoroughly enjoy my job with SES. This is not a typical 8-5 job where the same set of procedures are followed every day. SES has an open forum set up which encourages interaction and team work. Because of our work negotiating with municipalities and working within predetermined construction schedules, each day presents a new set of challenges and problems to solve. The best reward is being able to see the results of my hard work upon completion of a site, knowing that my work each day has a lasting effect on the branding of all the locations I have touched. SES is a fast-paced, competitive environment, but it also provides excellent opportunities for advancement and additional responsibilities. That being said, SES has high standards with regards to quality and productivity. The level of speed and accuracy required is high, but achievable.

This is the WORST place you could ever imagine working at. I spent multiple years here and at first, the lack of structure is fun. Then you realize the chaos and lack of direction and leadership is completely debilitating. The pay is abysmal, the culture is flat-out toxic, and management is clueless. 

There are only two types of people who succeed at this company; 1) the mindless drone who doesn't care if they ever get ahead and they don't mind being a punching bag for their entire life (I literally have watched senior leadership bully their employees). 2) the bulldozer, with no thoughts of your own, no integrity, and don't care to maintain any type of work-life balance (again, witnessed on so many occasions senior leadership audibly laughing when someone said the words "work-life balance").

Save your sanity, your time, and your life by turning down this job. You will gain NO marketable skills or abilities that will allow you to get out of this industry.

During my interview, I was told that I would only work 8 hour shifts, 40/h weekly, monday-friday. From day one my shifts were 12 hours and I was constantly asked to work on weekends without overtime nor compensation. I also did other tasks that weren't my responsability due to lack of employees. Management was a mess. I was given directions from multiple "managers". This caused contradictions between themselves due to lack of clarity of what needed to be done for installs. No prior training was given either. I was expected to know everything without a proper guide. I was only given feedback when mistakes were done. Other than that, there was almost no communication with managers. 

This is a good place to get some experience especially when you're first starting your career.  I would not recommend staying past 2 years. There is very little room for advancement in this company and the pay is terrible. Benefits are basic. Culture is awkward and toxic with alot of issues not being handled how they should be and swept under the rug. Politics and touchy subjects  are widely expressed in a professional setting with no consequences because upper management are the ones creating this culture. If you have a good manager then you will learn alot and will get some good experience. The company is very set in its ways and is not professional at all. 

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