Working at Einstein Industries — Reviews by Employees

This place is pathetic. The pea-brained, hot-headed "CEO" should be in a mental hospital. His aggressive, caustic and hyper-greedy behavior ruins all relationships, especially when it comes to money. By constantly duping customers, employees and investors, it's amazing this dump still exists. The company is millions of dollars in debt, embroiled in lawsuits, doesn't pay taxes, and uses trickery to "pay" their people. Management cannot be trusted; this place will suck you in, chew you up, and spit you out.

Einstein Industries is a complete sweat shop that preys on the ignorance of their employees, clients and management to put money in the pockets of Robert Silkey, who has to be one of the most twisted snake oil sales man since Jimmy Swaggart. CEO, Robert Silkey, has a future as a tele-evangelist, the guy is filled with nothing but BS, caffeinated charisma and greed.

For all those considering them to handle your marketing or if you are considering becoming employed by these scammers here is a list of their current scams, services and culture:

-Thier legal, dental directory is a scam, they call on unassuming potential client to try to book them for a quick 15 minute appointmen. Once the appointment takes place they manipulate their prospect by showing them all these key words that they show up on in Google. Little do their clients know that anybody can show up for these keywords you just have to open up a Google AdWords account and buy those keywords for your website. So before they doo their little dog and pony show of a presentation they buy these keywords seconds before the presentation and tell the client, "See the kind of visibility we can get you!!!"

LOL! The thousands of dollars they charge for their "exclusive" directory listings
could cost less than $5 a click in reality. The bottom line is that the more ignorant a client the better it is for Einstein Industries. So if you're a client don't spend a dime on their directory and get smart and open a Google AdWords account yourself.

-The standard question asked before your hired at Einstein Industries is, "Whats your favorite browser?", if your reply is, "What's a browser?" You're going to be q perfect employee, because this company is not trying to surround themselves with the bes and the brightest they are trying to surrond themselves with donkeys that are going into slave labor. If you're coming in for a sales position be prepared for micro-management, abuse, top- down hiegharchy style management. Every phone call is recorded, and a minimum of 100 cold calls are required a day!

So take your resume and run, and if you get a phone call from this boilroom I would hang up and report the phonecall to the DoJ. This place is going down like a plate glass window in a riot; a $250k judgement from the County of San Diego, multiple complaints to the Department of Justice and multiple law suits it's just a matter of time before this place gets wrapped up in yellow tape.

Let's breakdown

This place is a total joke. The only thing good about the company was all the swinger parties that they people held. When I worked there some girl would never take a shower and smelled like poop. Anyways, between being a bumb or working here take the high road a be a bumb.

When I did work at Einstein Industries it was basically like high school all over again. Only fun part was the daily soap opera (watching Pam and Seth).

I'm truly surprised this company is still open and not being sued by the government, clients, or coworkers

Einstein has great products a great working environment that provides the opportunity to make unlimited amount of money depending on how good and hard you are willing to work. Like every other company in America the recession has slowed (but not stopped) the companies growth. The CEO tried to grow the company too quickly and the recession hit. He decided either pay some people late or lay people off... What would you do? Any one who has an eye for opportunity knows Einstein is a great place to work and gain a lot of experience/knowledge. This company will continue to be a leader in the health care/legal marketplace for years to come. Innovators in internet marketing, no question about it.

Einstein Industries is dreadfully misnamed, because there is nothing genius about this corpse of a company. When I first started, I was told it was one of the "fastest growing web companies in San Diego." I was mildly excited and tried to do an exceptional job. I now leave EI with my work ethic destroyed, a cut salary, and my faith in American business in shambles. But hey, I got to browse the web a lot.

Pay:
As has been noted, the pay was recently slashed across-the-board from its previously low rates. Significantly below industry standards, and it's always been like this. Don't believe any excuses about the tough economy.

Respect:
Don't count on it. The co-workers in your department will respect you, but don't expect any recognition outside that. You're just taken for granted. And hey, there's plenty of people they could line up to take your cherished position. Or so they said.

Benefits:
Sub-standard and no 401k matching.

Job Security:
Ha ha. What is horrible is not simply the fact that lay-offs occur, and occur often, it's that the management seems to have a fetish for keeping employees uptight and wondering if they're next, then assuring them they've got money coming in, and then booting them to curb with no warning and no severance pay. Once they laid someone off while he was on a company project out-of-state, and tried to keep it secret until he came back. No joke.

Work/Life Balance:
It's somewhat annoying to balance your life around unpredictable paychecks. Other than this minor inconvenience you can keep Einstein out of your mind. Except the occasional nightmare.

Career Potential/Growth:
You can advance for about a year tops before you hit a dead end. Most jobs are specialized and don't have any room for advancement or learning. Good for entry-level and then GET OUT.

Location:
Not bad but not great. There are enough restaurants within distance to avoid bringing lunch and storing it in one of the crowded decrepit fridges.

Co-worker Competence:
It's a mixed bag. Anyone that is competent is underpaid. It's also not unusual to put someone in a department they know little about. Once when a co-worker asked for help from a specialist, the specialist said "Hey, we're all in the same boat!"

Work Environment:
The bathroom is like a dungeon. 'Nuff said.

Overall EI is dismal. If you really want to work at a place with the name "Einstein" in it, try Einstein Bagels. The wages are comparable and they actually pay on time.

To Einstein Management,

Perhaps you would have seen less “whining and complaining” had you been up front with your employees from the very beginning. In light of recent events, your mantras of “we’re turning the corner” and “we have the money, we just can’t get to it” seem to be less than accurate, if not entirely dishonest. There comes a time when the stock rhetoric you learned in business school (assuming that any of you went to business school and did not learn your managerial skills on a used car lot) needs to be thrown away in favor of actually telling your employees how it is. We all knew the company was in trouble, yet you continued to tell us we were turning that corner, while continuing to pay us late. We asked for updates and did not receive them unless we continued to hound our project managers (whose job descriptions, I doubt, included such obligations). A little honesty goes a long way, and quite frankly, and I believe I can speak for many current and former employees, it was your reluctance to be honest with us that spoiled the morale more than just the simple fact of not being paid on time ever would have. What you demonstrated was a lack of respect for your employees, especially when you laughed it up in the conference room while we wondered when we would get paid. Believe you me, none of us wanted to live paycheck to paycheck; none of us wanted to have to depend on that check arriving on time. Unfortunately, the painful truth is that what you offered was an entry level job with entry level pay – a living wage, true; but definitely not a comfortable one – in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

In a gesture of fairness, though, I am thankful for my tenure at Einstein. I learned a lot and met a great number of intelligent, talented, and generous people with whom I hope I can remain friends for many years to come. Yet Einstein is failing, and the measures that management continues to take only prolong a painful, yet ultimate, demise.

Well, just when you thought things couldn't get worse at good ole' Einstein, they do. On Jan. 5, 2008, the company announced (to those who are left) that salaries would be cut 20 percent across the board and that the company would no longer be offering employee benefits. Wow.

Yes, Einstein is having some major challenges right now. Last I checked so is GM, Washington Mutual, The Tribune Company, etc. etc. etc. The checks have been late, but everybody gets paid, which is more than you can say for many other companies. Anyone who was laid off received all pay due them. I rate job security as zero, but that applies to most other companies as well.

Pay and benefits could be better, but everyone who is now writing negative reviews knew that when they accepted the position they had. Senior management is respectful of the employees. They have blundered by not communicating paycheck status, but they are doing better in that area.

The work environment is very good now. The negative thinkers and whiners are now gone; some of them have commented on this site. Those left are working very hard, getting paid (late, but getting paid)and are doing all they can to help the company through this tough time.

The location in Mira Mesa is fine. Good freeway access, services are plentiful around the area the office is located. The building the company is located in is not a place you want your family and friends to come to visit you at.

The co-workers there are great. Very intelligent, very talented people. The sales reps. sometimes over-promise, like sales people do. But they are good people who know the industry very well. Work/life balance is good, you can leave your work at the office if you want to.

Einstein is an entrepreneurial, Internet marketing/website development company. Is it any surprise that the company is going to struggle during a recession? Those who have left should speak well of the company and take the high road. We who are left wish you well in your future endeavors.