Ascent Media Reviews

Pros

Ascent Media had an excellent group of people to work with! They were very skilled and knowledgeable about the industry.

Cons

There were no real downsides to working at Ascent, understanding that there would be some travel as a part of the job. Unfortunately, the company closed.

Pros

Nice employees, good benefits Clean working enviroment

Cons

Place is kind of clickish. Poor management. Doesn't want to be bothered with anything you tell them, bad attitudes. Fileroom clerk is not very friendly

Advice to Senior Management

Get managers who will listen to you instead of pushing you away and telling you that they don't
have time or do not want to be bothered with your ideas

Pros

great bath rooms deck and kitchen

Cons

sweat shop long hours low pay

Advice to Senior Management

get new maagement that cares

Pros

Cool if you want to work in the movie industry

Cons

The top talent is allowed to get away with pretty much anything they want. The egos in this place are out of control.

Advice to Senior Management

Jose Royo RIP. You were a great leader who left too soon.

Pros

Worked with great people and new technology with a global client base. There is no doubt you get great experience at Ascent.

Cons

The job was a dead end - there didn't seem to be much in the way of promotions or salary increases.

Advice to Senior Management

More incentives to motivate the work force.

Pros

Ascent Media has an amazing amount of technology. Any System Engineer that works at Ascent Media will have the ability to get their hands on some cutting edge technology.

Cons

There are some serious issues that Senior Management needs to address. First and foremost they treat their employees with little to no respect. With the downfall of the economy they have used that excuse to treat their employees like dirt. The line “You are lucky to have a Job” is over used and starting to become demoralizing to employees. Second, there is little to no communication in this company. There is a major communication gap between Senior Management, Department Directors, and a major gap between development and the system engineers. If it was not for talented employees half the work would not get done at Ascent. Third and finally, in the 4 years I have worked at Ascent Media we are going through the third company reorganization. The prior two failed because there is a serious lack of leadership in upper management. The growing consensus amongst all employees is that the Newly hired VP’s, Directors and any other Senior Management role is primarily interested in personal growth and not company goals. Once they achieve a small goal they can add that to their resume, leave Ascent Media and obtain a position at another media company for a higher salary. The employees are not fooled with their town hall meetings and management should honest and if they truly cared about Ascent they really need to figure out a way to reverse the anger and frustration they have caused to their employees.

Advice to Senior Management

figure out the solutions to the cons

Pros

Generous financial compensation and benefit options. Opportunity for advancement is available even if slow to offer and with poor incentive.

Cons

Command-and-control leadership drains off ambition, especially when dictated methods only serve to hinder efficiency. Very little openness to meaningful collaboration.

Advice to Senior Management

More effective communication and transparency between departments would provide for less internal bureaucracy and red tape which would streamline work-flow.

Pros

Cutting-edge technology and equipment, good & comfortable work environment, knowledgeable & nice co-workers, unified team effort, 24-7 365 facility so there are always shifts available.

Cons

Corporate higher ups are not in the trenches working alongside the frontline. If they do they are only in passing. The bean counters do not appear to be looking any further then beyond the next quarter. It appears to be all about the money & profit as opposed to the people and the services offered. Maybe the higher-ups could take pay cuts so that there wouldn't have to be layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management

We don't work for you, we work with you. Get out to the frontline and see what people need personally and work-wise. Stop with this whole cheaper faster bottom line approach.

Pros

Strong technical talent exists at Ascent.

Cons

Poor internal company strategy or direction communication. Focused solely on the bottom line. Little financial support given to important initiatives.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve internal communication - directly engage employees in small group meetings. Where is this company going? What is its core focus?

Pros

It's a job. It could be worse.

Cons

Expect lots of results with few resources. Like many companies, they're concern about cost regarding everything. Some priorities are questionable.

Advice to Senior Management

I think the divestitures was a smart move. It should have been done years ago. Lots of hard working people that go on unacknowledged. You are fortunate you have very dedicated employees that love the industry.