Baltimore Sun Media Group Reviews

Pros

There is a core group of committed employees at the Sun who do thier best to accomplish tasks in order for publications to remain profitable and on point.

Cons

Benefits to employees keep being reduced; layoffs are not handled professionally. The level of paranoia has reached the point where employees who leave on their own are escorted out the door even though two weeks notice is given. There have been no reviews or raises in two years. Experienced employees are leaving at an alarming rate leaving a mediocre staff and a management team who has to play catch up because they are not sure of what tasks the employees who have left did.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel that at some point the middle management needs to be evaluated under stringent guidelines and tangible benchmarks. Many people at that level seem to have gotten there by politcal saavy vs any type of management skills or creative ability.

Pros

Their reorientation in the community in terms of advertising products measure by performance gives you leverage when selling to new customers.

Cons

Their is no organizational structure. The management is a joke and the pay is awful. No clear way to track sales- they have a cram stystem but other departments steal your information and under sell to your prospects. They have no value for true professional talent. If you are fresh out of college this would be a good start but if you are a seasoned professional you will be turned off by the internal channels and how screwed up they are. I was happy when I first got the job off but after sitting in training I realize I had just taken a demotion because of the lack of quality. So disappointed to a company of this size to be ran so poorly it's no wonder why they are in bankruptcy

Advice to Senior Management

Do something other than send calendar events for non productive task and educate yourself before you take on the role of management so that you can be a resource instead of taking notes to find out answers and never follow back up because you don't know or can't find someone to ask- let the sales team run the company and fire all the managers. They will lose some true talent by having no organizational structure

Pros

as a sales rep you can make your own hours and work from home or in the field most of the time.

Cons

The variety of compensation options for reps... some are commison only with a base of 5k a year and 3 or 6 months of a guarneteed salary. Others are "cultivators" with a base of 30k-35k... with the commision rate being the same all around... its a cut throat sales team of 50 reps- all selling the 30+ products in the porfolio.... no teritories, just chaos. Very dificult to make money. Reps steping all over each other... and very time consuming process to place ads or insertion orders... no help from sales assistants cause they sell too!

Advice to Senior Management

Cut your sales team in half, assign products to sell, pay all reps a base, no selling for sales assistants or local selling to national reps. Activly market b to increase branding.

Pros

There are some great, hard-working, and talented individuals, who from the bottom... up, take care of the day-to-day business needs.

Cons

Management (when around) seems lost in shuffling emails and "putting in their time" - productive or not. There is no game plan, no excitement, no future thoughts or ideas, and no investment in training and development. I think it depends on who you work for and how you are treated - many managers are less than professional, while others do try. Communication comes in the form of gossip and people are leaving just to get out and do better for themselves.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should really invest in learning some people skills (in dealing with external clients and employees). They should get a plan and stop blaming everything on the internet. Most importantly, stop nickel and dime-ing the employees to death... how much can you take away with one hand, and ask for additional work with the other hand? There is absolutely no loyalty and no appreciation extended to the employees. I have heard many members of middle management say "it's the blind leading the blind" and on this point they are unfortunately correct.

Pros

Day to day life depends on your group and manager. Groups are very independent from each other and working together across groups tends to be a challenge. If you have a great group, your day to day job is satisfying. Beyond that, most of the company is deliberately separate for whatever reason. Advancement opportunities were there 3 years ago but have since dwindled.

Cons

Some managers are worse than others. Higher management is seldom seen. Layoffs are handled through phone calls and you will be immediately escorted out. The community respect for the organization has fallen throughout the Baltimore area.

Advice to Senior Management

Community and public relations starts with your employees

Pros

Despite layoffs, there are some very talented people still working there. The building is nice, and it's convenient for commuters.

Cons

It's demoralizing to see talented coworkers laid off again and again. Unfortunately this company has been shedding jobs since before the economy tanked. There are no raises and no opportunities for advancement. There is no budget for employee training or supplies. Overtime is expected and not compensated.

Advice to Senior Management

I recognize that the company is emerging from bankruptcy, but please, at least try to make it a pleasant place to work by rewarding employees somehow, even if it's not possible to do so financially.

Pros

Some of the people who have remained at the company are bright and hard working.

Cons

It is hard to stay positive and focused in the newspaper industry because it is dying a slow death. Very difficult product to sell not only because it is outdated but also expensive when compared to other media.

Advice to Senior Management

Unfortunately, the advertising management team is overwhelmed by constant demands on them from corporate which means they have very little time to oversee the sales teams. Sales reps are promoted to temporary managers and these managers do not have the people skills or experience to be managers. This is one of the reasons they are always looking for new sales people; they keep losing sales people.

Pros

Personal life availability and vacation time is good.

Cons

The newspaper industry is hurting and you feel it every single day. Management does not let you forget it.

Advice to Senior Management

Help sell the products you are inundating your sales force with.

Pros

Generous pay and vacation (thank you Guild) but not much else to recommend it especially since Zell regime took charge.

Cons

Recent layoffs have left the paper gutted. Errors making it into paper because of the lack of editors are mortifying.

Advice to Senior Management

Hope for new ownership that has cash to attract journalists that come even close to the quality you've thrown away.

Pros

As a commissioned account executive, your pay is mostly in your hands. I left right before the economy got bad though.

Cons

When the economy goes south, so do the advertising dollars. The union also sucks. Nobody being paid commission needs a union and they surely don't need to be paying union dues.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to what your front line employees are telling you.