Discovery Communications – “If you like being beaten into submission and lied to, this is the place for you!”

Pros

Pay (pre-recession), benefits, on-site health clinic, location, Lifeworks, child care center, people in the trenches doing the real work.

Cons

Incompetent management, deception, complacency with the status quo, lack of inspiration, half-baked products. Television shows have fallen prey to the ratings gods, which are shamelessly pumped out heavily in favor of style over substance. And to think, this was once a highly-respected brand.

The company itself falls short of having the right idea as a holistic entity. It fails to deliver when it comes down to brass tax. Seemingly sound ideas based on caring for employees and green-initiatives paint the corporate portrait well in PR releases, but the reality is much different when it comes down to the true value of the worker, where tenure means next to nothing.

A lot of hemming and hawing, but no real decisive leadership at the helm. Course correction happens with each bend of the economic wind, rather than sticking to a sensible plan and testing it over the long haul, giving it a chance to succeed.

Advice to Senior Management

Instead of laying people off, take a pay cut yourselves. You're the ones running the company into the ground, not us and it's the corporate American thing to do in this economy, isn't it? So, stop firing your most talented people and punishing them for your lousy choices! Oops, too late.