Rodale – “Huge inefficiencies, low pay, overworked, under recognized, lots of opportunities to improve!”

Pros

The environment is laid back -- casual dress; presentations given with printed out slide decks and no standing, etc. The benefits are nice, and, although the cost to employees has recently increased, are extensive and I am satisfied with these. I enjoy the ability to learn a great deal about numerous media formats and interact with many others who are media professionals from many companies and backgrounds. Rodale is getting much more into online marketing now due to the economy and ad sales being down across their magazine brands, so this is interesting and opportunities to increase their effectiveness are huge. In many departments, there are few people involved in functional teams, which allows for you to excel within your team.

Cons

The training is terrible, and inefficiencies in the company abound. There are almost no training documents -- no manuals on common processes, no org charts, no lists of what is important in any position or department. Communication is poor. It's up to every employee to sort through the mess and figure out how to do things. There are so many levels of titles that it's ridiculous, and people are not promoted and given raises as they should be. (A few colleagues of mine have been there for 4-6 years and do very good jobs, but are still at the very lowest levels of titles and compensation). There are a lot of politics, and it is hard to get any radically new ideas approved and implemented. Also, there is a resistance to change and innovation from management and colleagues; even given radical goals such as doubling internet growth, Senior managers really are not trying anything much different than their standard marketing procedures. Rarely does anyone get publicly recognized as doing a good job, and even if they do, there is a very low chance that they will get promoted or more than a very small 3% typical annual raise. Reorgs are common -- every single year! -- and many employees are frustrated, overworked, and drastically underpaid.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more for low-level employees who do the bulk of the work in the company, create training documents, do less reorganizations, get more younger people in management, REWARD performance and innovation, give more recognition and awards, DECREASE the levels of managemen/titles and bureacracy!