Hearst Corporation Reviews

Pros

Great people, great benefits & perks, amazing view from the P-I Building on Elliott Avenue.

Cons

The Hearst Corp shut down the print edition of the newspaper.

Pros

If you are just starting out in the business then working for Hearst is a great way to gain some experience, but for a long term career path look elsewhere.

Competitive salary

Nice building, On-site Gym / Wellness center

Cons

It was a great place to work at one time (pre tower). Editorial /Production middle management is completely clueless as to the daily operation and the strengths and pitfalls of the magazines they are suppose to support. While the editorial workflow looks good on paper, the execution is poor due to insufficient training, a lack of enforcement of basic procedure and management’s ignorance that there is even a problem. I have never seen an operation that was run so haphazardly.

Advancement within the company has more to do with personal relationships rather than achievement.

Employees who offer concerns or insight are often ignored or worse put their jobs at risk.

For hours worked exceding 40 in a given week there is no overtime pay for many, which depending on the individual employee may or may not be in violation of the FSLA which generaly states that exempt employees must meet certain conditions to be considered exempt. Salaried employees are not excluded from protection under this act.

Management has scaled back the workforce in some very labor intensive areas while others who are underwhelmed fly under the radar.

I will agree with another reviewer that there are several very toxic people in middle management with questionable ethics that need to go.

Advice to Senior Management

If upper management really wants to know what is going on in the magazine division then they should speak to the people who actually produce the products that they sell. I would personally welcome this.

Read the reviews posted here. If you see a common theme forming then just maybe there is something to it.

Pros

Very Upscale Feeling and classy atmosphere.

Cons

None really, people can be snobby at times, but never to me.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a break and relax sometimes

Pros

The company has solid brands that are well-known and well-respected. The location and building are great. Compensation is reasonably good.

Cons

Management at the Publisher/AP/Ad Director level is very rocky. Managers don't deal well with the changing media landscape and tend to simply pressure staff rather than come up with original and innovative ideas. There seems to be little trust that the staff is competent and turnover is rampant. Constant criticism and pressure never lets up and successes are quickly dismissed.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more experienced, innovative and creative leaders to head up many of the magazines and realize that when a magazine has high turnover there is often a poor manager in place.

Pros

Great local management team, good people to work with, interesting and diverse digital platform to sell, could be a great gig for the right media rep

Cons

New York dictates how the Seattle business is run, doesn't give local management the opp or freedom to do what they think is best

Advice to Senior Management

Local leadership is great, and does their best, they just haven't been given reasonable goals from NYC, or the support needed to achieve them

Pros

Good work environment and company culture.

Cons

Not current with pay standards.

Advice to Senior Management

One chart of accounts would make information flow much faster.

Pros

Friendly employees. Relaxed atmosphere. Nice building. Easygoing managment for the most part..

Cons

Overall Weak Managment. Station run by just a couple of people. Employees sometimes not respected. Micromanaged by Hearst Corporate in New York. Very bottom line, body count focused. Salaries have been frozen and benefits have been greatly reduced.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to respect, compliment and recognize employees more for their hard work and a job well done. Treat everyone equally and fairly.

Pros

Other than the fact that there is nowhere else to work in the country, there are no good reasons.

Cons

Incompetence. The selling out of journalistic integrity and credibility to the highest bidder. Forcing people to do the work of 3 employees. Refusal to pay overtime, but expecting employees to do 3 times the work in the same time. Every employee is a marketing professional regardless of job title or description. Unethical practices. Low journalistic standards. Employees treated like disposable robots.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees that are doing the real work.

Pros

Good cafeteria, the opportunity to work in the cutting edge of journalism and publishing, relative prestige compared with publishing houses.

Cons

Some of the senior management can be stuck in their ways, lunch around the area tends to be expensive, not as a big as Conde Nast.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure that feedback is availible to each of your employees as well as an overall sense of unity between the floors.

Pros

(1) great working environment
(2) very friendly workmates
(3)decent salary
(4) pretty girls
(5) good cafe
(6) great building

Cons

people who are working in this company, mostly, are already in their middle age, so they already have their own famlies, not hanging out with young people very much