National CineMedia Reviews

I worked at National CineMedia as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – free soda, breakfast on fridays.. yoga you name it. Lots of incentives.

Cons – I worked temp and most people start as temp and cannot guarantee your job. Very niched personalities. Work you to the bone. Coarse attitudes. as a woman I felt inferior to men there.

Advice to Senior Management – quit using only temps. start hiring for the long term.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at National CineMedia full-time for more than a year

Pros – The people were the best part of working for NCM.

Cons – Deception from the first interview to the repeated calls late into the night to go over what was stated in interviews. The hiring manager was inept and not skilled to lead a sales team.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at National CineMedia full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Salary was competitive and bonus structure was great. When I started this job, the management at the time, fostered a very positive and upbeat environment. The team was a unit and we all worked for one goal, which was to do a great job for the company. Unfortunately, halfway through my stay, it all went down hill, from change of management to going public.

Cons – Once new management took over, it became a sorority house environment. Nothing but finger pointing, fakes and clique mentality. Setting people up for failure was the excitement of the day for upper management, which started to trickle down to the minions. Understandably so, they were just trying to keep up and not be at the receiving end. But it just festered an unfortunate and dark atmosphere. The young talented people were exposed to bad management behavior, I hope they were able to rise above it and realize the world does not only function in negativity. I am glad I escaped when I did.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time

Pros – Great people to work with, and for (generally speaking). Relatively small, but likes to think of itself as big and innovative, and in a lot of ways it is.

Perks:
- great half day charity program (employees who choose to do so can contribute $15/month to a charity pool and get a half day off every month in return, and can also make suggestions as to how and where the pool is spent),
- domestic partner benefits in 2013,
- treats every Friday morning,
- relatively frequent company wide - for Denver employees, anyway - events,
- kids' Christmas party every year with a Santa for pictures, goodie bags and a movie to watch,
- summer outing to a Rockies game,
- generally open door policy to talk to upper management
- flexible and reasonable about work/life balance - for example, kids are welcome to come and trick or treat during the annual Halloween department decoration competition,
- nice physical working environment

Cons – Small, niche company, which can make it difficult for some job departments to train people to work anywhere else. Rapid growth has put some growing pains on the company - people who have been there for a very long time need to realize that the company is not a seat of the pants operation anymore and some processes need to be looked at again for scalability. Departments can be very siloed and would be even more so if the lower level employees didn't do a pretty good job of getting to know each other (upper management doesn't seem to see this).

Advice to Senior Management – Stop working in your silos. Listen to what the worker bees are saying and consider that they may have a valid perspective that could help the company grow. Look at how many job titles you have that overlap and don't make sense, and DO make sure that pay across departments is comparable and fair. Stop talking about how a certain number of employees with expensive medical years are responsible for increased premiums, that's a horrible message to hear - are employees supposed to feel guilty for needing medical attention?

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – They have some very unique benefits with a charity half day program, and a movie pass. They're also building a more robust corporate culture than they'd had in the past. Everyone is very ethical and has great integrity.

Cons – Not very much in the way of career advancement opportunities. The absolute stated goal of returning value to the shareholders detracts from the need to rectify some salary inequities in the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than a year

Pros – You get to work in the movie advertising industry. Each year there are bonuses paid based on the performance of the company. There is also an annual movie pass given to employees who have worked more than a year.

Cons – The company is very flat. This means you will likely be overworked and will be asked to put in extra hours on a regular basis. Sometimes you will be told that there may be a chance to bring on another body, other times you are told to just work more efficiently. The morale at the company is very low due to this lack of a work-life balance. You will be asked to reschedule your vacations if they interfere with project schedules. Most people who get ahead in the company will put in 60 hours a week on a regular basis. The Management skills are very lacking or non-existent. I was hired for one position but eventually realized that the job description I was hired for only accounted for about 25% of the work I did.

Advice to Senior Management – Ensure your employees have what they need to perform their job functions. The company needs to grow to be successful. This means your employees need additional help to avoid working too many hours. Be honest with your employees. If you become aware of dysfunction and conflict among your employees then you need to address it.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – The company treats employees well, has an open environment, with great growth opportunities. There is a young entrepreneurial feel to the culture and day to day operations. The teams are very passionate about their missions. The groups are learning to be open and work very well together. There are many fun perks to working in the entertainment industry.

Cons – The company grew very fast, but is stabilizing now. Turn-over is very low which can be good and bad.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Very laid back environment.
My department is allowed to work on what we want as long as the job gets done in the end.
People are easy to get along with.
Benefits are pretty good.
Scheduling is very flexible.

Cons – Very top heavy. We have more VPs than Ford.
Production development environment is a joke for the end users. Too much bureaucracy to get anything done efficiently.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than a year

Pros – Overall a friendly place to work. A growing business with consistent yearly bonus payouts. A chance to grow in your career since this is a young company (not just the personnel) and there are plenty of business improvements to be made. This is also a unique company with unique challenges (this can be good or bad depending on your point of view).

Cons – Very management heavy company. I never realized that a company could have so many 'Directors', 'Sr. Directors', and VP's before. When you have either one of these positions managing only 2-4 people, then I think you have a serious problem.

Benefits are average at best, but the company acts as thought they are paving the way in this area. For perspective, a past employer with the identical health benefits (even down to the insurance companies) cost half as much for employees. The company also does not offer any continuing education support (I think this is sad for any modern day company).

Compensation varies depending on department and loosely given titles. Company appears to value some positions well above others.

Overall the personnel are very young. There are a lot of 'first jobs' here and with that comes a somewhat unprofessional environment.

This is a highly personal option, but I get the feeling there are quite a few managers that got to their positions solely due to being with the company for a long time or because they "knew" someone. Not because of their qualifications or job performance.

Advice to Senior Management – Need to reorganize the internal structure and focus on creating work efficiencies. There are departments where you can cut top heavy management and hire additional entry-mid level personnel. Should also move away from a sales run company in the long run.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at National CineMedia full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Intelligent, strategic leaders with integrity who have placed a stronger focus on cultivating a positive culture; fantastic training and development programs; strong, professional human resources team; great industry

Cons – Not all members of management are fully supportive of recent, positive changes, but the company has made great progress regardless

Advice to Senior Management – Keep it up and strive to be even better; hold each other accountable

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company