Playboy Reviews

Pros

Advancement for people who showed initiative.
Longevity for employees
Loyalty of your coworkers
Some of the most fun loving people I have ever met

Cons

Hefner had a tenancy to be resistant to any type of change, ultimately hurting the company
The image of the company out-shown its profits. However thanks to the hard-work of the employees Playboy will always be successful in-spite of itself

Also...too many VP's how many people VP's does it take to stand up to one eccentric old man?

Advice to Senior Management

There is more to a company than an Icon and image. There is some huge potential and talent there. Don't be afraid to make history

Pros

Great location, Like the people that I work with, Work / Life the best

Cons

Not ever knowing what is going on with Senior Mgmt. and the direction of the company. Chicago office feels like a third wheel. Senior employees are getting shafted with severance. Not knowing if I should stay or should I go. All these new SVP's and VP's what do they do and who the hell are they?

Advice to Senior Management

Share what you know. It's a private company now no one is going to leak it to the press cause they don't care. Treat Playboy like one whole company, not like an LA Office, A Chicago Office, An overseas Office...you get it right one company.

Pros

Great work life balance. Great camaraderie among the general employee population. Fun parties and a chance to work for a worldwide brand

Cons

Not many opportunities for advancement. Company has limited resources and constantly downsizing. Executive team doesn't explain the vision of the company to staff. There is almost an "Office Space" of promotion process where people commit acts that would get them fired at most places but are then actually promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Explain what you envision the future of the company to be. Explain why company decisions are made...i.e. annual raises were delayed and no reason was given other than reviews were not done by Jan 1st which they are never done by Jan 1st. Revamp the content team from top to bottom

Pros

dress is casual no drycleaning bills

Cons

since hef sold out the employees are getting screwed out of their severance packages, long long time employees who built this magazine just treated like crap. hef got his so i guess he no longer cares about the rest of us no wonder we are all looking for jobs

Advice to Senior Management

get a clue on how to treat people, who do you think does all the work you take credit for? not to mention your stinkin bonus while we get screwed out of what is coming to us via severance

Pros

The people that work here are pretty great. There is a certain amount of freedom on the internet that happens when working with adult entertainment.

Cons

Poorly compensated, no chance for raises or promotions, employees are kept in the dark about changes within the company, everyone fears for their job, so much middle-management it is hard to know who does what.

Advice to Senior Management

Be straight with your employees and you will find that we care.

Pros

Great, committed staff in the Chicago headquarters
Iconic, globally recognized brand
Was once a very cool conversation piece - talking about the uniqueness of your job

Cons

Self-serving, carpet-bagging new management and private ownership that is ruining Mr. Hefner's life's work
CEO and crony management have utter disdain for Chicago staff - they have actually publicly said that there is no talent in Chicago

Advice to Senior Management

This management team will never listen to anything you have to say. They are simply in place to fleece the company as quickly as possible

Pros

Dedicated people.
Great work/life balance.

Cons

Incompetent leadership.
Poor communication from management.
No real direction; management seems to just throw several different ideas/plans at the wall to see which ones might stick.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate, communicate, communicate. All of the love and enthusiasm for the brand and for the company has died. Figure out a way to really re-energize your employees. The occasional pizza party doesn't cut it.

Pros

Fellow employees are great to work with. Very easy to get time off when needed. Employee parties are fun and unique.

Cons

Upper management will drive you crazy with their incompetence. Corporate Politics is the only way to get ahead. Communication from management is non-existent. Compensation is sub-par.

Pros

The atmosphere is relaxed in a lot of good ways. There's not a lot of stress about what you wear, when you come in, or when you leave. As long as you are getting your work done, you're good.

The people are mostly good-natured and friendly.

There is a brand recognition cachet to working at Playboy that can be useful in other areas of life.

Cons

Too many executives, not enough workers.

Upper management is so afraid that if they tell us anything about what's happening (or, more importantly, what's intended to happen) with the business that we will run like lemmings off of a cliff. This succeeds in making us all want to leave because we feel like we are not respected.

After Playboy went private, the new parent company is basically slashing and burning different parts of the core and hoping that everything will continue to work right. A little bit of preemptive communication could have gone a long way toward avoiding problems that are coming now.

Scott Flanders.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate, be honest, and for the love of all that's holy stop withholding payments to vendors. You are effectively destroying Playboy's credit for no reason.

Pros

Great people to work with. Laid back environment. Easy to get time off for personal matters. Good management and co-workers.

Cons

Difficult to brag about it to my family, contract work has no benefits and is a temporary position. Not paid to industry standard.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a way to compensate contract workers that have been there for a while for vacation days and/or sick days