WebMD Health Reviews

Current Employee – been working at WebMD Health full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – - Smart, hard-working people at all levels.
- People pull together to get things done when needed.
- Most departments are not run like little fiefdoms that you have to negotiate with to get things accomplished.
- For my tenure, there has been a real focus on maintaining editorial independence, objectivity and credibility.
- Decent perks in terms of bonus, freebies, vacation, holidays, etc.
- Some work-life balance, but the company attracts workaholics so this isn't a focus.

Cons – - Little opportunity for advancement if you're not part of the "in crowd"
- Sales-driven organization means everyone else has to bend over backwards to do whatever sales wants.
- Despite efforts by many teams to maintain it, in the current fiscal environment there is a real danger of losing editorial objectivity and credibility by caving to what sponsors want.
- They fired the one senior management person who wanted to focus on the end-user.
- No one seems to have an overall plan for success.

Advice to Senior Management – You're in business for the millions of people who come for the information. Remember them? If you lose them, you have nothing and sponsors will leave anyway.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at WebMD Health full-time

Pros – People doing the work are great
New CEO is doing strategic planning that was badly lacking under last CEO
Product portfolio is starting to tighten up
Stock is starting to rebound a little
Work-life balance is great

Cons – Pay isn't competitive
Tech stack is very dated
Nerves still raw from the layoffs
Some departments have a work hard, not smart culture

Advice to Senior Management – Pony up for good talent, ditch the crappy CMS

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at WebMD Health

Pros – On the right track, made some right decisions and has good intentions

Cons – More needs to be done for middle and upper middle management. C-level executives/SVPs are indeed trying to get company on track and groth path, but the next level still works on nepotism and political gains rather than objectives. Unfortunatelyt thye were the decision makers for the last actionable step towards growth path, so they were not impacted at all.

Advice to Senior Management – Find out ways to identify and weed out nepotism.

Current Employee – been working at WebMD Health

Pros – Free water and coffee, plus a laptop.

Cons – They let go people who actually made a difference in the company while keeping dead weight around just because of $. Terrible raises this year too.

Advice to Senior Management – Before letting people go, why don't you find out what they actually do for the company first?

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

Former Employee – worked at WebMD Health full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Generally great people working at the ground level. You'll become an adept at creating "something out of nothing" and keeping your cool in extreme situations. Some interesting products and projects. Free coffee.

Cons – I must solidly repeat the cries of cronyism that have been cropping up in the last few reviews. Do not ever expect to be treated fairly. Favoritism is shown toward those who can play politics and cliques well, which is forcing talent away at a rapid pace. After the layoffs there are still too many on staff who play CYA games instead of contributing to the company.

Advice to Senior Management – If you have any love for your people or even just the stock prices - please clear out the bad seeds and at least some of the politics and nonsense. Let people do their work without jumping through so many hoops. I have never seen a place that makes it so hard to perform a job.

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

Current Employee – been working at WebMD Health

Pros – People are great
A lot of employee perks
Great cake days

Cons – Too many cliques and advancement falls in line with who you're friends with
Needs process improvement. They are still operating like they are a start-up

Advice to Senior Management – Avoid promoting people purely based on cliques and who you like. While personality is a big thing, there were qualified, well-skilled, personable, professional people who left because they weren't given the opportunity...even when they asked for an opportunity to prove themselves and help the company. WebMD will fail based on this model.

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

Former Employee – worked at WebMD Health full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The product for end-users is very good -- both consumers and medical professionals. Most people are good, as are many in management.

Cons – The growth has flattened and the ad products are no longer as competitive as they had been -- especially an issue on the consumer side. Sales-driven culture with the pros/cons that come along with that. Restructuring now -- hopefully things are bottoming out.

Current Employee – been working at WebMD Health

Pros – Great people, smart, fast paced, never a dull moment

Cons – Still not totally mature but getting there

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

Former Employee – worked at WebMD Health full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Office are nice
Salary is competitive
Strong workforce

Cons – How does the leading health information provider that sells space to the richest companies in the world still manage to fail?

As a former employee, let me explain how:

Nepotism. If you're considering WebMD and want my advice, my first answer would be a question "are you friends with any current director or VP?" If the answer is "no" I would simply keep looking. That one factor is the single biggest variable in your likelihood of success at WebMD. If you're not a friend, all your great ideas and energy will be seen as a threat. I've seen it over and over during my 3 year stint with the company. The Atlanta office is basically run like a government agency, the only difference are that the hours are longer and the work is more intense.

I read a Glassdoor review from a WebMD HR person and they nailed it. If you're a high achiever, and you're not someone's longtime friend, you'll be perceived as a threat. Forget about transparency on growth and development because there is none. If you work hard, you may get a an official email saying thanks, and sadly some sideways stares from your supervisor. Work hard enough, just not TOO hard. Ask to grow, but don't seem ambitious. Yes, it's very complicated, but the downward trajectory of the company is very simple.

For all those hoping that having a "great brand on my resume" will make up for this malaise, you should probably also consider the opportunity cost to your career as you stagnate for years working so hard to receive so little in return, with no promise of a brighter future.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a chance and hire someone who's not your buddy. Get out of your comfort zone. This is a publicly traded company. Start acting like it.

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

Former Employee – worked at WebMD Health full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Part of a SMART highly specialized team; Team members worked toward a common goal and put in their hours; Direct managers (laid off as of this writing in 2013) were reasonable to work with; HQ is located in the awesome Chelsea neighborhood; Can't complain with the total compensation (including yearly bonus) especially during the good years (prior to 2012); 10 company holidays (including Friday after Thanksgiving); Early dismissal on Fridays prior to long holiday weekends. Enjoyed the good years prior to 2012.

Cons – Team was expected to put in extra hours (late or weekend) beyond the typical 9-5 schedule especially during deployment; No comp days or overtime salary paid if and when you put in more than 45 hours/week; No summer Fridays (as of writing in 2013); Part of a smart highly specialized team that was embroiled in politics; Higher-ups didn't realize the high performance value the team I was part of to the company; Previous CEO didn't have a plan to make the company sustainable beyond 2012 and took the golden parachute. Challenging years ahead in 2013.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a pay cut yourselves and give your share (better yet, ALL) of your bonuses to the employees left behind in 2013.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company