Bleacher Report Employee Reviews about "b r"
Updated Sep 25, 2019
Pros
"Great perks since B/R is under Warner Media" (in 9 reviews)
"I realize it will be difficult to find a work environment like B/R again" (in 7 reviews)
Reviews about "b r"
Return to all Reviews"Great work life balance, sports & culture combined enough said"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Bleacher Report full-time for less than a year
Pros
Great work life balance, management trusts you to do you work without micromanaging and listen to your input and opinion, very relaxed work environment and people are nice to work with. Great perks since B/R is under Warner Media
Cons
Company would benefit from more established processes and better internal communication on projects, though efforts are certainly being made to improve and get better
Bleacher Report2019-09-26- Helpful (9)
"Great, until it suddenly wasn't"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
I worked at Bleacher Report full-time for more than a year
Pros
-Fun, casual workplace environment -Decent pay/benefits -Positive relationships fostered between co-workers
Cons
-Goals and strategies changed almost constantly and were hard to follow -Management mostly opaque regarding performance -Superiors untrustworthy of capable employees -Little room for upward mobility -Cult-like atmosphere in office, implicitly forcing employees to believe B/R is flawless and the end-all, be-all in sports media.
Advice to Management
Stop playing favorites. Be transparent with employees. Treat and value employees as individuals, not just paychecks.
Bleacher Report2018-02-13 "APSM Program Participant (Intern)"
StarStarStarStarStarRecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Bleacher Report
Pros
Editors are very helpful and the program is well-designed.
Cons
Some people go into the program with the hope of writing for B/R after the program is done, and they're somewhat vague about that possibility.
Bleacher Report2018-01-30"Almost a dream job, but lacks direction"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
I have been working at Bleacher Report full-time for more than 5 years
Pros
You essentially get paid to watch and write about sports. What's better than that? I've also been able to interview superstar athletes, cover professional sporting events and even once played basketball with some former pros. There used to be a stigma abut writing for B/R--I've been around long enough to know how suspect some of the content was--but at this point, it's an established, mostly respected journalism... brand.
Show MoreCons
The goalposts are rarely stationary. I don't think B/R has figured out what it wants to be. Sometimes, hard-hitting reporting seems to be the focus. The next minute, they're trying to be comedians. And you're never really coached on whatever they want, even though it's constantly changing. You also work on annual contracts--at least, everyone in my position did--and it's hard to get a good sense on where you stand.... Even if yours is renewed every year, there are still some tense moments every 12 months.
Show MoreAdvice to Management
Invest more into your homegrown employees. And figure out which direction you want to take.
Bleacher Report2017-10-06"Mostly Excellent"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Bleacher Report
Pros
I worked at B/R for several years and found many opportunities for advancement and new projects. I loved my coworkers and thought B/R did a great job of fostering community, though what I saw as a tight-knit group of coworkers/friends could certainly be perceived by newer employees as cliquish.
Cons
Sports media is a competitive industry, and the salary/hours can feel pretty rough in an expensive place like San Francisco. Things steadily changed after the Turner purchase. It's by no means bad now, it's just more corporate and less of an adventure than when I joined.
Bleacher Report2016-07-04- Helpful (1)
"Old school media company buys startup"
StarStarStarStarStarI worked at Bleacher Report
Pros
Great environment, working in sports is fun.
Cons
Quite obvious who came from Turner and who came from B/R.
Advice to Management
Bring on new hires with well rounded skill-sets, don't just look for specialized employees with your narrow mindset.
Bleacher Report2016-07-12 - Helpful (3)
"Young sportswriters: cut your teeth elsewhere"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Bleacher Report
Pros
I work remotely, so I don't have to fight traffic into work and can wear what I want. Writing about sports is fun, especially if you like sports (and you wouldn't be doing this job if you didn't). The editors are responsive, for the most part.
Cons
I used to tell my friends that B/R is a good place to cut your teeth as a writer. That may have been the case when I started — though in the eyes of some, I was disillusioned from the start. In either case, I no longer believe that to be true. The sites writing hierarchy is broken down into lead writers and featured columnists, the latter of which are content monkeys that write a mix of original (pitched by writer)... and "prebudgeted" (assigned by the editor) content. Oftentimes, the prebudgeted content is almost exactly the same from week to week, though with minor tweaks in the headline, which leads to a lot of regurgitation. You'll find yourself writing the same thing over and over, especially during the offseason. There is little if any opportunity to be creative as a writer due to all the assigned content/slideshows. I have heard countless stories of B/R moving on from/firing/demoting talented writers who did nothing but solid work for the site. Many of the people among the most recent wave of disappointed, disillusioned current and former Bleacher Report-ers are among the people who helped re-shape the public perception of the website from a content farm (which, in some ways, it still is) to a hub for thought-provoking, original columns and stories (which it is also). The company has hired big names like Howard Beck, Kevin Ding, Mike Freeman, Jason Cole, Ethan Skolnick, and others as lead writers. These hires have helped the credibility of the site, but in bringing in all these big names at contracts that I can only imagine are extremely lucrative, B/R has done away with the old business model that allowed writers to work their way up into real, respectable jobs at the site.
Show MoreAdvice to Management
Respect the people who did the grunt work to help build your platform from a laughing-stock of the industry to one of its biggest juggernauts.
Bleacher Report2016-05-17 "Company Review"
StarStarStarStarStarRecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Bleacher Report full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
The people who work at B/R are awesome. It is a fun atmosphere with like-minded co-workers who are always willing to lend a hand. There are TVs everywhere which is amazing.
Cons
Bleacher Report could improve their professional development. They would be better off finding distinct structure or pathways for their employees to move up.
Advice to Management
Management has chanced since I worked there so I don't have much of an opinion. The only thing I would say is that there are loads of skilled employees who will shine if given more opportunities.
Bleacher Report2016-03-22- Helpful (11)
"Painfully cheap and mean-spirited company"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Bleacher Report
Pros
The location is very good, located in downtown San Francisco. The bad part about that who people who work at B/R can afford to live in the city.
Cons
Employees make staggeringly low wages, and never get raises. There's the yearly 2-5% bump, but that puts average incomes way, way below what comparably employed workers in SF make. Management almost never promotes, and it's a boys club that "innocently" bullies lower staff, knowing that they're keeping the staff captive. When a negative glassdoor review goes up, there have been known to be witch-hunts. The... CEO is completely disconnected, and once or twice a year will make some ridiculous video of himself in a football helmet or something to try to show Turner that he's "one of the guys." Not one employee doesn't see right through it.
Show MoreAdvice to Management
Maybe at least pretend you're a grown-up company and treat your workers like they are people.
Bleacher Report2015-12-08 - Helpful (2)
"4 years at Bleacher Report"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Bleacher Report full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
I really enjoyed my time at Bleacher Report. Great people, great company, great atmosphere. I left to pursue a new career because I wanted to try something new, but it was very difficult to leave BR. I felt like I was treated well, and learned a lot from some really smart people. And as a sports fan, I was able to enjoy sports during the day, which was a definite plus. I also personally enjoyed having the support of... a big company Turner - opened up the possibilities for what we could do and how we could grow. The office itself is also great. I realize it will be difficult to find a work environment like B/R again.
Show MoreCons
I think the only thing for me would be that a lot of the people who I had gotten to know over my time there had gone on to pursue new things, so a lot of fresh faces in the office. I think that's just a natural part of any company, especially a relatively young but growing one, to have people come and go. And often those people leaving were doing so for good opportunities within the company, like some people moved... from SF to NY or London but remained at BR. For others, they had just reached a limit of what they could do at BR - which again I don't think is a strike against BR, but just that the kind of people they hire are go-getters. So it was natural for those people to move on. And i definitely liked the people who were still there, as I mentioned the people are one of the best parts of the company. But as someone who had been there a while, the office was maybe a little less familiar than when I had first started, when the company was a smaller startup.
Show MoreAdvice to Management
I would maybe splurge on engineering talent, which I know is difficult and competitive in the Bay Area, but that's where the big opportunity is to me. Otherwise, I felt like I was managed really well in my time there, from my direct report all the way up the ladder. Got a lot of opportunities to interact with higher-up people in the company, and almost always found it valuable.
Bleacher Report2015-10-27
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