Progressive Business Publications Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Progressive Business Publications full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great flexibility with work schedule. Accommodating any and all family need and emergencies. Provide an excellent work environment and a casual atmosphere.

Cons – Pay is not great but the benefits are excellent. Lack of communication on a few issues and the HR department could be better involved with identifying poor performers and working on action plans to improve their performance or moving on.

Advice to Senior Management – Need to be proactive with succession planning

Current Employee – been working at Progressive Business Publications full-time

Pros – If you put in the work and time to learn about the company you will be rewarded with increased responsibility and opportunity.
You are always encouraged to try new things and new approaches which is a refreshing change from other organizations I have worked for.
Very involved in the community and believes in and encourages giving back - something that is missing in many companies today.

Cons – More vacation time would be nice, but I have learned from past experience, sometimes you pay for more vacation time through unpaid/unrecognized overtime.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications full-time

Pros – Casual work environment, mentoring program with children of an inner-city school, flexible hours

Cons – Will do anything to make money, even if it is unethical
Very poor reputation
Little to no managerial interaction with staff
Too many random divisions and departments under one roof
Shady business practices
Low pay
Poor facilities
Terrible technology

Advice to Senior Management – Stop being "sneaky" and trying to make profits however you can - conduct legitimate business. Your unethical practices are taking their toll on your reputation.

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

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications

Pros – There are a lot of good people that work there.

Cons – They give a false sense of empowerment and pretend to embrace your business ideas... when in reality, it's like working in a version of the Hunger Games.
Upper Management interferes with how mid-management runs their business - then blame them when their idea fails.
They claim they are a "people" company but I only saw that if the employee was earning them a considerable amount of cash... even then.. they did not really treat employees with respect.

Advice to Senior Management – Develop uniform company policies and if you give your word

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications part-time for less than a year

Pros – Easy, laid back. You can wear shorts.

Cons – Tedious work. Extremely boring and repetitive. I would rather be unemployed.

Advice to Senior Management – Go out of business.

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

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Not many. But if you are willing to be a follower and do what they say you will get by. You need to be someone who doesn't think for themselves.

Cons – Search the web for "progressive business publications" and look at the search results.
You will see a great deal of negative publicity about the company exploiting people at businesses across the country. This is reason enough not to work there.

On top of that, consider the people who work there for a long time and are comfortable with this fact. They obviously are either stuck there or don't find anything wrong with misleading or taking advantage of people. Why would you want to work with them?

In addition to these facts, my experience at the company was very in line with the negative facts that come up in the search results. People there didn't really care about the customers, nor did management really care about employees. The turnover rate of employees was very high and customers were always calling into complain.

Advice to Senior Management – I do not think advice will help this management team.

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

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications full-time

Pros – Very friendly people who want the company to grow and succeed.

Cons – Flat organization with no career growth. HR issues common. Suggestions for improvement regularly shot down by management who regularly bend or break the rules. Money is wasted on failing divisions and morale is typically low. Dishonest tactics for most business practices.

Advice to Senior Management – Reward your hard workers instead of hiring corporate misfits who make six figure salaries and then leave a year later. Spend some resources developing your loyal employees and promote from within. Break up the boy's club mentality and open up the club for others to succeed.

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

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications

Pros – Taking a position at Progressive Business Publications after college is a very wise decision - You learn a lot about marketing and the corporate world. Management does encourage you to do well and the bonus structure is good if you're a high performer. It's a great resume builder and you can take advantage of many opportunities. They have corporate boxes in many Philadelphia sports arenas which are a great perk.

Cons – The salary is low (and although there's 'advancement' opportunities, it typically is minimal during review) and the benefits are weak compared to similar companies. The health insurance, PTO (vacation and sick leave) and snow day policy do not reward employees. The entire business model is based around hiring new college graduates, making money and then replacing the crop once they've moved on.

Advice to Senior Management – Invest in your employees and reward them appropriately with salary and benefits. Also, look for long-term solutions to grow the business.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications

Pros – Accommodating to individual schedules, casual dress code, unlikely to be fired

Cons – No career growth, flat organization with high paid managers prevent opportunities to move up, no raises, money invested in new ideas and often failed due to poor planning, overpaid managers in failing divisions, underpaid employees in successful divisions.

Advice to Senior Management – Quit paying executives to work for one year at the highest salary and then leave. Reward company loyalty and plan your future. Get ahead of the industry curve instead of dragging your feet. Don't be so stingy with employee salaries so you're not scraping the bottom of the barrel for talent.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Progressive Business Publications

Pros – They will give unproven talent a chance. They are relatively hands-off so you have the opportunity to develop your skills and projects (opportunity but not necessarily support). There are opportunities to interact with senior management. Promotions are possible (but greater responsibility is not necessarily rewarded.)

Cons – PBP is very set in its ways. Original thinking is typically punished until the new employee learns to fit the mold. The company markets very aggressively, leading to complaints such as you can find with an easy Google search. Most employees have given up trying to make sense of management decisions and just follow orders. Many simple tasks become power struggles due to the absence of basic policies and procedures. There is almost no funding for ongoing skills development, especially if it might benefit another employer.

Advice to Senior Management – Super-aggressive marketing models are becoming self-defeating. You should reward your employees for finding ways to bring in revenue while treating customers with respect. Many employees bring you their passion and dedication -- despite low salaries -- they deserve better, both in compensation and in their opportunities to thrive.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend