Diablo Reviews

Pay, especially for younger employees, is extremely low. Also, some employees feel as though they are simply working to line the magazine founder's pockets, and that's pretty much true. Steve Rivera seems nice, but rarely speaks to the newer/lesser-paid employees and wears extremely expensive suits and cologne every day. Sometimes it feels as if he's rubbing it in your face. The sales people are equally obsessed with money and material items and it's very difficult to relate to them. One editorial staff member left his job as an assistant editor making only $24k -- that's slave labor.

It's a bizarre place to work. The folks in leadership have been there for 20+ years and are deeply ingrained in the way things have always been done. The founder retired years ago but still runs the company from afar. Newer employees will never meet him, but your life will be affected by his whims and decisions. The management in the building is indecisive, bad at managing people, and completely without a plan as to how to how move forward into the digital age. As a result, they have lost a lot of business and are extremely strapped financially. When people leave, they aren't replaced. Positions are cut or made into part-time positions. There's no HR department, no system for performance reviews, and no raises have been given in 7+ years. There's a handful of long-time employees that need to go. The edit and design leadership is stuck somewhere in the late 80's - when those folks were in their prime. Sales is struggling because there is literally no social media department, no interactive department, no digital support, and they can't compete with other companies that have made investments in those areas. They have actually made 1-2 hires that were intended to bring about those types of changes, but could not make the systemic changes needed to support those people. The long-time employees were threatened, just didn't like or understand the new ideas, politics got involved, and those newer people have been driven out. If you are interviewing there under the idea that you are going to help them bring about the changes needed – run. Day-to-day, expect for your time in the office to be carefully tracked. They do not support any type of remote work. They literally do not have the tech in place to allow you to work from home if needed. You are definitely expected to be in the office from 8-5, and will be questioned if you are missing. Very old-school in this regard. If you are a women, know that the organization is still stuck in the past. I've seen women discriminated against - replaced by men with half the experience. I've witnessed the way covers and stories are chosen and it's highly discriminatory against women of color/shape/size - not because of the staff, but because, despite how good a story is, the leadership question at the end of the day is, "but is she cute?" Again, they are operating under a 1980's mindset. They tend to hire a lot of women, because younger women tend to be more willing to work for much less money, but know that your ideas will not be valued, and you are definitely replaceable. Instead of worrying about making money, the president gets involved in petty employee issues that he should be shutting down completely. No one is manning the ship, and the remote founder and 1 or 2 long-time employees are running the place, asserting their authority in weird places, and making calls that they should not be making. There's a couple of diva-personalities in leadership and they can be really nasty to work with. Lots of undermining, lots of passive aggressive behavior, and literally no support or validation takes place. Younger employees complain that they aren't learning anything here. No mentorship takes place – you are expected to just produce what you're told. The pay here is ridiculous. Again, those in higher positions do fine, the others, not so much. There are people that have been working there for 10+ years and make $45k. Newer, younger people come in at about $25k - $35k. Not nearly enough to survive in the Bay area. It's another reason they can't attract digital-savy people - there's no incentive for people with those skills/knowledge to work here.