Pros
We have a happy hour every Friday and a generous benefits package. Expect a 40 hour workweek, 3 weeks of vacation and a good work/life balance. The atmosphere is friendly with a casual dress code. Departments are highly stratified and each has their own culture, some better than others.
Cons
If you like low wages and office politics, PLOS is your place. At face value, people are friendly- however, once you try to advance in the company, be aware that PLOS is not a meritocracy and the biases, misogyny, and incompetence of the hiring managers will keep anyone who excels at their job down while unthreatening, yet mediocre employees will rise through the ranks. Hiring and promotion decisions appear arbitrary and/or personality based and it doesn't appear that anyone at PLOS knows how to assess a resume or cover letter with regard to a job description. PLOS celebrates mediocrity which explains why they’ve lost some of their best brains over the past year or so. Human Resources has been a revolving door for the past 18 months, so there is no one with both the knowledge and authority to provide oversight or training to poor managers. Wages are low and management has trouble hiring qualified people at starting salaries. From a broader perspective, there is a very top-down approach to communication and decision makers rarely seek out the knowledge and perspectives from people on the ground. The deciders are extremely wedded to their methods and procedures, even when they don’t work and don’t know what they don’t know. Supervisors are given immense responsibility with little training or structure, and many lack competence in dealing with personnel issues, resolving conflicts, or developing staff. In terms of advancement, there isn't much opportunity despite high turnover due to organizational structure. Other than our current CEO, management is so out of touch with the day-to-day operations as well as office culture- they have no idea who the toxic people are that are destroying the morale of entire departments via incompetence and inexcusable bias.
