Everyday Health Group Employee Reviews about "upper management"

Pros

Free snacks - the only thing that made this job bearable

Cons

This was one of the worst jobs I ever had. The work environment was extremely toxic and I had to report to an arrogant simpleton who had no idea how to perform basic managerial duties. That individual is also two steps shy of becoming a registered sex offender. Upper management was a total joke and there were a lot of sexist and racist remarks made about various employees. This is not a good place to build a career. Please don't fall into the same trap that I did.

Pros

Flexible PTO, lots of employees across different business units

Cons

Unobtainable goals, no room for growth, poor direction from upper management

Pros

The office is in a great Soho location, minutes away from the Hudson River. They often have free left over food from board meetings. Free fruit in the morning and free coffee. You will meet some very talented individuals working here as the level of talent is amazing. Also, unlimited PTO.

Cons

There is no order in terms of management. Upper management does not communicate with middle management and their employees leaving everyone in a state of disgruntled confusion. The turn - around rate astronomically high simply because employees feel the sense of unorganized chaos causing them to flee to find something better. There is no sense of security working for Everyday Health. For years, they are still trying to develop a sense of who they are. They pride themselves on "helping people better their lives", meanwhile they will lie to you..tell you the company is doing great and then out of nowhere have massive layoffs. At first the lure of unlimited PTO may sound alluring. They do this because the turn around rate is so high and it's cheaper to give unlimited PTO rather than pay for un-used vacation time. In a nutshell, this company has been around for over 10 years and still trying to develop an identity just to go public. There is no sense of job security, management, or long-term career path. Run, don't walk away from Everyday Health.

Pros

There's the opportunity to do a lot of different things. I was an editorial intern but got to get super involved with social media and multimedia as well, so I really did come out of the internship knowing things I didn't know before. Free snacks, coffee, beer, seltzer water and even a soda fountain.

Cons

The environment is honestly chaos. From the entry level hires to upper management, everyone was stressed and overworked. And because all the editors were busy trying to finish 3 people tasks on their own, everything was delayed. Articles not getting published, projects delayed weeks on end etc. I honestly do not know why they even bothered to hire interns because it was obvious nobody even remembered we existed in the first place. Despite asking to help or for work multiple times, I'd be sitting there twirling my thumbs most of the time. And because everyone was already so overworked, anything I submitted would receive close to no feedback. I'm pretty sure I could have not shown up and they wouldn't realize I wasn't there for a long time. I wasn't receiving one-on-one attention constantly in my other internships either, but my supervisors would know what I was doing and would at least acknowledge me every once in a while.

Pros

Decent salaries, good healthcare with well subsidized premiums, FSA, 401K. Unlimited paid time off with managerial approval (see caveats in the 'cons' section). Six different coffee machines -two serve iced coffee, one serves starbucks fresh ground. Fresh fruit in the morning. Some social activities like Toastmaster's and sporting events. The new President seems to be an extremely strong, effective and personable leader who is trying to implement some really positive cultural changes, and if he succeeds in his (very ambitious) endeavors, the company culture could improve considerably. Great place to get experience - for me this was a "bootcamp" of sorts, and I gained a lot of skills under my belt in a short period of time - I was far more competent at my job when I left than I was a year and a half prior.

Cons

When I was hired I asked about overtime and my supervisor told me "we frown upon overtime. If you're putting in overtime, that means something is wrong." What that really means is "if you're putting in overtime, you need to learn to work faster, because these deadlines are set in stone, and you will be publicly punished if those deadlines are not met. The last time I worked this hard I was going to school full time, working full time, and commuting an hour and a half - I became so stressed my health started affecting me. In fact everyone on my team suffered from some sort of chronic problem that caused them to miss work - problems that lasted for months, and i firmly believe it's the stress that does it. Everyone habitually puts in 50 and 60 hour workweeks. My coworkers have been here till 1 in the morning every night for a week straight. Last fall I pulled two 100-hour workweeks in a row. I pulled all-nighters. You can't pay me enough to work all nighters, this isn't wall street and this is NOT what I signed up for or in the job description. Upper management will tell you to take advantage of the paid time off policy. They'll tell you to take at least three weeks off, they'll insist on it. That's because they know they're working you so hard that if you don't take that time off, you'll snap. Time off needs to be arranged at least six months in advance, and often won't be approved for many months or will be forgotten about by management - one manager will actively postpone approving time off until the day before the vacation! Managers will also use your time off against you - if you request two weeks in summer they might say "well what about winter? you'll want another week then, and you might want another week around thanksgiving. That's a lot. I don't know if we can approve this." - which is total nonsense. A very large percentage of the workforce here is Indian and a lot of Indians take an entire month off to visit their families every year, and they aren't penalized. So the PTO is highly subjective and dependent on your manager, and it's an exhausting dance to try and actually snag some time off. Bosses rule through fear and coersion. They believe in public humiliation and chastisement. Micromanagement is happily tolerated. They all back each other up - abuses against developers from lower level management are treated like the norm because higher management lets lower management do anything they need to do in order to hit their numbers. They'll turn a blind eye to anything if it means they get to tell their immediate supervisor that all is well. And the worst part is this behavior is actively encouraged - I've seen senior developers learning how to bully their teammates just like the bosses, and these people are being groomed to be the next generation of management at EH. It's sickening. This company couldn't care less about health. This is not a health company. It is an advertising company. But the rhetoric coming out of the CEO's mouth all day, every day is that we're "helping people", and that rhetoric makes people very angry. The CEO is desperately out of touch with his own culture. And he's the start of the problem. He walked past my desk every day for a year and a half and still doesn't know my name or what I did at his company - many others have reported similar treatment. He doesn't care how top level management hits their numbers, he only cares that they do. There is no accountability, no sense of social responsibility, everyone is obsessed with the ends and will justify any means necessary to reach those ends. Everyone I know I spoke to in the weeks before I left, at least 25 people from all different departments, were burned out and miserable, and many of them confessed they were job hunting as well - even people I thought were happy here. There is no sense of camaraderie, of teamwork, or making a difference. Every now and then after a big project the boss will take the team out to lunch, or bowling, and they think these gestures make up for the fact that they've belittled, humiliated, and intimidated you for months. Nasty politics between teams at the managerial level. Developers have been instructed to lie to each other because one boss wanted to take credit for a project that had been developed by a different team!!! If you want to work for this company, do it for the paycheck and for the experience - get in, and get out, and for the love of god, maintain a thick skin. Don't get too comfortable and don't trust management. If you're someone who wants to help people, wants to feel valued and respected, if you're an idealist, if you want a work / life balance, or have any kind of health problem, avoid this place like the plague.

Pros

After working in places that kept doing the same boring things, it was refreshing to see that Everyday Health was always trying something new. This company isn't afraid of adjusting its strategy and pushing employees to meet the lofty goals. Co-workers are generally great -- drama-free and they're always willing to help you, even if it meant working even longer hours. Upper management generally recognizes the top performers and thanks them for contributions. Like any job, the hours can quickly rack up to 50+, but at least there wasn't pressure to work on the weekends. Like others have said, Everyday Health truly has a work hard, play hard culture. There's seasonal sports leagues after work. The benefits package is great. Solid health/vision/dental for family, gym discount, truly unlimited PTO that was usually approved. Also, lots and lots of free cocktails and food: working at Everyday Health isn't always the healthiest!

Cons

Middle management is the biggest con at Everyday Health. With micro-managing and excessive meetings, they waste time and create bottlenecks for productivity with the long-winded approval process. By constantly shutting down the ideas of their direct reports, they block their creativity and encourage autonomy. Senior/upper management seemed unaware of these issues. Most start on an excellent note, but after awhile realize that job advancement is non-existent, so they find a better position elsewhere. There's about 500 people who work in the NY office, which is too cramped! Everyone is literally on top of each other getting coffee in the morning, going to the bathroom. The open layout was often too loud to make phone calls or concentrate. No space in the common rooms to eat a 15-minute lunch, and there's always some work meeting in the kitchen. The overcrowding is constantly a problem, despite the regular layoffs that usually come after over-hiring.

Pros

-room for growth -promote from within -good benefits -sense of community

Cons

-tendency to hire upper management and fails to onboard, leaving the teams under the new managers in a position where they are training those above them -while benefits are good, there is no bonus structure outside of sales and salary is not competitive -you have to create a work life balance - if you don't push back, work will quickly take over (weekends, nights...)

Pros

Free fruit and unlimited time off.

Cons

This place is a mess. Complete turnover at leadership levels yearly. New people come in and want to put "their mark" on things, which disrupts WiP and so little gets accomplished. Things are constantly set back by some new person's "vision" needing to be the thing. Upper management wanted to micromanage everything, although most of those people are gone now or leaving soon. Years of poor tech leadership have saddled the company with loads of tech debt that it is constantly digging out from. ZD/J2 doesn't really care about investing in properties.

Pros

- Excellent .net programmers - Good culture and teams - Perks are OK

Cons

- Upper Management has no idea on the way the company is being driven - Not a place for opensource devs.Trust me . Do not join for any opensource opening there.

Pros

Best co-workers Lots of opportunity for career advancement (I've been here 4 years and have moved up from Intern to Director in that time) Fast paced atmosphere - there's always something to do Great neighborhood

Cons

Sometimes communication from upper management is lacking or unclear Fast paced atmosphere is not for everyone Office seems to be running out of space for new people