The organization began it's downward spiral in 2010. Ex President Jim Guest attempted to turn things around by removing key senior executives who actually brought the organization back to life in the mid 2000's. Guest's first move was to hire an aggressive ex Board Member, Laurence Bunin, as Chief Operating Officer. While Bunin tried hard to turn things around he was too coarse, aggressive, and il-suited for the role. Guest fired Bunin after a year on the job and then re-organized his management team At the same time, the core magazine and digital business was declining and to this day is barely breaking even.
Recent changes include a new President from, of all places, the Ford Foundation. The current President has a Communications background and is charged with turning the brand around and her first move to, you guessed it, fire senior executives and bring in her cronies from the Ford Foundation. The organization should have hired a real visionary with business and advocacy experience, instead they hired what they could find and afford.
Over the last three years not only has Consumer Reports had a management, revenue, and product problem but they also went through a massive lay-off period where very good workers were fired without warning and logic. A common occurrence is for senior managers and execs to ask for large serverance or threaten to sue the organization given how aggressive they've been with long term and short term dismissals, the ex COO for example sued the organization when he was fired.
The real problem with Consumer Reports is it's clueless Board who allow the Executive staff to rule without any accountability. The Board is the only entity that ever needed re-organization and it's never happened, instead they go after the loyal employee earning $70,000.00 per year.
Prospective employees should stay clear of Consumer Reports. The old Consumer Reports was a desirable place to work with a great reputation and stellar product. Now, the organization is a lost cause with constant lay-offs, executives coming and going, and a very poor financial outlook. Stay clear if you're considering the organization and leave if you're currently still hanging on.
