Observer Media Group Reviews

Horrific level of stress and anxiety. An enormously overwhelming workload with little indication bosses realize this is happening, and little empathy for employees nearing burnout. And despite all the extreme level of responsibilities and long hours, you'll get wake-up emails complaining you're not doing enough. Chronic, extreme communication problems coupled bizarrely with micromanaging bosses. I have never dreaded going to work like this. This is an extremely toxic work environment. Work/life balance is nightmarish. CEO openly brags to employees about nepotism, gives family members top jobs in the company, underpays and overworks everybody else.

It was strange working for a media company that was growing at a time when every other company was making cuts. While on the surface that seemed great, I began to realize it meant there was little competition in the marketplace, which meant no incentive to offer decent benefits and salaries. At first I thought working for a family company was a good thing, until I worked there and experienced the culture of nepotism and cliquish behavior that was not only tolerated, but encouraged. Add to that the fact that there was no HR department (aside from tracking time off and benefits) and it really felt rough to navigate the culture. Especially if your political views did not align with those of the CEO and his family. He made sure to insert political and religious opinions in every aspect of the company, from the Ayn Rand quote on the masthead, to the memo that came out condemning condoms and citing Moses and the Ten Commandments as a reason he would be dropping the contract with AdSource inserts. The CEO, Matt Walsh, seemed to have temper tantrums every now and then and make silly and thoughtless business decisions. He is the kind of free-market conservative that simultaneously thinks it's ok to treat employees like crap to save a buck, but doesn't like it when the free market signals that his own business practices may need to change. For example, he wrote a scathing editorial of President Obama that he titled "A Call to Arms." This led to the local liberals organizing a boycott of all the businesses that advertised with the paper. Then he pitched a fit and wrote another editorial decrying the dirty tactics of using the free market to exercise one's political beliefs. Also, let's just address the fact that this "news"paper is basically a Society Pages for the elite and wealthy members of the community. I didn't often see stories about people of color who lived outside the wealthy areas, unless the story was glorifying white rich people who were donating money. It was difficult to move up in the company because you never knew what positions were open. When I worked there, there was no intranet that listed job postings or changes. Sometimes it felt as if new positions were created out of thin air for friends or family. Other times, people were "laid off" (but assured that it wasn't personal) and then new positions opened weeks later. Salary and benefits sucked. I started as hourly making $10/hr. They fired someone in my department and then we got super busy, and they asked me to work overtime. After a few weeks of working 60 hrs/week with paid overtime, I was offered a salaried position at $32K/year - but was expected to keep working overtime without being compensated for the extra hours. When I began, members of my department were offered a quarterly profit sharing check. The first I received was $2500. However, within 1 year the CEO changed the requirements. The max that could be earned for one quarter was capped at $750/quarter. I heard they did away with the profit sharing completely after I left. The last year I worked there, a memo came out days before Christmas, with a picture of the Grinch, letting us know there would be no Christmas bonus (first time in 16 years). Matt Walsh literally wrote "when I was a kid, I wanted a pony, but I didn't get one. I knew that if I worked hard enough, one day I could buy one," or some crap. It was disheartening, to say the least.