Michigan.com Reviews

I could go on forever. The biggest problem is management. This company is far too top-heavy. There are way too many middle-managers, directors and VPs - and that's not even to mention Gannett, who owns them, and are equally problem causing. Beside the obvious downsides to being top-heavy, it creates an extremely toxic, and political work environment. It's extremely cut-throat. Every (management) individual is defensive and ready to throw anyone and everyone under the bus. Likewise, every department acts individually and against each other. You have to deal with tons of politics here, which sometimes trickle all the way down from Gannett. If you cannot "play the politics game," do not work for this company. As mentioned, there are far too many managers and not enough employees. Another problem this causes is creating an extremely unrealistic workload placed onto the employees. Projects have tight deadlines because the sales staff over-commits to their clients, and management doesn't fully grasp what is involved in making something happen nor care about quality. This company is extremely under the mentality of "quantity over quality", so be prepared to throw your college degree out the window because your expertise will not be valued. In case you still need more reasons, let's get into benefits and salary. The salary is extremely low. My friends in my industry were making double what I was making. They hired many people from out-of-state while I was there, because positions would stay open for a long time because people wouldn't accept the low salary. The company helped these people move to the state, that's why they accepted the positions. The healthcare is abysmal. It's insulting. I knew people who had to leave just because they couldn't afford to live and pay their medical expenses because the policy is so bad - a majority of their salary went to it. Also, I hope you never get sick and hate taking vacations! (note: I hear that the time off improved after I left, but "improved/good" might just be the subjective opinion of the individuals who were there before and after the change). There is little to no job advancement opportunity. Management positions are almost always filled by outside hires. Oh - and they've been doing yearly layoffs and furloughs going on 7 years now. Just a few months ago - late 2016 - they laid off the entire creative department. They kept a couple positions from it, which individuals had to re-apply for their job if they wanted to stay for lower pay. The layoffs are also a big contributor to why everyone has way too much work to do and the quality of projects suffers. I previously mentioned that the work/life balance was average for a large company - that's only possible because they don't value quality - but you are always swamped.

VERY LOW Salary, even for Detroit. No bonuses or raises, any change in salary must be due to a change in job Title. Additional responsibilities will be assigned to you with no change in Job Title as your co-workers are continually laid-off/terminated Company manages the printing of The Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press, new digital ideas often seen as threatening to employees with stronger print backgrounds. Terrible Benefits, in 2014 my medical insurance deductible was $1500 per year. For one person. It was the only plan offered by the company.