Pros
You'll work with a wonderful editorial staff who are hard workers and great writers. The work environment is very supportive. You will always get good advice/help/encouragement from your peers. Writers will get the opportunity to put out a lot of great work for some really respected industry-leading brands. Opportunities to advance within the company are uneven but do exist.
Cons
There are some ongoing red flags right now that have been getting progressively worse. 1. Zero professional development opportunities. Like literally, there will be no "award-winning" work at Farm Journal this year because the company elected not to enter any awards in 2017. Also, many staff haven't even received a formal review in 2-3+ years. 2. Squeezing staff and workloads. Many editorial positions that have vacated in the past 18-24 months (whether through attrition/retirement/promotions/whatever) have not been filled. That puts tremendous pressure on remaining staff, who find themselves expected to get more work done with fewer total people. Don't expect compensation or even much acknowledgement when this happens, either. 3. Aside from squeezing current staff, the company hit them with a salary freeze in 2017. So bigger workload with no hope of a raise. 4. Your vacation may not necessarily be approved, especially in winter months, when the company is seasonally busier. Holiday travel is not a given here. With a "use it or lose" it vacation policy, I found that especially irritating. 5. Increasingly low morale, as a product of items #1-4 (plus some other nitpicks not mentioned here). The corporate culture is unwell and it's starting to show. Most of these red flags stem from the same core problem: All employee/employer balance has been completely erased over the past 2 years. Right now, it's 100% about how much you can do for the company and 0% about what the company can do to support and develop your talent. Expect to work hard and produce great work, but don't expect much (or any) acknowledgement or support along the way.
