PLOS reviews

I still find it difficult to process that the workplace I loved had disappeared. I joined for the mission, but the culture sure ate me up. And to discover that the individuals best positioned to address them - the CEO, other execs and Directors didn’t care was even more crippling. The chief HR executive seemed to be the only one who paid attention to people and brought many tangible initiatives that contributed to what could be a great place to work, but alas, after just a year or so resigned not surprisingly probably because she was alone in the fight to better the workplace. I hope the rest of the HR team both in Cambridge and SF don't leave as they seem to be the only caring team in this place. The workload is horrible, editorial staff have expressed so but nothing is being done. No strategy, no vision to rally staff to. People are leaving and its a really sad place to be. When I work for an effective leader, I do my best work. Why can't senior leaders realize this? It's not about metrics and tangible outcomes all the time, it's also about developing people and creating a workplace that we can do our best work. You have to own that and your responsibility to that. Now, it just feels like we are bogged down by the feeling that leadership is working against us. Humans have emotions. And the CEO down to all her senior leader's response to negative emotions from staff is to simply blame them all without realizing that how you react and respond to the negativity is very telling and most important to the health of the team. I am a talented employee, hardly any effort to retain and engage us?

It's no secret that the current executive team hired all of her friends from UC Press. Sitting back as a staff member who was there during the last regime, knew that this would be a train wreck. They huddle in her office laughing loudly for all to hear. There is absolutely no transparency about how things in the business are going. They hold monthly "ask the execs" meetings, but we typically leave those meetings more confused than when we went in. Amenities are being cut left and right, and the workplace truly is not enjoyable to be at any longer. The upper levels of HR is also not effective at all. They there to please the executives, and not genuinely help the staff, as her job SHOULD be. If you go to ask them a question, they directs you to one of regular HR staff because they truly doesn't know PLOS policy and procedure, nor workplace law, quite frankly. People know not to go to them, because you won't get any help. Reviews like these are becoming more frequent, and like the staff engagement surveys, I'm sure the executive team will find a way to twist this in a way that makes them feel better. The execs cushioned the board to buy them all the time in the world to avoid the harsh accountability. I truly feel that the Board has no idea about what REALLY is going on. Sure, it's easy to sugar coat things but know that PLOS went through 3 rounds of layoffs last year. If you're seriously considering applying here, keep that resume polished.