PLOS reviews

3.1

49% would recommend to a friend

(113 total reviews)

Alison Mudditt

72% approve of CEO

38% positive business outlook

PLOS has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 113 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The PLOS employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

113 reviews
1.0
Aug 1, 2019

On Its Last Leg (Exsanguination)

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Commiseration can create bonds with any remaining good coworkers. That's pretty much the only positive. The mission, in theory, is positive but leaders cannot execute nor strategize effectively. Can anyone in a position of leadership even articulate the mission or current strategy? All signs are pointing towards 'no'

Cons

What's the plan exactly? Let everyone quit or be laid off and then hire cheaper, outsourced replacements? So much for what was left of the mission. The people making the decisions don't care about or listen to staff enough, while also lacking the skills and experience to fix things. Jobs will be outsourced or we will be bought out, if not both. It's a sad realization but the people calling the shots don't have the chops to turn this ship around.

avatar
PLOS Response
6y
Thanks for sharing your experience although I’m disappointed to read it - it certainly isn’t the employee experience we strive for at PLOS. While we’ve been through major changes over the past 18 months those have been designed to put us in a place to succeed and deliver on this mission we all care so much about. And we’re seeing the changes have an impact in our current positive results. There’s always more we can do and I hope that you will talk to your manager or our People Team if you have specific suggestions.
1.0
Jul 11, 2019

why am i still here?

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good mission but organization lacks alignment and executives won't or aren't capable of providing a roadmap to mission. Good people, but all seem lost and complacent. While it was a good decision to hire a head of HR and she seems to care with a better HR staff than before, the CEO can't shirk responsibilities to fix culture to that team while you the CEO earns top dollar doing nothing and barely have a vision or strategy to move PLOS forward. More focused training for managers, but in parallel, you have and hire directors that barely have any leadership skills and don't promote the people you already have.

Cons

I'm really not sure why i am still here, definitely not at PLOS for the money. And definitely not because its fun - it's far from fun, far from innovative, far from a solid team. I'm just waiting for the next job offer like most employees here. I'm embarrassed to say I'm an employee here with everything that has gone on. I don't want to have to have to explain that while we value transparency and open access, the organization itself is not. It greatly frustrates and angers me that executives and senior management don't care at all about workload, stress and mental health. Sure, work life balance is high, but that's because we still have to fight for our rights to have a life. But it makes us feel guilty because the backlog and having to have our co-workers suffer with our work when we are out isn't good. Honestly, I don't know why the CEO continues to bring her incompetent friends in. I would be embarrassed to be part of senior management, look - more than 80% of your employees don't believe you all are doing a good job and don't even see the value of those directors.

2.0
Jul 17, 2022

Proceed with caution

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Work-life balance - Decent health insurance and 401k benefits - Brilliant and interesting coworkers

Cons

- Really low salaries (except for the CEO and other executives, who are paid above what is considered average for a non-profit) - No consideration/adjustment of salaries for inflation - Questionable leadership decisions with little thought on how it may impact individual teams - Lack of professional development opportunities - Very few promotional opportunities - Slow moving organization and lack of resources - Lack of transparency around leadership decisions

Viewing 4 - 6 of 113 Reviews

Glassdoor has 124 PLOS reviews submitted anonymously by PLOS employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if PLOS is right for you.