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Boston Lyric Opera

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Boston Lyric Opera Reviews

2.0

8% would recommend to a friend

(17 total reviews)

22% positive business outlook

Boston Lyric Opera has an employee rating of 2.0 out of 5 stars, based on 17 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a poor working experience there. The Boston Lyric Opera employee rating is 48% below average for employers within the Arts, entertainment and recreation industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

17 reviews
3.0
29 Jun 2016

Great for opera lovers

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working at BLO is great if you like opera. They produce a lot of interesting work and you get reciprocity with other arts organizations. Half day Friday's in the summer.

Cons

Senior management is not effective. Because of this there is an extremely high turnover rate and little institutional policies or knowledge. Pay is low compared to other organizations in the area and little room for growth

2.0
6 Sept 2022

Burnt me out early in my career

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I learned a lot, got great first hand experience at management, perks included discounts and free tickets to local performances, connections in the industry, and access to cool events. Huge vacation payout when leaving because you never use all your PTO.

Cons

The replacement process of people who leave has always been slow often putting people with low title leading major projects without a pay raise. That happened twice to me. Conversations around salary increases and cost of living increase have resulted in a "our hands are tired" response. Early in the pandemic while layoffs happened, remaining low level staff were told there would be no more over time and instead were given 12 hours+ of work to do each day. Feedback was harsh and cruel rather than constructive. PTO was impossible to use and I often worked on paid holidays (including Christmas and Thanksgiving while with family) because of a lack of organization. The DEI initiatives had to come from the staff in their 20s rather than the top down. Low level staff met outside of work to develop a plan, scheduled a meeting with upper management and gave them a fully flushed out plan including strategic goals. It was acknowledged but not one step was implemented despite the group of young employees being about the only diversity the company had at the time. I would have left earlier if I could have.

1.0
5 Sept 2022

Poorly managed and very low morale

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Connections to others arts organizations. Flexible work from home.

Cons

Very poorly managed. The new leadership changes direction and policies so frequently that basic tasks become Herculean because no one knows the current way to do things. Investments are made in everything but the staff. They acknowledge that salaries are under market - which would lead to significant turnover even if the work environment wasn't toxic. It exemplifies the "old style" of management, even though the leadership is generally very young and the head of the company is 38. Frame of reference: there are 9 director level positions in the company and four have turned over between June and September (in addition over 100% turn over in the 2021-2022 season - with some lower level positions turning over 3+ times in a single year).

Viewing 1 - 3 of 17 Reviews

Glassdoor has 20 Boston Lyric Opera reviews submitted anonymously by Boston Lyric Opera employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Boston Lyric Opera is right for you.