Pros
- The tech staff has a pretty laid-back environment. - Regular in-office happy hours and free snacks. - Lots of alcohol available in kegs on all three floors of the office. - Sales people have an open workspace with music. - The company hires a lot of smart, hard-working people. - The edit staff at Thrillist is union now, and they're really funny to talk to. - The office managers and receptionist are cool. - The annual company picnic is fun, and they rent out bowling alleys, bars, and sometimes boats for everyone to party on.
Cons
- The CEO, Ben Lerer, claims to be a "staunch progressive" but fought hard against Thrillist's editorial union through union-busting meetings. Lots of bad press about it. - Lerer said forming Group Nine in October 2016 would mean only good things for people working for him already, and that everyone's jobs were safe. - He then laid off 27 people on the Thrillist editorial and video staffs in February 2017. - He laid off a chunk of Seeker's staff the next week in February 2017. - Group Nine acquired Sourcefed, then shut it down and laid everyone off. - JackThreads, the clothing and accessory site Lerer bought in 2010, laid off nearly its entire staff in February 2017. It was no longer part of Thrillist Media Group, but he was responsible. - The company doesn't care about women -- at the last picnic, there were 7 speakers, and 6 of them were men. The only woman had to share the stage with a man. - One woman was paid $25,000 less than the man who previously held her role. - You should Google "Richard Beckman Condé Nast" and "Eric Ashman The Street" and see what stuff comes up about those guys. They're executives with this company. - The company doesn't pay out vacation days, whether you quit or get fired. - HR is understaffed and doesn't respond to emails, then makes excuses about mistakes, including sending incorrect information about benefits. - Previous websites by Lerer, including The Crosby Press, The Thread, JackThreads editorial, and Supercompressor all folded within 2 years of their creation. - Managers don't receive any kind of management training. - The office is pretty beat up and dated.
