Hearst reviews

3.6

65% would recommend to a friend

(1,451 total reviews)

Steven R. Swartz

76% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Hearst has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 1,451 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Hearst employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Audiovisual y medios de comunicación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Jun 4, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great location with a nice building and pleasant atmosphere. Also, there are good courts available.

Cons

A Toxic Work Environment Fostered by Poor Leadership I was part of the Data Management team at Hearst. Our team consisted of four developers. Unfortunately, our leader lacked not only engineering & management experience, technical knowledge, but even basic soft skills such as communication, respect to others, empathy, and tolerance. As a result, even the smallest projects turned into endless, frustrating efforts that dragged on for months and didn’t reach its finish line. A significant amount of time and company resources were wasted due to our Manager zero technical understanding and her ineffective project management. Poor leadership consistently caused delays and disappointing outcomes.  As a developer with 15+ years of practical experience, I often shared suggestions to improve our workflows, but she consistently ignored them. It was not only my issue. It was like she tried to compete with her team, to prove she's smarter than everyone, instead of working on results. Which is weird, to be honest ... And leaves a lot of questions to the upper management.\ I ended up spending nearly six hours a day in unnecessary meetings and unproductive discussions, which made it extremely difficult to focus on actual development work. Empty talks, zero result. In the end, not only me, but the whole team resigned, one by one. On a personal level, she threatened me several times without a cause. I reported these incidents to HR and her manager, but no real action was taken. Only formalities...  The company’s structure felt more like a protected inner circle. Nepotism is ok, as long as it doesn't ruin the company from inside... In this case, it had a devastating effect.  This Manager (let's call her .. Dora,..) her manager, and the CIO had been close friends for a long time, and they seemed to cover for one another regardless of the situation. Working at Hearst left me feeling unsafe, unsupported, and mentally exhausted.

1.0
Nov 14, 2023

Toxic bullying culture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great brands Talented people Good perks - events, sample sales and freebies Quite glamorous in a “devil wears prada” type of way

Cons

Toxic culture full of egos and cliques Witnessed some of the worst cases of bullying in my whole career HR useless and allow this carry on fully aware it’s happening Constantly merging magazines to cut down on staff A yearly cut of staff - where they play members of staff off against each other for roles, where winning means you get to do two jobs for the salary of one Salaries are poor and way below industry averages Stuck in the dark ages when it comes to digital work Impossible to get a new idea through or make any change Very unstable, you can get cut at anytime

1.0
Aug 19, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunities for younger Design Directors at the different titles that they own. Beautiful building near Central Park. Get to be part of some historic brands.

Cons

Hearst does not give it's Design Director's the resources that it takes to run a magazine. Most people are doing 2 to 4 people's jobs and compensation is low compared to the competition.

Viewing 25 - 27 of 1,451 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,767 Hearst reviews submitted anonymously by Hearst employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Hearst is right for you.