Pros
Incredible colleagues: brilliant, funny, and not at all cutthroat. I feel motivated by their successes but not competitive. I know I could make more money elsewhere but the good people keep me here. From a reporting standpoint, having the legacy brand behind me still carries a lot of weight with sources. The recognizability of the magazine was really essential to me early in my career. Likewise, great access to celebrities: The bookings editors are the best in the business. Our editor-in-chief is not exactly accessible, but when you DO get in front of him you feel like the most important person in the world. It never feels like he's rushing to get to another meeting. Even though the industry is struggling and a lot of people are stretched pretty thin right now, when someone has a good idea we still go at it full throttle. Big ideas are still valued and supported. There's been a noticeable effort to elevate junior employees, perhaps because a lot of our senior staffers were laid off.
Cons
Conde Nast is extremely opaque about the company's plans, so hysterical rumors spread quickly. Morale is really low. Pay does not meet industry standards, and salary parity is not a concern. There's no consensus about what our digital presence should look like. Staffers want to go in one direction, but our traffic goals demand that we go another direction. Everyone is overworked and overwhelmed- there was no effort to fill vacant positions after layoffs in the fall, so everyone is doing about three jobs. It's not sustainable, and people are getting poached like crazy. Because people are stretched so thin, it's rare that writers get the attention and edits that they deserve. "Self-editing" is the new normal.