If You Can Survive WhatCulture, You'll Absolutely Thrive Somewhere Else - Anonymous employee WhatCulture Employee Review

If you've read all these negative reviews and thought "it can't be that bad, I'm sure I'll be fine" let me tell you that categorically will not be the case. Everyone thinks that, everyone gets the warnings and everyone ultimately finds themselves on the receiving end of Matt Holmes. It's hard to separate WhatCulture from its CEO/editor-in-chief Matt Holmes. He is, without hyperbole, an unprofessional bully concerned only with making more money for himself who makes your life a living hell the entire time you work for him. If anything, the other reviews are holding back. In my time there, Matt showed a complete obliviousness to how the culture, journalism and publishing industry worked, incompetence he would habitually blame on his underpaid staff. He played favourites, but was very swift to change his tune on someone without reason or warning when a new golden child came in. He also had an inability to focus, never sure on direction and introducing a cavalcade of failed projects. It should be noted that all roles are seriously underpaid. with any bonus schemes introduced pitting employees against each other and incredibly short-lived (the last time one in practice was early 2015). This has cultivated an atmosphere where everyone is out for themselves. In person Matt was very calm, but the moment he got on an instant messenger client (where he did most of his communication) he became a monster. He'd belittle in any way possible while promises and plans made in increasingly rare face-to-face meetings would be pulled back after much time and effort invested. He would threaten firings on a whim as an attempt at motivation (and got into the habit of letting people go by text). People rarely made it through the three-month probationary period due to the constantly changing goals and ridiculously high demands of workload (I have enough stories from acquaintances to fill a book). Co-founder Peter Willis was often seen trying to calm situations, but in my experience was wholly ineffective. I was with the site for two years in a senior position and was able to deal with this terrible management for a while. I became one of the biggest hitting writers and was repeatedly praised by the upper management, even getting singled out in group meetings for my performance and getting solid raises. However, after a location move to a satellite office (and thus entirely text-based conversations) I quickly found myself being professionally abused. All of the agreements regarding the move were reneged in the first month and despite being recognised as one of the most hard working employees mere months before I was consistently criticised. I was asked to work outside of hours repeatedly, had my core responsibilities changed on a weekly basis, had other tasks and perks given to new favourite employees, went days without response to basic communication, was told to stop watching films not directly related to my site commitments on weekends, consistently had my eventual scant authority challenged constantly and otherwise found my output brutishly criticised. At one particularly low moment Matt even asked me to work on the day of my Grandma's funeral (which had been booked off for a long time besides contracted personal time). I tried my best to adjust to the situation, and yet Matt openly discussed in public channels plans to manipulate firing me and described me as "unreadable and unlikable" (he also introduced a "bonus" structure that somehow offered less money), treating me like a third class citizen despite my long-standing success with the site. At multiple points I requested in person meetings to discuss the issues that were immediately shot down by Matt who would deflect them back at me with threats. I even submitted a formal grievance that Matt aggressively told me would be ignored (despite the law requiring a meeting to discuss). I was eventually made redundant when I declined a 15% paycut to move across the country, at which point he suddenly changed tact, begging me to stay. I pursued legal action on the grounds of unfair dismissal and eventually settled out of court. Even after that Matt chased me multiple times trying to rehire me (I eventually had to tell him to stop harassing me) and still now my content is reposted and used for videos (yes, that same work that was criticised for months previously). That's my unique story, but from witnessing how Matt treats staff while working there and talking to many ex-workers after leaving it's evident I'm not alone. He will belittle and demean you while you're there, then harass you to return when you go, still making money off the work he once hated. Do not work for WhatCulture (or What Culture - in four years involved in the site they never bothered to clarify branding). It is a place where an untalented man sucks the skill and ambition of good people until they want to ditch their dream career. If you ever get an offer of work, this is all you need to know: if you're even potentially good enough to survive Matt Holmes, then you can totally get a job at a better publication. Avoid.