PinkNews Reviews

You may have heard bad things about working conditions at PinkNews - whether through negative Glassdoor reviews or media professionals who have worked with the company. Sadly, everything you've heard is true. PinkNews is a truly appalling workplace to be part of, there is no other way to put it. Staff are belittled, bullied and harassed by the CEO, employees are reduced to tears on company-wide Zoom meetings by his approach and communication. When junior staff show signs of distress on company calls, there are no check-ups from senior management or HR and no concern for staff wellbeing. There is little to no mental health support inside the company, other than to direct exhausted, miserable staff to an online counselling service, which sees endless numbers of PinkNews staff on a daily basis. And to be clear, you will need to seek mental health support if you work for PinkNews for any extended period of time. Staff speak openly about how working for the company has seriously damanged their wellbeing. It's not just a lack of mental health support - there is also no support on a day to day level for people to simply get their work done. When team leaders are made redundant, and disappear from their roles without notice, their direct reports are expected to absorb their work, and loss of support, without additional pay, title change or even basic recognition. When this is questioned, the response is simply "you should have been doing that anyway", or "you shouldn't have needed that support". The company likes to talk about pay transparency, which has resulted in nothing more than staff realising that they are being underpaid than colleagues in the same role, and when this is raised on company-wide meetings, the CEO will tell staff that if they don't like their salary, they can look elsewhere as they are easily replaceable. The CEO is also known to have commented on the bodies of female staff at company events, once telling three members of staff they reminded him of the cast of Call The Midwife: "You're the big one, you're the posh one, and you're the funny little friend". He has also stated, in meetings with senior management, that trans rights are "too controversial" for the company to throw its weight behind. He made a young female employee cry on a Zoom call when she pushed back on misogynist content she was being asked to cover, explaining to her what is, and what isn't misogyny. He left another in tears while explaining why staff should be covering the activity of a dangerously unwell social media figure with a severe eating disorder. Other senior management do little more than implement the will and whims of the CEO to hold onto their enormous salaries, and will implement the CEO's snap decisions about strategy and redundancies, all of which are made at the drop of a hat. PinkNews likes to tell readers, viewers and advertisers that its purpose is to 'inform, inspire and empower' - but this simply isn't true. While some of its PinkNews-branded content on Snapchat is worthwhile and responsible (and created by people who truly care), at its heart, PinkNews is a video content farm. It churns out Snapchat video content scrutinising women's bodies, promoting influencers with eating disorders and ripping-off content from celebrities for its numerous Snapchat channels – which are not PinkNews branded - to avoid discouraging advertisers from spending money on campaigns that will sit alongside this offensive content. The company does not serve the LGBTQ+ community in any way, and its only lasting effect is to do damage to the committed and talented queer people who join the organisation There is no redundancy process, other than some formalities, and staff made 'at risk' of redundancy will simply disappear from work and never be seen again, leaving teams in turmoil. Staff are informed of their redundancy while on sick-leave or holiday, often finding out through colleagues, who are informed before the person losing their job. Internal teams are pitted against each other, causing friction between colleagues, as one team can be frequently blamed for the failings of another, and different information is given to different people, resulting in a working environment of fear, mistrust and hostility among staff - when the real problem in the company are the people at the top. The only strategy PinkNews has to improve morale is to throw lavish parties, where Drag Race contestants and singers from West End musicals will perform, all while telling staff there is no money to bring their salaries in line with colleagues. And the chances are, half the people you speak to at these events, you'll never see again because they will simply vanish from the company. The saddest part of all of this, is that PinkNews still has the opportunity to be a truly important publisher and content creation service, and still attracts brilliant people, who are misled during the recruitment process into the company's vision and goals. There is no long-term investment in the business, as the CEO simply chases small, short-term financial goals, which is usually no more than demanding staff double their output - with no further strategy than that. Avoid working for PinkNews at all costs if you value your career and mental health.

• Crucially, I can't think of a single person who has left PinkNews in a better place professionally, personally or mentally than before they went in. • Serious lack of diversity and representation in senior leadership - if you ain't white and cisgender, you ain't goin' anywhere in PinkNews. You don't have to scroll back far on Glassdoor to see the comments regarding race and this company. • The CEO is narcissistic, rash and irrational - for example telling the entire company that Liz Truss was good for business - and micromanages every single minute aspect of the business. Many people have the left from all departments in the company citing him as the reason why. • The COO is his husband - a cold, a compasionless presence who spends more time arguing with the CEO on company calls than leading in any meaningful direction. He's on his third or fourth restructure of the company at this point and a large number of job losses can be traced directly back to his poor business decisions. • The HR department serves only to enact their will and has no regard for employee wellbeing. If you go to them with a problem, you don't know if they're going to chew you out for bothering them or try and throw a company-wide party - because plying the workforce with alcohol is their usual answer to everything. A company shouldn't have an 'us vs them' mentality when it comes to its employees. • Anyone in senior leadership just says 'yes boss' to anything the CEO or COO says without any kind of thought, scrutiny or... whats' that word again... leadership. Mainly because they're worried about losing their inflated salaries. • The employee review structure is a joke and is never adhered to. It's impossible to engage in a meaningful conversation with any manager about career progression, working conditions or pay – unless you threaten to quit. • Communication is a abysmal. Staff are more likely to hear about company developments on Twitter than anywhere else. Internal memos read more like propaganda. It's demeaning, belittling and everyone has had enough of it. • Anyone who works in a creative roll spends most of their time pushing against the CEO's unhinged ideas. He cares more about the video team covering Trisha Paytas than anything meaningful. He'd rather the web team roll around in the dirt with right-wing extremists and further toxic culture wars than properly represent the queer community and amplify marginalised voices. He tells designers he wants to replace them all with AI on a regular basis. The COO often (metaphorically) stands behind him, shaking his fist and growling 'yeah' like a toddler hiding behind a high school bully. • There are zero benefits to working for the company - unless you consider the constant supply of alcohol a 'benefit'. The 'office' is in disarray. Employee initiatives are quickly and quietly dropped not long after being launched. Even the pension scheme is amongst the worst I've ever known - their contributing the absolute minimum they have to and are being disingenuous about this.