PLOS reviews

overextended, unequal work loads across departments and teams

Management: Firstly, I strongly agree with many of the past and most recent reviews regarding the management here at PLOS. Management appears to be unequipped to deal with multiple employees and conflicts that arise on the team. There seems to be this unspoken understanding when hiring managers/promoting people that as long as the candidate has worked at PLOS, and the candidate is friends with those who are interviewing him/her, then that candidate should be hired or promoted. There appears to be no logical reason as to why people get promoted into far more challenging roles that they truly weren’t ready for. A lot of these managers are super young, inexperienced, and have not had any prior management training or mentor-ship. They are just thrown into the job, and fumble around incessantly. These managers do not truly have a grasp on the workflows and processes of the journal they now manage/oversee, and as a result, poor decisions are made. Culture: On the surface, everyone smiles and appear to be friendly. However, as time passes, you will understand that this place is exactly like high school: a place consisting of loud, and obnoxious people, cliques, gossip (some of the gossip/rumors are started by the managers themselves!), and decisions/promotions driven on popularity, not merit/hard work. If you are a part of these cliques, then congratulations, expect to excel through the ranks no matter how sub-par your work is! There is this vague, almost non-existent line between management/employee relationships, which clearly creates situations of favoritism. Many of these managers are a part of these cliques, and promote/give praise to who they like, not who actually deserved the promotion. Good people get passed up, and bad employees excel, which definitely leads to an increase in turn-over. Also, I believe that the workplace should remain as a neutral environment when it comes to politics (and religion as well). Regardless of whom you support or what you believe, you should not shove your political viewpoints down other people’s throats. Though I personally did not like the outcome of our presidential election, I don’t need to make public statements at work like “If people voted for [insert name here], then they are idiots”! We as American citizens have the right to vote for whomever we see fit for POTUS, and creating a politically charged atmosphere at work causes division, alienation, and toxicity in the workplace. Whether I agree with people’s political views or not, people need to keep their political views to themselves while at work, and focus on actual WORK and learning their roles.