Toxic Work Culture With No Desire to Change
Pros
The size and reach of the brand is unparalleled. I'm fortunate to have worked at this company during the last few years, in what I believe has been the peak of their brand, content, and business. The live storylines that WWE puts on several nights a week is a precise and flawless art form. It's incredible impressive to witness firsthand. But the storyline and cultural advancements that appear on screen and in the press do not reflect the actual work culture.
Cons
To echo another recent review, this is a very sexist and male-driven place to work, on both the corporate and creative TV sides. Women executives, like Stephanie, are not taken seriously, called offensive names, mocked in screeching, high pitched voices, and overall disrespected by numerous male executives, often out in the open. Gossip and politics is a huge issue within this company, and HR is often complicit in allowing this toxic work culture to continue. I've witnessed my HR representative often participate in office gossip and making fun of other/past employees. Employees are either there for short periods of time, or stay for life. Those that have been there for years (some decades) are comfortable with the way things are, and not very open to change. This means that they are set in their ways, comfortable in their jobs, unwilling to improve their skillset or advance technologically. The systems and ideologies that live in this company are horribly outdated. This is the type of workplace where projects are already killed while new, eager employees actively work on them. Senior management is petty and hold grudges, often withholding information, ignoring emails, and screwing each other over for personal issues. There is a very little "speak up" culture, because senior executives, particularly those that TV production depend on, aren't going anywhere unless their job is no longer valuable to the company. TV is Kevin Dunn's boys club, and they often drink together, have gone to strip clubs together, and it is understood that these are not open invitations. Nothing about WWE's work culture is "open". It's very much an old school, hierarchical, closed-door type of company, even if they attempt to disguise that by knocking down walls and adding open floor desk plans. Your job title directly correlates to the benefits you receive internally, and promotions move very slow. You are shielded from senior executive management and encouraged not to engage/speak with them. Aside from these serious issues, health insurance is very poor, even for a media company, and work perks are minimal. Salary can be high or low, depending on who you are, who your management is, and what department you're in. Employee advancement and learning opportunities feel hollow, and you simply have to just wait x amount of years for your half step promotion. If anyone is wondering what they've been doing in response to the recent Black Lives Matter protests and calls for increased diversity, the answer is nothing. I've spoken to their recently appointed D&I head (a white man, for anyone curious), and everything is on hold until furloughed employees return to the office (as of now, there is no confirmed end date to WWE's furlough). When asked if they could at least use this time to address these issues with executive management (who are the biggest drivers of company culture), I was told that they wanted to wait until they could implement this "new training" with all employees, together. Having known this company culture for years, I can tell you that nothing will change, and any appearance of change will ring empty until they hold problematic senior and executive management accountable.
