A promising company turned willfully incompetent - GCO NBCUniversal Employee Review

1.0
Aug 12, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you enjoy the entertainment industry then this is an exciting place for you. The salary is fairly good and there are plenty of company perks.

Cons

Like several media companies, there's no opportunity for growth and advancement. I've seen many hired interns exploited until they burn out. Then they're discarded and replaced with the next fresh slab of meat. Antiquated company structure that did not scale well to industry demands. Current employees were faced with the task to perform well above the norm. Sacrificing personal life, enduring emotional strain and compromising one's health. Beware of the inept HR department. Their sole purpose is to protect the company and not the employee. Even if the employee(s) have legitimate issues. And if issues are reported to HR, you can be certain those employees will be terminated. Copious staff meetings that are completely unnecessary which lead to team inefficiencies and large amounts of wasted time. At least the managers will leave the meeting with a sense of self-worth. Over the years I've seen several questionable business practices within this company. Such as eliminating one particular ethnicity to reach a company quota for diversity. (Which in itself is racist.) Upper management engaging in unprofessional personal affairs. Unnecessary large amounts of money spent on expensive remodeling, selective catering and undeserved managerial bonuses. Much of that capital could have been used to further the advancement of the employees well-being. And not lastly, complete suppression of opinions from employees who are trying to make the company a better place. I do not recommend working here and urge anyone interested to steer clear. There are much better options out there.

Explore other reviews about NBCUniversal

5.0
Jun 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good environment and location. Easy to assimilate

Cons

Expensive area and not a lot of growth potential

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

NBCUniversal is full of smart, funny, talented people who genuinely care about the work. I learned a tremendous amount there, especially about programming, production, audience strategy, brand management, budgets, talent, internal politics, and how a major media company actually functions when the glossy press release meets the spreadsheet. The brands are still powerful. NBC, Peacock, Bravo, USA, SYFY, E!, and the broader portfolio have real history, real audiences, and real cultural weight. When the company is aligned, it can move beautifully. You get exposure to major shows, high-level conversations, complex productions, and the kind of institutional knowledge you cannot really get anywhere smaller. It is also a place where you can build real taste and real judgment. You see what works, what almost works, what dies in a conference room, and what somehow survives three leadership changes and a budget cut.

Cons

The biggest downside is instability. NBCUniversal has been through major structural change, including the cable network spinoff into Versant, divestitures, reorganizations, and significant layoffs. That kind of uncertainty changes the job. You are not just doing the work. You are trying to understand which version of the company you work for this quarter. Decision-making can also be slow and heavily layered. There are a lot of smart people, but sometimes too many of them need to bless the same sentence, deck, cut, budget, or idea. The result is that good work can get sanded down, delayed, or rerouted through a maze wearing a lanyard. The company also asks people to do more with less, then less with less, then somehow make it feel premium. That is exhausting. Especially for employees who care deeply and are trying to protect the creative, the business, and their own sanity without being handed a map.

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