Pros
I will begin by stating that Frontiers has offered many exceptional opportunities. I have been able to travel as well as meet many new people throughout the publishing and academic fields. Frontiers also offers generous time off and sick days. That is, however, where I feel the benefits stop.
Kontras
I have worked at Frontiers for nearly 4 years. During that time, my job title has changed at least 3 times, I have had 4 different managers, been forced into secondment, had my role expanded without compensation, and been denied career advancement 3 times. This was all while working in the SAME role.
When I first began working at Frontiers, my job title was Editor Specialist. This role no longer exists. Instead, they chose to combine it with another role meaning now I am working a job previously done by 2 people without additional compensation.
For 2 of my nearly 4 years at Frontiers, my salary was frozen, along with my colleagues'. When we WERE given pay raises, they were so minor that they did not justify the expanded role obligations that continued to come. Now, they have moved to a bonus scheme instead of standard, stable raises, which only rewards the top workers.
Regarding targets, they are incredibly difficult to hit and require over exhausting our research network and putting pressure on authors, editors, and reviewers. You will be asked to meet these difficult targets or be put on a performance plan. It is not only a humiliating and defeating process, but one that destroys the confidence of even the hardest working among us.
There are hardly any opportunities for advancement. If you wish to advance, you will need to EXCEED the already difficult targets as well as take on A LOT of supplemental work outside of your job description.
Lastly, a couple of years ago there was a mass layoff. I watched 600 of my colleagues be let go, dismissed, and laughed at during all hands meetings. When we asked for accountability in upper management, as we had been warning them of patterns we were seeing for a while and no one listened, we were laughed at by the CEO in front of the entire company and asked if we wanted to see "heads roll" (as in firing in UM). Upper management is disconnected from their employees and treat us like output machines. We are pushed to heavily rely on AI and then expected to work harder alongside it. We are exhausted, defeated, and barely treading water.
