corporate culture: Penton Media

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 2002 by Sarah Gonser

Byline: Sarah Gonser

portfolio: More than 60 b-to-b magazines and upwards of 130 trade shows.

location: 25 offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong and Australia. Headquarters are in Cleveland.

word on the company: The 110-year-old company is struggling through major cutbacks. "The corporate message is one of foresight and progressive thought," says one employee. "But a lot of times that runs head-on into the counting of the beans."

atmosphere: The culture is decentralized, and many of the properties operate semi-independently. "Sometimes I forget I'm working for Penton. The groups are pretty insulated," says one staffer. There's some culture clash between recently acquired businesses and the now thrifty parent company: "When we were privately owned, we could subsidize new start-ups and ventures; now that's not possible. Everything is its own cost-center and must make a profit immediately or it isn't viable," says another staffer.

benefits: Competitive. Although in 2002, "They jacked up health insurance premiums, eliminated the 401(k) company match, and put a freeze on salary raises if you earn over $50,000. It's a major disappointment," says one employee, "but it's understandable because the company stock is suffering so much." Vacation starts at two weeks after the first year.

perks: Staffers generally say autonomy is encouraged, including flextime at some of the offices outside Cleveland. But some of that freedom isn't necessarily a matter of choice. "A fair share of the autonomy is in fact the entrepreneurial spirit that you have to cultivate with diminishing staff numbers," says an employee, referring to Penton's cost-cutting layoffs last year.

churn: Penton laid off 14 percent of its staff last year (250 people), but employees say voluntary turnover is low and tenure usually exceeds the two-year mark.

challenges: "Financially, it's been really tough," says an employee in the Cleveland office. "We ordered new computers last year, but they put a company-wide freeze on new equipment - so we're using really old models." Many say they feel short staffed. "We're all facing increased workloads," says one Colorado-based employee.