Former SM Entertainment staff reveal how idols are really treated

Current and ex-employees of SM Entertainment have revealed what happens behind the scenes at the agency.

In a recent post on an online community portal, several screenshots of employee reviews were posted about SM Entertainment, revealing the pros and cons of working there.

Several current and ex-employees of SM Entertainment had left reviews on Jobplanet, a platform much like America’s Glassdoor, where employees are able to leave anonymous reviews of the companies they have worked for, or are currently working for.

The employment experience at SM Entertainment has an average rating of 2.5 stars.

On Jobplanet, SM Entertainment has a 2.5 star rating with 94 reviews from their employees in various teams, showing that employee experiences varied.

Most of the reviews shared in the post on the online community portal seemed to point out various disadvantages of working at SM Entertainment, in particular, low pay and unfair employee treatment.

Both reviews didn’t recommend working at SM Entertainment, and particularly criticized how employees were treated significantly lower than their artists.

According to the reviews, SM Entertainment provided barely any employee benefits, and their pay was extremely low considering the company’s size. Furthermore, all the employees mentioned how the artists of the company were praised continuously and treated like royalty, especially if they succeeded. However, if the artists didn’t do as well as initially projected, the employees were heavily scolded and blamed for it.

Both reviews point out how often employees have to work overtime, both on the weekdays and on weekends.
The first review was written by a current employee and claimed that working at SM Entertainment treated their employees and artists very differently. The second review was by an ex-employee and criticized how working at SM Entertainment made them reevaluate their happiness.

The majority of the employees were required to work overtime during the week and also on the weekends, which resulted in many of them having to abandon their social lives and invest most of their hours into their work without receiving appropriate pay.

Some employees even mentioned how working for SM Entertainment was a dream job for idol fans, especially because idols could be seen wandering the building quite often. However, they also pointed out that it was only possible for idol fans, as their position required an extreme passion for the industry.

Both reviews criticize SM Entertainment’s system, or lack thereof, but praise the company’s casual business culture.

On the other hand, not all reviews were entirely negative. Many of the employees highly praised the horizontal communications structure at SM Entertainment and explained that working at the company opened up many career paths. However, they made sure to note that employee experiences varied between different departments.

Source: Instiz