A disgruntled former employee used the NBA’s official Facebook account to vent about the league’s treatment of its social media team Monday morning.
The NBA is often lauded for its use of social media, generating more than 32 billion video views during the 2022-23 regular season, but according to one former worker, the working conditions are less than ideal for the team behind their digital success.
According to Front Office Sports, an unnamed former employee blasted the NBA on its official Facebook page Monday morning. The post was live for about 20 minutes before getting deleted.
A former NBA employee posted this on the league’s official Facebook page this morning.
It was deleted after roughly 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/RkLX2ZafOk
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 21, 2023
“How do I log out of this?” the since-deleted Facebook post began. “Haven’t worked here in weeks. Anyway, the NBA overextends its social media employees greatly to the detriment of their health and social lives for a salary of less than $50k annually after taxes.
“I worked 14 hour shifts without breaks at times. Shoutout Adam Silver.”
The unnamed former employee proceeded to blast the league’s benefit package, claiming social media employees have to endure a 90-day probation period before they can have access to health insurance.
“Glad I resigned, no need for a job to get in the way of your happiness,” the Facebook post continued. “Donate to mental health causes.”
The NBA’s social media accounts have morphed into a billion-dollar entity in recent years and according to at least one former employee, the workers behind those accounts aren’t seeing enough of the payback.
This isn’t meant to excuse any poor working conditions, but long hours, low wages and having to wait out a probation period before being eligible to receive benefits would not be exclusive to the NBA. Those conditions are likely to be echoed by other sports and social media employees. The NBA has not responded to the since-deleted Facebook post.
[FOS]
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com