Pros
Well paid (in many cases people are substantially overpaid). The drawback of this is that once you are on-board the company’s attitude is that paying people well excuses treating them like commodities. Some people (particularly the team I was a part of) were very nice. Whilst it’s not a pleasant place to work, it’s actually not a particularly demanding culture.
Cons
Such a bizarre company to work for. During the interview process I asked what was most important to the company; generating revenue, satisfied clients or a happy and engaged workforce. Without hesitation I was told that generating revenues was the focus. This didn’t necessarily strike me as a red flag until joining when I realised that this was literally all that mattered; the treatment of clients and their workforce is of absolutely zero concern to them. To use one example of quite how little they care, unlike every other company of any size, there’s no DE&I in place whatsoever (it was suggested when I interviewed that they didn’t have time for this).
Leadership fall into four categories: unpleasant, clueless, ineffectual or all of the above. I see this is referenced in virtually every negative review here. There is an incredible amount of jostling for position; having witnessed it firsthand, an inexcusable amount of time is spent abusing, chastising and passing the buck on to others so as to detract from their own failings and lack of workable solutions. They are utterly obsessed with pouring over unnecessarily complicated spreadsheets, that ultimately tell you nothing of any worth and any suggestions to do anything differently are automatically cast off as they are convinced they know better whatever the topic (innovation is a pretty dirty concept here). It’s no way to run a business particularly as the problems that the firm currently faces are actually quite simple and staring them in the face (lack of Product Development bleeding into Sales and Delivery).
The way in which people speak to each other is genuinely appalling. There is a particular emphasis on demeaning people in open forums (there are next to no private meeting rooms in London and so people can be called out in full view of the entire floor). Leadership are not respected nor are they listened to; Middle Management are outrageously resistant to change and frankly ignore all directives that come from above. Every once in a while ludicrously overblown threats will be made but as they are not followed through with they are treated with disdain.
There was an unacceptable level of back-stabbing and complaining about colleagues in full view of people that should not be hearing it. In my neck of the woods, I found that feedback was not delivered in real time and was not delivered upfront. The objectives you are initially set will most likely be changed on a whim, you will be regularly expected to run in varying different directions and there is no structure to talk of to enable anyone to succeed or flourish. Growth is not remotely organic and is driven solely by constant acquisitions.
Morale is genuinely non-existent. This is in large part due to the Rank & Yank culture (to say they like laying people off would be a massive understatement) as they review layoffs every quarter. The truth is though none of this matters as the firm is quite open that they genuinely couldn’t care less. I heard it said that if you aren’t happy there is always someone else waiting in the wings to take your job.
Ultimately it’s a pretty soulless, humourless, clueless environment on the slide (take a quick look at the share price and then tell me I’m wrong). To drive results they are trying to mimic the sort of culture that you might expect to find at an Investment Bank but without the aptitude or gravitas to make it run as efficiently as one. I would not advise going near them if you place any value in anything other than a pay-check.
