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"Work life balance is reasonable" (in 100 reviews)
"Very good working environment and friendly team" (in 63 reviews)
"Long working hours to cope with" (in 119 reviews)
"Should promote the work-life balance" (in 61 reviews)
I have been working at BDO full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
The culture is sublime and the people are great.
Cons
No cons, great company with happy employees
I worked at BDO full-time
Pros
Many opportunities for people to discover
Cons
too many night work and lowe salary
I have been working at BDO full-time
Pros
Good start to work life on Grad intake
Cons
Very Corporate feel- face time key over actual work performed
I have been working at BDO full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Private pension plan contribution
Can claim overtime (if pre approved by manager)
Work-life balance slightly better than Big 4
Cons
Small clients and small firm mentality even if they pretend to be big
Overtime rarely gets approved
Low salary vs work required
I have been working at BDO full-time
Pros
good pay and good atmosphere
Cons
long hours and extra study time expected
I have been working at BDO full-time
Pros
Free breakfast, nice offices and good location
Cons
People aren’t that pleasant
I have been working at BDO full-time
Pros
Good pay once qualified and training provided for
Cons
Limited agency during grad scheme
I have been working at BDO full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Very friendly staff culture, very decent offices, pay beats some top four firms, there is less conscription on corporate style, you can build your career here, embraces ethnic diversity, transparency
Cons
You need to work hard, travel can be onerous,and seniors cracking the whip
Advice to Management
Allow staff to help partners more
I have been working at BDO full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Great opportunities with growth in sector
Cons
Follow through on partner promises is patchy and no bonuses are paid which is out of step with other firms.
Pros
-Nice, modern office in prime London location
-Marketing (incl BDMs and Digital) has lots of clever, interesting people all on the same wavelength with similar expectations. -
-Everyone is astonishingly nice, and you really can be yourself.
-Work life balance is second to none. Often rewarded with afternoons off, option to buy up to 10 days annual leave, working from home 1 day per week, always encouraged to spend annual leave and stay at home if ill.
-No stigma for coming in on time and leaving on time. Doing a long day is seen as you not managing your time correctly and there being a problem.
-Option to work from home 1-2 days per week.
-Good brand with great reputation to have on your CV, especially at the start of a career.
-Lots of support from team
-Manageable pace where you can stop, think and actually focus on work quality.
-Hotdesking (blessing in disguise as it allowed for more working from home - this was due to people being squashed together to make money for partners renting out office floors/space to other firms)
-Nice roof terrace in summer.
-Pension scheme is ok and staff discounts are good.
-Very generous 10 days of voluntary leave per year, and a moving house day off per year.
Cons
Partners are treated like gods. There of hundreds of partners to please, which leads to the main, following cons:
-Poor quality marketing. Marketing is not seen as important to the partners. Any creative flair is doused immediately as partners have to sign absolutely everything off. And despite being a qualified marketer, your opinion is basically invalid.
-You’re not trusted to be a specialist in your area. You will feel undervalued quite a bit.
-Lots of clock-watching and a lack of trust to
-Lots of bureaucracy, politics and self marketing. Lots and lots of self promotion.
-No bonus or share scheme. If there’s a bumper year for profit, you won’t hear or see anything about it. Partners take all.
-Unless you’re a Partner you’re completely replaceable.
-Business Dev Managers are not given commission so no tangible incentive to drive sales and focus on customer service.
-No clear divide between marketing and sales, which is bizarre.
-BDO doesn’t have a CRM system. Partners don’t want to invest in one as there is a short term cost, but cannot see long term gain of having one.
-Everyone in the firm seems to do marketing (sales BDMs, Partners, PAs) which devalues your position and expertise within marketing team. Hence poor quality outcome.
-Chronically high staff turnover due to low pay, poor progression and inability to do ones job.
-Benefits are a bit minimal for a huge multinational.
-Partners like to keep headcount down so lots of my colleagues seem to be put on temporary contracts which is very bad for morale.
-Dated practices and slow to change. Old structures mean digital marketing team are separate, and clearly having an up hill struggle to bring BDO into digital age.
-Departmental leadership appears quite uninformed and lacking in direction. It’s generally their way or the highway.
-Desperately low morale within marketing and sales. Like a funeral.
-Current system of objectives, performance ratings, reviews can come across a bit school-like and patronising.
-Bit of disparity between regional BDO offices and London office which can highlight differences in best practice (ie quality of marketing, over-reliance on training)
-Very corporate office is not conducive to creativity.
-HR could do with more teeth, as disputes haven’t always been resolved as we expected.
Advice to Management
-Take on the above comments and let your staff be good at their jobs, and help you. Take a step back, and watch them transform your company for the better.
-Do not compromise on quality of employees. Hire for long term gain.
-Invest long term: get a CRM system, give meaningful pay rises (more than the annual 1%), do more to keep your staff jumping to competitors.
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