Pros
Can only speak for ITO, London Branch . 1. 50/50 work from Home benefit (not for FO) 2. Amazing benefits, including a great pension. 3. Nice teams (even though a little frat boy like) 4. Generally a nice and easy environment to work in, with clear managing lines. 5. The office itself (except the trading floor) is bright, with lots of plants!! ) 6. There is an on site canteen, which helps as the office location is awkward with not many exterior food options.
Cons
i have 5 cons, that ive never actually experienced in another work place 1. FYI every team is slowly being migrated and moved to India or Portugal. “Migration”. Thats why 90 % of staff hired are contractors. This is a post Brexit initiative. Be careful accepting perm employment 2. Senior Manager decides your bonus, favours their friends. Theres NO other input. The manager is given a chunk of money, splits it TOTALLY at their discretion- ive never worked in a place like this, normally HR are involved and theres some kind of “merit” equation 3. Theres a serious racist undertone (towards Black and Arabs). There are amazing wonderful cultural celebrations each year, for Hanukkah, chineese new year, Diwali etc … but never anything for Ramadan (Eid) or black history month. Infact last year during Eid they posted an article on the webpage celebrating the birth of the Israeli state (the same year Isreal killed 30,000 plus arabs, given all the controversy it felt like a very deliberate political stance). Very few black employees hired, unless in the canteen. A-lot of french employees naturally, but never seen a single black french employee. London has 15/20 % black population there is probably 1 in 100 just in ITO. 4. No cups provided! Be prepared for a thirsty first day OR everyone stealing you water bottle 5. All of HR are either contractors (not BNP employees or based in Portugal) which i find unethical and practically difficult. Ie needed a letter for my daughters school, contractors weren’t allowed to provide it but Portuguese employees (with little to no english) didn’t understand my request.