Culture driven by fear and blame - Anonymous employee Drax Executive Employee Review

I've always found the culture to be one of high support, genuine interest in peoples' lives (both professionally and outside of work) and good office spirit where people don't take themselves too seriously. A variety of social events are arranged (which don't revolve around going to the pub) - summer days at the cricket, team lunches, netball team, theatre club etc. Office upgrade has been good - more booths and better meeting room layout (and nice refreshments, Dash water being the best addition!) While the company has grown a lot, I still find everyone's journey is treated individually; I've been able to move across teams and practices to learn new skills, as well as taking a 6 month sabbatical to travel, and welcomed back into the business. The acquisitions the group have made and will make are super exciting and add genuinely differentiated propositions to our business; this is turn makes conversations with candidates and clients alike better as we can talk as true advisors rather than transactional recruiters. We work with interesting and strong brands in the PE market, and given exposure to taking more and more responsibility. The SLT are hands-on, involved in the business and day to day work, which is great for learning opportunities and cohesiveness across the business.

The CRM system needs improving / changing asap

Recognised brand in UK private equity search with some good calibre clients. Some genuinely decent and capable colleagues. Convenient central London office.

- The business suffers from a chaotic group structure and a leadership team that routinely acts with callous disregard for employees and their careers. Senior hires are frequently blindsided when the polished PR narrative gives way to a dysfunctional reality. - The CRM is outdated and ineffective...barely useable is perhaps more accurate. Clunky and unreliable, with poor data quality that regularly frustrates both consultants and candidates. - There is no dedicated research function, and a lack of process rigour means basic search best practices are inconsistently applied. Conflicts of interest are routinely ignored. - Compensation structures are murky. Commission and fee splits lack transparency, with significant internal deductions on top of your threshold (i.e. the 'Drax Tax') limiting take-home potential - even for top performers - The culture is toxic. Many people are operating in survival mode. FOR PROSPECTIVE JOINERS: Do your due diligence. Speak to former employees and R2Rs who have severed ties with the firm. Go in with your eyes open. Churn has been exceptionally high in the past six months. Ensure any promises made in the offer process are firmly entrenched in your contract.