Pros
Nice office in the heart of the City & occasional travel for no particular reason
Cons
ION are loosing talent faster then they can replace with grads. Staff are becoming further and further removed from the solution as the years go on leading to dissatisfied customers (when dealing with support). The grads just don't stand a chance to learn anything with there being no one present any longer with knowledge of the solution. Sure you can ship staff out from Delhi who, for the most part, have zero business/hands on experience working with a trading desk to see if they can help but ultimately the grads will never receive the exposure and training they really need to grow at the company. They are spending money of rebranding and other exercises in the hope this will suddenly help the organisation and keep staff. The truth in it all is that staff have no respect or trust in senior management. A great example is the first question asked when resigning…where are you going? They ask this because they are hoping staff will give them an answer that highlights a breach in the non compete…not the managers fault really as ultimately they know they will be asked the same question by the executive officers, however maybe its better to ask the question “why are you leaving?” or “what could we have done better?” The truth is ION will never change. Culture and values are established early on and set by your executive officers. If the executive officers genuinely don't believe in the values and culture that are trying to be forced on the organisation then they will never stick. Changes like this come from the top down and the top have shown time and time again that they simply don't believe in them.