Pros
The people. Truly, the best part. Talented, kind, and somehow still funny despite the Kafkaesque mess around them.
Cons
Let’s break it down:
Salaries are well below market. I was earning over €1000 less than the average in my field despite being known internally for speed, skill, and regularly stepping in when leadership needed help. Career advancement was hard to say the least.
Design leadership communicated like a motivational poster generator. Financial urgency was downplayed with vague optimism while the company quietly bled talent and money.
Layoffs were handled like a game of musical chairs, with roles saved for favorites rather than based on actual contribution or client need. Internal messaging around layoffs encouraged everyone to find billable work fast, but even that didn’t guarantee job security. People had full-time international client work and still got cut, eventhough the message during the change negotiation was "we'd be stupid to fire people in client work'. Decisions felt arbitrary and disconnected from actual performance.
The new strategy seemed to mean selling concepts that didn’t yet exist, then scrambling to figure out how to deliver.
Internal processes were chaotic at best, nonexistent at worst.
Designers were expected to contribute to sales efforts while sales teams lacked the understanding to sell design in the first place.
Leadership communication, especially at the top, was baffling. Jargon-heavy, unclear, and hard to follow even when stakes were high.
Morale issues were patched over with surface-level perks. Think: wine bingo instead of actual strategy or support.