Growing company with a lot or problems
Pros
Steep learning curve if you are staffed on an account. Juniors get a lot responsibility and have the possibility to proof themselves. The work-life balance is not too bad and working from home (even from another country) is always possible as most of the projects are globally. I met some nice colleagues across the business and I enjoyed working with them. The London office has monthly office Fridays where the entire office comes together and has dinner. The company is trying to improve consistently as its still growing.
Cons
Onboarding and Staffing: It happens quite often that juniors start and will end up being benched for months (6+ months) with nothing to do. People will end up doing company building activities to keep themselves busy. Employees are lured into the company with false promises and lies. The whole staffing process is horrible and done remotely from India with no visibility of what is going on. Training: There is no clear on-boarding process and trainings are done by juniors and managers. The training itself is a joke as all training sessions are done by managers and every year the same. There is no interest from the management to invest in their employers. People are not promoted based on their performance and rather on sympathy and on how long they have been with the firm. Benefits: There are almost no benefits at this firm. The annual bonus is minimal and perks are non-existent. You are told that GEP benchmarks against Big four which is clearly not the case. HR is consistently lying to employees about salary benchmarks and benefit packages. Projects: Most of the projects are not scoped properly and understaffed to underbid competitor’s prices. That’s explain as well why most of the projects are outsourced to India. Most of the projects are long-term outsourcing accounts and consultants are utilized to work on these for several months up to years (due to lack of outsourcing staff)Consultants will end up doing outsourcing work. Culture: GEP aims to build a beautiful company but this is only half true. The company is micro managed from US. Most of the positive reviews on Glassdoor seem to be fake and written by HR or other employees. The company culture is extremely stingy with no interest to invest into their employees and to cut costs wherever there is an opportunity. Leadership in Europe is a nightmare with no clear guidance and horrible feedback. The retention rate is horrible with around 30% of the people leaving the office every year. Almost all the junior guys want to leave after a few weeks. Sometimes people will just disappear with no communication from HR or leadership. I felt highly undervalued when I worked here and wouldn’t recommend anyone to work for GEP