A baffling, unstructured organisation full of sharp-elbowed rich kids
Pros
You can come in whenever you like, there is little discipline and if you don't like a policy it is possible to weave around it by complaining to someone further up the food chain. The salaries are fairly generous and the staff frequently get what they want. Virtually every person in the London office has the title of 'manager' 'head' or 'director'. The 'our people' section of their website is slightly deceptive as it appears to show the management team, when in fact it is a bio of every employee. Working at the PRI would certainly look good on the CV, and of course you can boast to your friends about doing something 'ethical'. Oh, and its in Shorditch - however. whether that's a 'pro' is a matter of debate.
Cons
The complete lack of structure and leadership makes for an unpleasant atmosphere at the PRI. The senior leadership team don't believe in setting goals for their managers/department heads (by their own admission) therefore many departments are left to interpret the strategy themselves. The employees seem to run the show in the PRI - they are invariably from well to do backgrounds, and are prepared to fight tooth and nail for pay rises and job titles (hence the ludicrous structure whereby 95% of the employees are called 'managers'). There is a passive-aggressive office atmosphere with departments willing to fight it out among themselves to get what they want. No doubt there are some nice people there, however the collective culture is cold and hostile. Also, unusually for a supposedly non-corporate entity, meetings are peppered with corporate buzzwords - one favourite of mine was when people referred to things they learned at conferences as 'key take-homes'. Meetings at the PRI were a masterclass in guff. Also, for an organisation that purports to be 'ethical' they made no attempt to engage with the local population - their lengthy unpaid internships were meted out mainly to foreign students. It should be noted that they consider unpaid interns a legitimate resource and use the willing saps as workers. It is bizarre how an organisation with such lofty aims should routinely exploit youngsters so ruthlessly.
