Pros
Mostly the staff at ground level were great people with good knowledge. Found some very good friends there.
Cons
- Benefits - there are literally none. No pension, no milk in the kitchen, no staff events, minimal legal holiday allowance, no bonuses, no pay rises, poor work/life balance. - training - also abysmal. Seems to be no external budget for training, and internally there are too few people to provide any formal training. Staff have to learn their own way even on basic things such as how to use a system or where files are stored. - equipment is horrendously old and not invested in. Even office staff are working off tiny, 5+ year old laptops. One IT guy who sits in Israel and is seemingly unavailable no matter how urgent the query. Unwilling to outsource any IT maintenance. - Confidentiality/proper HR support does not exist. E.g. other staffs disciplinary actions discussed, confidential paperwork left lying around, colleagues salaries are made crystal clear. Cannot take any time off without being asked by 'HR' to divulge full details of how you will be using your annual leave (even when it concerns personal matters), and this is then discussed with other colleagues. - no official messaging/support from senior staff. All sat in other countries, ignoring what's going on. E.g. salaries paid late on more than one occasion - no (yes literally NO) communication about this other than gossip from low level management. No internal news passed around, no knowledge sharing. No formal introductions to any senior staff when you join. - the financial situation is of the greatest concern. As you can probably guess from the above, the company is doing very poorly and simply not winning work with clients. Rent on the office not paid, leading to staff being locked out. HMRC payments not made, leading to bailiffs arriving at the office. Head office seem to have the funds but are completely unwilling to protect their other offices. All of this contributes to staff feeling ignored, not cared about and disposable. Despite what they want you to believe, you really do feel your job is constantly on the line.
