Please read before deciding to work for this company.
Pros
Name recognition. Even though INDG is NOT a true group/division of Bloomberg LP (different company entirely). You do still get the benefit of the reputation ‘Bloomberg’ holds. The healthcare and charitable donation match are fantastic benefits.
Cons
This company is painfully poorly led from the top executives through middle management. The vacuum of leadership leaves employees to fend for themselves and creates a toxic “that is not my job/not my problem” mentality. Anyone who dissents or provides an opinion that contradicts leadership is ostracized and/or pushed out. This means there are 3 types of employee here: - Go with the flow-ers: these people stopped caring a long time ago and wouldn’t lift a finger to help you if it meant missing their lunch break. - The brown-nosers: these people are experts at falling in line and will do whatever it is in their power to make themselves look good even if it means completely screwing over their colleagues, customers, subordinates, etc. As long as they look good it’s justified to them. - The optimists: these people have been with the company less than a year and genuinely want to change the company. They joined and are recognizing all of these problems and are creating plans to go above and beyond the call of duty to make this place better. Before long they will have quit or become one of the previous 2 types. Bloomberg LP does not trust any of the executives at INDG. In an attempt to improve this situation, they lead with an absolute and iron fist. Every meaningful decision needs to be made or approved by LP. What are the results of this? The executives at INDG are incapable of making decisions for fear that they will be held accountable for anything they decide. Instead of making decisions, executives spend their time micromanaging every decision that is made within their department. Literally every decision. If any employee makes a decision, no matter how small and meaningless, unless it was reviewed/approved by an executive, it is subject to change. And the change will be poorly timed, communicated, and downright illogical most of the time. This means that everyone questions everything. Unless you have the backing of someone at the absolute top, it is near impossible to get other employees on board. There is no such thing as a grass roots effort at this company. Working remote can impact your review. No one is trusted. The company rapidly and forcibly called for a return to office, has not stated any intention to allow remote work going forward, and employees are closely monitored for how often they are coming into the office using the badging system. If you don’t come into the office for several days in a row your manager will receive and alert from HR. This was never communicated as a policy, but it is a reality. Even after over a year of running the company remotely, there is no trust in its employees to manage their own working environment/location. The company is simultaneously the most chaotic and bureaucratic environment I have ever experienced. Everything takes forever. Everything is done poorly. You will have no say in your work. On more than one occasion I have had colleagues leave the company after the follow series of events: - They are put in a position where it is not possible to succeed - They raise concerns professionally and appropriately in an attempt to address the situation - They are told to tough it out, things will get better, we understand you are in a tough spot etc - On their performance evaluation, they will be held accountable for everything as if it was all their responsibility and they did nothing to change the situation It is extremely uncommon to receive a raise of greater than the cost of living. It is MUCH more common to receive a raise of zero. It is extremely uncommon to receive a bonus above your target. It is MUCH more common to receive a bonus <50% of your target. I have worked for companies 3x the size of this one that feel like a start up in comparison. None of the departments function properly together. Even people who have the same job title/role in a different department might as well be working for different companies. Any meeting with >20 people will be the most dishonest, cordial and overly formal and polished presentation. Any meeting with <10 people there is a possibility to be treated in the most disrespectful, degrading and confrontational way you have experienced in your professional career. Success stories are paraded around and celebrated ad nauseam while failures are dealt with behind closed doors and suppressed. There is no such thing as “embracing failure” at this company. It is not even possible to learn from failure at this company because failures are suppressed to an extreme. If you attend a town hall meeting everything is presented with rosy colored glasses even if the polar opposite is true and everyone knows it. ‘BNA’ was acquired by Bloomberg over 10 years ago yet it is still just an affiliate and not a true part of Bloomberg LP - that should tell you all you need to know. Don’t let the reputation and work environment of Bloomberg LP fool you into thinking this is a similar place to work. This is the ugly stepchild. Different CEO, different products, different benefits, different culture, different everything except the name on the building. This place eats away at you like corrosion. I am not writing this to harm the company. I am writing this as a public service to prevent anyone considering this as a place of employment to rethink.
