Pros
- People The people at Brainlabs are undoubtedly the best part of the company. Overall, they are remarkably capable, conscientious and friendly, and I believe a lots of people wouldn’t still be working there if it wasn’t for their colleagues. I really admire them. - Culture Linking to that, the culture at Brainlabs in on the whole really friendly, and there is an emphasis on growth. In my experience, the internal feedback system does work. - Opportunities If you go in with the right attitude and advocate for yourself, there are amazing opportunities to grow and develop very quickly. The client portfolio is also a highlight - you can work on some huge, well-known clients.
Cons
- Capacity This is a long-standing issue at the company for client facing teams, and stems from a focus on profitability. Entire teams can be over capacity, but it can also vary within teams. For example, some account managers will be working on large but relatively unprofitable clients, and will never be given the support they need as it isn’t viable from a fee point of view. As noted elsewhere on this page, this has negatively impacted a number of people’s mental health. I question how much senior management actually cares about capacity vs. profitability, as (despite lip service) escalation has repeatedly lead nowhere in terms of real change that can be felt on the ground. This all contributes to churn. - Development Currently, no people managers have received formal management training (though this will be changing). At the moment, it’s down to luck whether your manager is naturally good at managing people. If not, there is little you can do. It’s also remarkable that your responsibilities can change over night, becoming an account director (managing people, handling client relationships), with absolutely no change to your pay and no structured training. This leads to weighing up the benefits of gaining management experience with high levels of responsibility and stress. Performance reviews and pay rises are also tied into profitability. This can lead to people being put through the ringer, then being told they have officially performed ‘below average’ because of the accounts they work on. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t help with morale. - Senior Management The senior management team is made up of some talented individuals, and it’s a pleasure to learn from them. At the same time, their attitude to problems has been dismissive in the past, wilfully ignoring / de-prioritising systemic problems within the company while claiming not to. It’s clear they have their own priorities at the moment.