Pros
Many of the long-time staff have figured out how to thrive here and are good mentors, if you can find them. Some departments are actually the best at what they do in the industry, but others have little to no leadership, quickly get overwhelmed, and just turn over 100% every couple of years. COVID flexibility was high and staff got a one time equipment stipend to better outfit WFH space. Vacation leave was good and extra accruals were granted in 2020 and 2021 without staff having to ask.
Cons
The pace is relentless, this is much more like a Big Law or McConsulting environment than you would guess from the outside but with compensation still decent but lower than those firms. Middle managers work constantly, and I mean constantly, including when they are technically on vacation. End of year is brutal for everybody with deal closings and meeting sky high targets and deadlines in a semi-dysfunctional environment. Promotions do happen internally, not always with rhyme or reason but they do. Bonus and professional development funding for line staff are totally random and I suspect made up on the spot. In 5 years I received 5different PD budgets ranging from full reimbursement of conference and dues expenses to literally 0 dollars, never with a justification or a tie to performance. I still never could predict what it'd end up being.. The annual bonus pool is supposedly for "Directors and up" only, but again, good luck understanding what that means for you when most depts don't even use that title and some junior staff do get them anyway.