The culture takes on the same characteristics as a cult. From the day you start all you hear about is how they employ the best people and nobody ever leaves. Rather than promoting diversity, management and staff focus on forcing employees into a hivemind culture, going beyond the work responsibilities and into general personality traits. Extremely cliquey. Pod members will have group chats thru text or office messenger and exclude other team members, so you will hear 3 people laugh and be the only person not in on the joke. High performers can be shunned and disciplined for making other teammates "feel bad" including if a person takes lunch at their desk.
Faux-Silicon Valley culture. Claim to be progressive and relaxed however outside of the ability to wear jeans, they operate as an older school financial industry. All males generally have the same look and attire profile and individualism is met with resistance. Heavy resistance on WFH eventhough the industry has shifted that way.
Reviews lack any substantive empirical review and are extremely vague and subjective. Comments like "you seem bored" or "struggling to engage with team" are used to justify average or below review scores when proficiency, accuracy, and standard KPIs are above expectation. Management and HR are not transparent, open, or communicative when asked for further explanation or for suggestions on improvement.