"Last-man standing" promotions and aggressive sales culture
Pros
central location, international, diverse and some genuinely lovely colleagues. If you want to work in a corportate setting, you will learn a lot about office politics. I work in a really nice team with a great manager, however this is like being on a tropical island surrounded by shark-infested waters due to the high level of dysfunction I witness on a daily basis within the company. I have certainly been challenged in some ways, had some great projects, and have had a lot of autonomy to experiment.
Cons
You can advance if you know who to please, but a lot of self-promotion is required in this company, so not a good fit for people searching for a humanistic company where your work speaks for itself. I would not recommend this company as a first job to a recent college graduate, as you need a certain level of professional experience to recognize and navigate the dysfunction. Bad behavior is tolerated and never reprehended if you have a certain level of seniority and positive results (alcoholism, sexual harassment, harassment) I have yet to understand their operations policy, which does not seem cost effective. We frequently receive deliveries that are first shipped to the London office, than shipped to our office. We receive appliances that are for the UK, so you need adapters, which is not at all practical. Promotions seem to be either based on either relationships or come from being the last one remaining. Management is out of touch with the needs of employees, or doesn't care to change company culture, as perhaps they are ok with the high turn over an costs this represents. Incredibly high turn over, workload, and pression in certain roles/teams means you witness to or are subject to harsh and unsympathetic working conditions For a technology service company, they have incredibly antiquated tehnology for employees. I have outlook 2007. It is nearly impossible to get a laptop as this needs to be approved by the CEO, and in certain roles there is a lot of travel where employees have to bring their own computer.
