Pros
There are some capable people in the business, and the company has the scale and resources to be much better than it is. But all younger potential flee. It's a bureaucracy driven, stagnant organisation.
Cons
Mine and many others experience was extremely poor. People vanish. No explanation. Workload doubles. And before someone new is onboarded they go. If they question. The culture I experienced was defensive, slow, and surprisingly toxic in places. Too much time was lost to internal politics, over-talking, and meetings dominated by entrenched voices who seemed more interested in being heard than solving the problem. Instead of clear decisions, there was often circular discussion, waffle, and unnecessary friction. It slowed everything down. The business talks about transformation, improvement, and strategy, but from my experience the actual strategy lacked clarity and conviction. There was a lot of noise, but not enough substance. Priorities were unclear, accountability was inconsistent, and delivery often felt secondary to appearances. At times, leadership seemed more interested in external visibility, commentary, and social media positioning than fixing basic internal issues. That was frustrating to watch when employees were dealing with avoidable process problems, poor communication, and unclear direction. Leadership didn't even understand functions. They led. It was commonplace, they would scrutinise valuable work. Just to look knowledgeable. Then return to social media. Richard Oliver is a great guy. But he needs to overhaul the people below him. I joined wanting to improve things, raise standards, and deliver meaningful change. Itead, I found an environment where legitimate challenge was not handled constructively. Concerns were not properly listened to. Once trust broke down, the process became exhausting, stressful, and unnecessarily adversarial. The impact numerous colleagues wellbeing was significant. I do not believe the organisation handle colleagues, in inflated poeitions. With the care, proportionality, or humanity employees should expect from a large employer. In my view, the biggest issue is cultural. Challenge is not always welcomed. Escalation can become defensive. Too many people talk, too few people decide, and the organisation can feel more focused on protecting itself than fixing what is actually wrong. Many secrets. Many private conversations. And its all about "Power" Advice to Management Stop confusing noise with leadership. Listen properly when employees raise concerns. Do not treat challenge as disloyalty. Reduce the over-talking and internal politics. Make decisions faster. Be clearer about strategy. Focus less on external image and more on whether the internal employee experience actually matches the company’s stated values. Values mean very little if they disappear the moment an employee becomes inconvenient. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this employer. Just, be a team. And work together...