Pros
- Lots of highly competent and motivated individuals, nearly all of whom have now left - Flexible working policies - Work with large clients at the forefront of corporate sustainability - ERM reputation in the market still relatively good, although falling like a lead balloon (with good reason)
Cons
- The business is currently set up for one thing, at the expense of everything else - maximising margin - Most of the company’s problems stem from this - Desperation to meet this goal filters from the very top throughout the pyramid, and is leading to a distinct lack of quality in delivered work and projects being sold for no budget at all - ERM is a relative dinosaur operating in an ever changing market, a lack of adaptability and complete unwillingness to invest in service offering development means the company is being left behind by competitors - All strategy level decisions at the company seem to be being made based on either 1. Poor market knowledge 2. Decision makers not even knowing how a market operates. There is a distinct disconnect between global leadership and how the company operates on the ground. - Lack of ownership at the senior levels has led to a distinct lack of direction in tough market conditions, no one is willing to take the helm in such moments and the blame for these periods of downturn seems to travel down the hierarchy - The constant pressure to deliver on unrealistic sales and billing targets has led to a highly toxic culture, where individuals hoard work to sustain their own KPIs at the expense of colleagues. - Cronyism and Nepotism is rife throughout the company, with ‘inner circle’ colleagues being rewarded for no apparent reason, whilst colleagues who call a spade a spade are sidelined for highlighting where the company is going wrong - This perfect storm of negative elements has led to a prevailing culture of ‘as long as I rule over the ashes’ within mid to senior leadership, As useful as the ashes are for burying one’s head, no organisation can thrive once this dynamic has taken hold - Completely cold and inhumane approach to HR - including approach to bereavement, illness etc., this has been recently exemplified by the companies’ approach to redundancies, which has been poorly handled at best, bordering on illegality at worst - Very poor remuneration, particularly in years of poor performance. The incentive structure is poorly thought out, as poor team performance in a distant team, both geographically and technically, can lead to your bonus and pay increase being non existent, even if your individual and own team’s performance was deemed to be of a high level - Severely opaque promotion expectations, promotion rejections/approvals seem to be made randomly, through no logical method, and in instances where it is clear that a person is performing at the level above, a whole host of unjustified reasonings are fabricated to ensure the promotion won’t happen - ERM is a great place to learn and grow, but not through structured learning and support. In the same way that being thrown into the North Atlantic may be an efficient way to learn to swim, the experience of getting to that end point is not so enjoyable