Pros
The people are genuinely what make the place and the main reason many stay as long as they do. There are a lot of talented, hardworking and supportive colleagues across the business. HR are generally supportive and approachable, and depending on your team, management can be very good at a local level.
Cons
Headcount has been cut again and again over the last few years, and most people who leave just aren’t replaced. Teams are stretched thin and doing the work of multiple roles has become completely normal. There’s been very little investment in people, budgets or resources for a long time, while expectations just keep increasing. A lot of employees feel like keeping margins high ahead of a potential sale has become the main priority, even if that comes at the expense of the people actually keeping the business running. Pay is jokingly below market, progression is limited, and pay rises feel inconsistent and more dependent on manager favour than actual contribution. Communication from leadership is poor, especially around difficult decisions. Redundancies constantly being framed as people “moving on” is frustrating as people aren’t stupid and know what’s really happening. There’s also very little diversity within senior leadership, and it shows.