Pros
Genuinely supportive policies You only work your contracted hours Loads of staff networks and opportunities to build professional contacts Meaningful work You can buy an extra week of annual leave each year and after 5 years of service you get an extra 5 days of annual leave The headquarters building is a very nice space Lots of lovely people who care a lot about the world
Cons
The pay never keeps up with inflation, we are limited by government limits on pay. One of our biggest rivals (ECMWF) pays 3x as much for the same roles. Cost of living has increased so much that most staff who aren't managers can no longer afford to live alone, they have to share with others. We aren't allowed to work completely remotely so staff can't live in cheaper places. Very poor career progression because people stay in the same role for decades and there's lots of competition when a more senior role opens up. Every 4-7 years we go through another redesign of the organisational structure and we always end up with the same problems of people working in silos, not being able to take proof of concept projects through to operationalization, senior leadership not listening to junior staff when barriers and issues are raised leading to costly u-turns when new initiatives don't work out. Change management approach seems to be shifting to encouraging staff to not expect to have a say in changes that impact them. When we get to the end of the financial year suddenly the workload goes bananas as we realise there may not be enough resource to finish projects. We always know this will happen but never seem to be able to offset it through planning. Headcount restrictions make it hard to keep momentum on project work even if we know there's enough money coming in to cover the cost on a project. We're doing better at outsourcing but contractors are many times more expensive than our own staff so it feels not very joined up.