Pros
Ever since I started at The Improve Group, leadership has always talked about the value of employees in order to be successful. Every year, employees take an anonymous survey that covers an array of topics which leadership shares back to staff for reflection and decision-making about what needs to change and improve. All staff are part of strategic planning; the progress is regularly reported on at staff meetings. The company restructured itself a couple years ago in response to staff desires for more leadership opportunities and more opportunities to work with other Consultants. Last year, the company created a process for staff to rate their interest in any project we go after; staff have never been put on a project that they rate a 1 or 2 (out of 5) and we don't pursue projects that staff aren't interested in. Lastly, we hired a consulting partnership to guide all staff through the start of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) process as staff recognized the need to bring knowledge and learning around these issues to the company. Many staff at all levels (including the CEO) joined sub-committees to continue thinking about and making recommendations on changes to The Improve Group in order to be more inclusive and equitable (an example being that salary ranges for each position level is now published internally). These examples (among others) have illustrated to me that leadership is committed to listening to staff to bring together their needs with a financially sustainable model.
Cons
The Improve Group is not without its flaws, as is any organization. Being in the consulting business is not for everyone; we are paid by clients to help them understand the answers to questions they have, not to pursue our own priorities (although we can help to influence clients). Likewise, the pace of work can be extreme for some as during our busy times, some staff have experienced project work for 9-11 clients. There are expectations and assumptions made about how much time it takes to do work; if you are not an efficient person at completing tasks, this billable hour/project management approach can be very difficult. As a smaller organization, each person is responsible for designing their own career path, which can be hard if you don't know exactly what you want or are unclear what it will take to get promoted.