A specialist Consultancy/Research Organisation that's falling apart due to lack of good leadership
Pros
Fantastic technical staff, and great service teams. A really good bunch of people. If you want to spend your career running models, plotting results and really getting into the techy side of modelling, to become a guru in your (narrow) field, come here. Some recent new initiatives including the appointment of a Learning and Development Manager: a welcome move by the company to try and address staff development.
Cons
It's dire here. Used to be good but complete change at the top over the last few years has ruined everything. Morale has never been so bad. And not long ago it was great. Another person has written here that the CEO is out of his depth. That's putting it mildly. Everyone here just waiting for him to go. The worst mix of egotism, with ineptitude. And an ineffective board incapable or unwilling to deal with him. So he's in a safe seat whilst the company goes to pot. We've finally had a modest pay rise. But this in a desperate attempt to improve morale rather than one that's likely affordable. Since the CEO took over (from Stephen Huntington) we've had two rounds of redundancies; the last one just last year cutting very deep, we lost some good people. And so sad to see good employees, with young families and mortgages, booted out. Yes there may have been a downturn in the market which we have suffered before, but without a doubt the mismanagement and money-wasting activities of the CEO, unchecked by the directors, significantly contributed. In any openly-traded company the CEO would have gone under similar poor performance. One example of mismanagement: the two long-standing finance team seniors, with >60years service and experience were booted out, one of them a month before financial year-end. No wonder the auditors struggled, and the senior managers had no clue of the true financial position for months. Cons - the total mismanagement from the top. The CEO removed 3 out of 5 directors from the Board because they challenged his poor decision-making. General feeling among the staff is that this action and the removal of some roles in the redundancy process was aimed at sending a message that you don't challenge the management. Which is strange for a company that thrives on intelligence and the need to discuss and debate. Of course, behind the scenes all companies have bad aspects of management, but for a small company that is self-sustaining, the combination of the current CEO, and Chairperson and weak leadership is the worst possible arrangement for this niche organisation. Will we run out of cash and collapse, or continue to muddle through as a specialist organisation trading on the know-how and reputation of our excellent technical staff whilst the CEO continues to find ways to waste money?