Pros
- Internationally focused org with exposure to many different parts of the London economy, which gives you the opportunity to work on some pretty interesting projects. - A good mission supporting London's 10 year plan for growth. - Really friendly and hard-working colleagues on a peer-to-peer level, with some truly standout individuals who could command significantly higher salaries in private sector for what they deliver. - The expectation for quality of work is set at a high standard and delivered at a high standard. - Very strong commercial networks and ownership in attractive brands that open doors – Visit London, London Tech Week for example. - Hybrid work environment – 2 days a week in the office. - The opportunity to see parts of London (behind the scenes of landmarks) that you might not be able to access otherwise. - Fun staff socials.
Cons
- Ambiguous individual KPIs and no actual performance measurement systems in place in some teams, so success comes down to optics and how well you self-promote, but also how well your manager and director promote your work. - Staff in operational roles are treated as second-class to staff in client-facing roles by leadership. Their labour to achieve the joint outcome is not equally respected. - Some division directors create blockages for their teams instead of leading them. Some display poor behaviours like trash-talking their junior colleagues and other teams. - The amount of support/resource you receive varies from team to team. Rather than an organisational culture, there a team-based culture. - People (HR) processes are inconsistent and shambolic and often fail to show genuine care for staff. There are some great individuals in HR. This point calls out deeper issues in the org’s operating systems. - Some teams do a lot of uncompensated overtime, on a non-profit salary.