Capital Dynamics Reviews

3.4

65% would recommend to a friend

(112 total reviews)

Tan Teng Boo

80% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Capital Dynamics has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 112 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Capital Dynamics employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

112 reviews
1.0
1 Mar 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1) Nice colleagues 2) 95% female (many beautiful ladies) 3) 85% fresh grad (super high turnover rate, you could be a “senior” here if you stayed more than 6 months) 4) Napping is allowed (T&C apply) 5) Casual wear 6) Free lunch every Friday 7) Astro, Ping Pong, Piano. (rarely see people play though) 8) AIK CHONG kopi O, Milo, free flow biscuits are provided for all the staff. 9) Culture: work extremely hard and work super smart. Work-life balance? don’t dream 10) Encourage long-term investment

Cons

1) No trust, No respect from management. cold-blood management. no company/ team bonding events/activities but only WORKWORKWORK. 2) One-(old)man show. One person approves everything and he is the one who evaluates your performance, even though your immediate superior is someone else. 3) 30 y/o company but still calling themselves a startup company, yes, they are proud of it. 4) They claim that they are open-minded. But no way they would accept your suggestions/ideas. They focus much more on being understood than on understanding others. 5) Even if you are a Christian, you will be addressed by Chinese name. Is a MUST. Reason? To not forget you are Chinese, where you come from blah blah blah. He is a big fan of China. However, still require you to speak English because he doesn't know Chinese lol 6) You have to deposit your phone and ONLY can retrieve it when going back. Not even during lunchtime. Reason? To prevent confidential information leakage. Hello? if you don't trust your staff then just hire your family members to work with you. You know there are a lot of times when someone called me for urgent and I didn't pick up???? lol 7) They may ask you to leave immediately without prior notice. they will “ask” you to prepare your resignation letter, so they don’t need to pay you severance compensation. Once you have agreed, you can't fight back your right anymore. 8) Working environment is awfully quiet. Even you could hear a needle dropped on the floor. 9) Work on Saturday sometimes seems not necessary. 10) If someone told you here don’t encourage OT, don't believe, it is just a joke, bro. 11) 6 months or more probation period. all the best 12) short & medium term-investment is prohibited. 13) Once you have tendered the resignation letter, you are nothing here. They may treat you like..AIR 14) Pantry like storeroom 15) x respect your personal life. Sometimes may require you to stay back for work/meeting after working hour on Saturday. They would still "insist" you stay even if you have told them you have a date/appointment later. 16) zero to less benefit here. good luck & all the best 17) can refer to other reviews here. all are true.

1.0
1 Aug 2022

Avoid this place

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-join only if you badly need money, otherwise avoid this place

Cons

-you have to work as a slave, no time to learn new things or to clear the mind to come up with new ideas -if you wanna have a personal life - it's not possible while working in this company -employees are scolded by the management -low salary - long working hours -all positive reviews here are from themselves, same with positive comments on Facebook -not so popular as they say -very narrowed view on the world, pro-China position no objective analysis. Really, all countries are seen bad in their eyes except China and China-friendly country - doesn't sound logical for the company that does market analysis and a global overview. -completely not people-oriented -not efficient management therefore all the stuff is suffering

2.0
29 Sept 2021

Ridiculous management team

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. Friendly and lovely colleagues who are willing to help you all the time 2. 90% Fresh grads, so you can have common topics, especially all of you work together in such a brutal and inhumane working environment 3. Convenient location, you can take the MRT and LRT to work, and Petaling Street is right behind you 4. You can take a nap at any time

Cons

1. The management team will not value all the efforts you have made, instead, they will keep criticizing you once they find a little mistake you've made 2. OT is VERY common, especially for translators, equity analysts, economists, IT, researchers (If you are an accountant it will be better) 3. Everyone I just mentioned has to spontaneously stay until 8 pm on a Friday night to wait for their financial publications to come out and in fact, at that time you are hungry and tired, and the company does not provide you with food 4. outdated working way, they will give you an article to translate first, after that they revise the article, you have to revise the translation, they determine the final draft of the article, you also have to determine the final draft of the translation accordingly. You have to do a translation three times over, which is very time-consuming and inefficient 5. I don't have much interaction with the CEO so I think he is actually okay (except for he is authoritative), but most of the management is very ridiculous and unbelievable. 6. They will ask you to finish the work you didn't manage to at home instead of coming to the office the next day and continuing to do it. 7. They seek speed, hope you finish super fast, but when the quality is lacking, they will scold and blame you 8. Work on SAT is a kind of torture because you have to stay until 8:00 on Friday to get off work, back home is already 9:00 pm 9. Saturday like to call a last-minute meeting, possible to have meeting from 12pm to 2 pm 10. Signing in is very inconvenient because you have to open your computer and fill out the login form, and if you are a minute late you have to send an email to the CEO and senior management to explain 11. The most ridiculous point is that they don't allow you to listen to music or watch a video during your lunch break. Because the company's network is the company's, not yours, and cannot be used for entertainment purposes. (you still can watch and some workers do but be careful not to get caught) 12. All emails from the CEO must be answered with 120% respect and gratitude: Noted, thanks 13. No reunion, no team activities, no annual events, no celebrations. There is nothing but WORK. Don't dream about it. 14. They won't take any of your advice, any of it. I've tried to cite a bunch of evidence to prove that it's all over the internet, but the supervisor didn't listen in the least and insisted on using her own way. 15. You have to lock your phone in cabinets, even can't take it for lunch. (Contradiction: I'm not allowed to use the company network to watch dramas at lunch, and I'm not allowed to take my phone, which means that you eat while working and don't think about entertainment) 16. They won't voluntarily fire you, but they will force you to leave on your own. For example: ignore you, don't assign you work, don't talk to you 17. 6-months probation and longer. I have a colleague who is not confirmed yet even working for 8 months. 18. No respect for your time off, sometimes tomorrow is a public holiday and management will say: meeting tomorrow through zoom. 19. If you tell them: I have a date tonight and must leave on time, they will not only ignore it but also talk to you a lot of nonsense. 20. Very funny, they think you can do everything. So even though you may be just an analyst, you may need to do marketing, do HR, help with Interviews, help with publicity 21. Management won't patiently tell you what they want, but they will taunt you if you don't meet expectations (in their way)

avatar
Capital Dynamics Response
4y
Dear “Anonymous” We were all once young and fresh like you. While we understand that many things can get on your nerves easily, you should never act impulsively. Be humble and open-minded. It is rather disappointing to see a lot of false, illogical, and contradictory comments and accusations in your review given that that you have only been with us for about 2 months (and half of the time you were working remotely due to MCO). It is too soon for you to judge us when we have barely known each other. While we at Capital Dynamics highly respect freedom of speech and heartily encourage constructive feedback or comments, we stand strongly against and condemn all forms of false claims and/or unfounded accusations. You strongly contradict yourself when you say your “colleagues are friendly and lovely who are always willing to help and 90% are fresh graduates” and that Capital Dynamics has a “brutal and inhumane working environment”. In any company, the working environment is largely determined by the people working there. If Capital Dynamics is such a lousy place to work in as you claim, why is everyone always willing to help and why are so many Generation Z working here happily? Further, as a fresh graduate and without any prior knowledge in investment, you are wise if you can take “criticism” as a learning opportunity to become a better translator. Moreover, your supervisor always spends time to proofread your translations and point out your mistakes. If we did not value your efforts, we will not waste our time in continuing to teach you and guide you. When you falsely claim that OT is very common, you must be working in a different company. At Capital Dynamics, there is no practice of OT as there has never been any OT since Capital Dynamics started in 1989. We do not believe in OT. Everyone is free to manage their work and timetable. What time you end up leaving the office really depends on your own time management in managing your workload. We have always bought dinner, snacks, and drinks for our staff when they have to stay back to meet any deadlines. Throughout MCO, the Company bought breakfast, lunch, and snacks every day for all our staff to keep the office and the people working in the office safe from COVID-19 exposure. Your unfounded claim shows how unfamiliar you are with the company and its culture. Capital Dynamics publishes a weekly investment publication where timeliness and accuracy are of utmost importance. Changes are eventually bound to happen after these articles are proofread and edited. However, most of the time, the changes involved are merely grammatical, which does not really affect your translation. You are always welcome to propose a better approach in line with the nature of our business and licensing requirements. Do not forget that Capital Dynamics is licensed by the Securities Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs. As you have barely interacted with the management; it is puzzling to hear such comments from you. You are distorting the fact. When a deadline has to be met for work, you just have to make it, by hook or by crook. This happens regardless of where you work at. Welcome to the working world. You are distorting the fact and taking things out of context. Every employer wants a piece of work to be done on time and with top quality. While we understand that you are still rather new in translation, as a licensed and responsible investment advisor, we cannot sacrifice the quality and accuracy of our investment publication. Positive critiques are to help you improve, they are not scolding and blaming. We have always been open about our 5.5 working days. You are well aware of the working hours when you accepted the job offer with the company, why are you complaining? How often have you stayed back in your 2 months with us? Possibly once or twice as far as we can remember. We have never involved you in any such a meeting. Do not create a wrong impression and distort the fact when you do not know about the matter and have not participated in any of such meetings. The meetings are planned in advance. Moreover, we only involve those who display potential to be groomed for fast-track career development. You can come to office slightly earlier than reaching on the dot. Isn’t being punctual a good and socially responsible practice? Doesn’t an airline announce and apologise when a flight is late? We empower our employees (as you wrote, naps are allowed at any time and staff can dress whatever they see as appropriate). We trust all our staff can manage their work efficiently and use the company’s resources responsibly. We have never blocked the internet usage, whether it is to surf the internet, watch videos, or listen to music. Acknowledging emails from any colleagues with respect (not just the CEO) is basic manner and work ethic. As you wrote, you hardly interact with the CEO – gratitude ? Gratitude for what? Capital Dynamics is 33 years old. You have only been with the company for 2 months. Most activities cannot be held due to the pandemic. You are an impulsive person, jumping to all kinds of conclusions. Again, be humble. Any advice must make sense for it to be taken onboard. You are well aware of the company’s policy before you accepted the job offer. This policy exists as a safeguard in ensuring full compliance with all regulations and law as we are heavily regulated. So, is it fair to complain now? Eat while working and don't think about entertainment – please do not praise yourself so much. Interesting, in less than 2 months, you are already thinking of resigning. Again, do not make unfounded accusation. Our advice to you – please focus on your work performance. A staff’s confirmation is determined based on his/her work performance, not the length of time the person is with the Company. While your colleagues were confirmed much earlier or within the standard 6-month probation, some may require more time to prove themselves. Again, we have never involved you in such a meeting. In addition, with the many lockdowns, work schedule, including meetings, have been heavily disrupted, not just at Capital Dynamics, but all over the world. Be more considerate and responsible. While you can go on your dates, you should also bear in mind your responsibility as a translator for the company – you already know the work load and timetable. Your birthday fell on a Friday, and it was a publication day, the busiest day for a translator, which you are well aware of. Yet, we left the decision to leave early entirely on you. Are we not considerate enough? Whether a glass is half full or half empty purely depends on a person’s attitude. Similarly, a person’s attitude will determine how he/she treats the opportunity of being exposed to other job functions. A wise employee will treasure this learning opportunity to enhance his/her knowledge and add value to his/her resume. At Capital Dynamics, we like to equip our staff with as much knowledge as possible and always encourage our staff to never stop learning as knowledge often goes a long way. It is strange that although you work as a translator, you talk a lot about other positions. Again, do not make unfounded accusation. The Company always encourages ALL staff to share their opinions and ideas. However, it is not uncommon that only sound and logical opinions or ideas will be accepted. Capital Dynamics only wants to retain staff with the right attitude so that they can grow alongside the Company. During this difficult time, one should be thankful that he/she still has a job. If you are indeed so good as you claim, you should have been able to secure other jobs long time ago, instead of, in your own words, having to continue torturing yourself in this “brutal and inhumane” company. We are rather disappointed as we had expected you to be more open-minded, mature, and responsible and much less impulsive and not so judgmental; after all you graduated from a decent Beijing university. Advice to Translator: Be humble, be responsible and be mature – Please grow up.
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Glassdoor has 140 Capital Dynamics reviews submitted anonymously by Capital Dynamics employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Capital Dynamics is right for you.