Pros
The bank is impressive in terms of the work it does and financial, and there are some good people that work there in terms of their subject matter expertise. Office socials can be fun, generally pay quite well, office barista is a good perk. High performers are looked after but there is a cost to this.
Cons
Working here almost feels like a cult environment, the longest serving employees there swear by a high performing culture and not wanting any part timers in their words. There is a revolving door of employees that come into the business and either leave due to underperformance, or personality clashes with the managers, or simply the management team decide that role is no longer needed. The culture here is toxic, people are treated as expendable and generally expected to be available 24/7. The management team have stated many times that they do not want anyone who wants to leave at 5pm on the dot, and they constantly champion evening and weekend meetings. So much so that the company summer social actually takes place on a Saturday. Burnout has been used many times to describe the reason as to why people leave. The company benefits aside from basic salary are also way behind market, statutory contribution into pension, you have to contribute towards private health, and discretionary bonus is minimal. The cost of being a high performer is that you have to be available at the drop of a hat. There has also been a big push to return to office, it was hybrid but now most teams are in office 4/5 days a week, despite when joining salaries were negotiated on the basis of hybrid work. There was no change in pay to return to office or any travel incentive, which many companies provide. There is no option to buy or sell annual leave, and anyone who refuses to work when they are on annual leave if requested to join a meeting, is held in low regard. Even when interviewing I was asked to join an interview while on holiday. The company will not do anything to change the culture as they believe it is the reason for their success, irrespective of how many employees are burned in the process.