Pros
- Very welcoming office environment, staff were friendly and accepting - Company culture emphasised the end-goal of the work we were doing, giving a sense of pride in the positive value and impact of the work. - Office equipment was high quality and the company was proactive in dealing with any accomodations needed - Decent range of benefits including access to Perkbox and a private doctor who visited the office on a regular basis - Flexible working (with some issues detailed below)
Cons
- Role advertised as 1-2 days per month in office. Months into the role senior management changed this requirement to 1 day a week for all staff (excluding senior management, several of whom work outside the UK), scaling up to 2 days a week over the course of a month. No justification beyond "other companies are doing this" was ever given for the change and when other employees brought up issues such as lack of parking, noisy/disruptive office environment, lack of meeting rooms, and the cost of commuting, senior leadership did not seem to care or have any answers. Management was unable to provide a reason why the decision had been made and seemed completely uninterested in the negative impact it would have on several employees, one of whom explained that this would cost them an extra £250 a month. Some of the more senior staff who opposed the change asked for examples of projects or situations in which remote working had been an obstacle/hinderance and management was unable to give an example, even after several weeks of this being raised. At the time I left the company this was being brought up in every all-hands meeting and management was either incapable or unwilling to address it properly. The atmosphere in these meetings was very uncomfortable and I didn't feel like I could voice my opinion as a newer employee. - Unclear expectations. Documents tracking progress were created and then rarely (or never) referenced again. When performance was reviewed it seemed to be on an entirely different criteria to what had been discussed previously, often focusing entirely on office interactions rather than quality of delivered work.