Great people, poor opportunities for professional growth
Pros
+Really interesting and diverse work, dealing with major companies as clients +Diverse staff - colleagues come from fascinating backgrounds - this enriches the company's culture (journalists, academics, security personnel, compliance specialists, etc.) +Genuinely talented and caring middle management +Potential to provide innovative solutions to clients
Cons
-Opaque pay structure, which results in people with the same experience, same work ethic, and capacity being paid wildly different salaries. Overall, the salaries are far from being market competitive. -Opaque promotion mechanisms. People are being held back for no clear personal or business reason, while promotion procedures sometimes feel like a moving target. There is a general lack of structure for professional development and growth in some departments. Even really ambitious and motivated people eventually give up in trying to understand how it works. -The company has lost a large number of junior staff in the last year, largely due to the above points. Instead of regrouping and developing a better approach on how to retain talented staff, the company has started raising non-compete clauses against junior staff as a punitive measure for those leaving and a warning for those considering leaving.
