Pros
Great colleagues, often they do not require previous office experience, training is good (even though sometimes you need to assist trainings that are not related to what you do), you are often allowed to work hours back if you're late or need to leave early.
Cons
Meritocracy is at a minimum level, it's really unclear how people get promoted and you often have the impression that working hard doesn't pay and you'll only have opportunities if you know the right people. Low transparency on whatever decision is taken; no vision. If you express your opinion and management doesn't like it, they might consider you a trouble-maker and most of the time they won't take into consideration your point of view anyway. No benefits. Bonuses/pay raises are assigned pretty much randomly at the single manager's own discretion (there used to be a cap on the 'high scores'). Too many layers of management and often it seems that no one is taking resposibility, sometimes it's hard to know who does what or where to find a certain piece of information. Low pay, especially now that salaries are on the rise in Ireland.