Pros
- Excellent location.
- Great staff to work with, mostly young graduates, who are all super friendly and happy to help with anything.
- Interesting work with an engaging premise.
- A good experience for graduates who are just starting out in their careers and need somewhere to get a leg up on the ladder.
Cons
- Inconsistent interview process; some candidates would be waiting for a decision for weeks, others for one day.
- There are no employee benefits -- you are not entitled to company sick leave, there are no "fun bonding activities" (and when they rarely happen they are often followed by a sacking or something else not as fun), or "dress-down Fridays". These things are not considered important. Furthermore, this is the only company in the building that does not give its employees access to the building's roof terrace -- and there has not been an explanation for this.
- Further on from the point above, it is a possibility that management do not trust their employees. There does not seem to be an obvious reason for this, apart from paranoia. Employees have on occasion been asked to "report back" on their colleagues, or asked questions in private meetings that relate to other people as a way of getting information on their staff.
- Furthermore, despite it being a small start-up, employees are given very little insight into the running and the strategy of the company, and are often left wondering if the work that they are doing is what the management is looking for. In addition to this, if management do ask an employee to complete a task, they will often change their minds at least three or four times before the task is complete, and on occasion it may even be dropped without warning.
- Criticism of management is generally not welcome.
- Employees do not get references unless they have worked at the company for more than a year.
- There is no HR department. There are no clear structures or procedures in place for any of the things that are usually related to HR (interviews, handovers, holidays, etc).
- Employees are not allowed to eat lunch in their offices. Not a huge issue -- until one factors in the totally unsuitable tiny size of the kitchen facilities on the floor (only four chairs for the entire floor!), and the aforementioned lack of roof terrace access, which often forces employees to leave the building entirely.
- Management do expect the highest standard from all their employees, which is not necessarily a bad thing, except that management often cannot reach those very same standards themselves. For example, employees will be criticised for the spelling and grammar in emails or documents, when in fact management are often the worst offenders when it comes to incorrect spelling and grammar - especially in official communication.
- And when it comes to communication, employees should not expect very much of it - unless management need something from them.
In summary, this employment has been a decent enough experience, and employees will come out of it having learned a lot -- but this is not enough to recommend to others.