Vantaggi
Strong EDI commitment Diverse workforce Interesting and varied roles Opportunities for stepping out of comfort zone Paid-for opportunities for CPD Opportunities to live and work overseas and experience different cultures Strong focus on academic excellence Opportunity to contribute to the wider mission of the organisation of building soft power through cultural engagement, education and the organization's values, which are extremely relevant in the current global climate.
Svantaggi
Struggling to maintain its relevance and an efficient working model in a highly competitive private B2C and B2BIG education sector. Currently going through a second global restructuring since C-19 including sweeping job cuts with chronic low morale amongst many staff who are anxious and uncertain about their futures. Huge discrepancies in salary and benefits between different staff cohorts e.g. UK appointed staff often have excellent benefits e.g. civil service pension, generous redundancy packages whilst some overseas appointments are poorly rewarded, sometimes with zero redundancy pay-off. Tendency to be UK-staff focused with systems, policies, procedures and benefits despite being a long-standing international organisation across the globe. Tendency to operate as compartmentalized business and service units (even within individual countries) rather than as a coherent, integrated and efficient whole which has led to loss of business and reputation. Weak leadership and lack of accountability at senior leadership level, especially in the People Function, which needs to addressed. Values and behaviours often applied inconsistently with more senior managers given a pass for some poor behaviour e.g. 'that's just him/her' excuse because no one willing/able to address whilst more junior staff are (rightfully) held to account. Performance evaluation process is outdated (numerical rating and references to bell curves), poorly understood and dreadfully managed by senior management (People Function) e.g. threats to global staff workforce of withholding bonuses for non-compliance with system when system is not even ready / fit for purpose; hugely differing approaches to staff evaluation leading to inconsistent ratings across staff; for internal recruitment, hiring managers do not even look at previous performance evaluations as no one trusts them. Academic excellence is sometimes sacrificed to save on costs e.g. job cuts resulting in poorer learning experience for customers.