Vantaggi
Hours are good (37/week) - half day Friday's Pension not too bad (10.5%) steak holder Holiday is good (25 days - worked out in hours so you don't have to take a day for a Friday) + extra days after 2 & 5 years The ability to work from home is there if you boss allows it. The people are the best part, lots of characters, and the atmosphere is good on the whole. The industry is quite interesting, not your 'normal' manufacturing product range.
Svantaggi
The two main sites, Harlow and Glenrothes are old, I mean seriously old... The Harlow office (the worst of the two, by some margin) is being moved, but this has been on the cards for many years... The nature of the business means relatively low margins, which has an impact on support functions, especially IT and Facilities. Years of underinvestment in IT infrastructure and systems means the company lurches from one urgent upgrade to another, little is left over for improvement or proactive development. There are a lot of system & process work-arounds in place which seem to have survived many years without the underlying issues being addressed. Due to the Harlow office proximity to London, is is difficult to attract the right calibre of staff in specialist or technical roles - some people live 40+ miles away from the office! Succession planning is sporadic, some functions better than others. Salary range is wide for the same job roles - generally new hires earn significantly more than longer serving staff. Staff turnover can be high in some areas - even the graduates leave, I thought it was hard to get a grad job! How bad do they think it is! There is a genuine want to improve things from the management, but change is slow to arrive...