Vantaggi
A genuinely different approach to what an office should feel like. I am a very skeptical person and it took me time to understand a lot of the ideas behind the scenes. I am not their traditional "purple" person, yet that was embraced by the senior management as a good thing for the company. My manager was championing me, I had support to push for changes and disagreements were tackled in a mature way. There is definitely a great career trajectory available to people who commit 150% to Wiser. As a parent, I experienced Wiser being extremely accommodating to me. Nobody ever questioned my sudden time adjustments, having to work from home to take care of my sick son etc. The company gives you a very generous amount of days to work from home for the first 2 years. When we found out about my wife's pregnancy 2 years ago, despite the costs involved, the company changed an international trip for me to mitigate any risks. People over money. The interesting part came only towards the end of my time there: I realised that I haven't used 90% of my WFH days. It was because I genuinely enjoyed spending time with my team. Working from the office just felt better. I am a big proponent of remote work and Wiser have put effort into networking and making sure you never feel excluded while joining a meeting online. Yet, it was the in-person banter, the friendships and camaraderie of my team that ultimately made my days. The perks and benefits have gotten better and better every year while I worked there, adjusting to the company resources. The office caters to many different working styles, from a quiet rainforest to bustling common areas. You end up taking a lot of things for granted, which was noticeable when we travelled to other companies' offices and got to compare with ours. Wiser keeps adding amenities that remove friction and help you focus on work. Final mention has to go to he Happiness Team that take care of you in many unnoticed ways. They really embody what this place aspires to feel like.
Svantaggi
The company has been going through a growth period and culture adjustments. This meant changing policies and leaving both good and bad parts behind. Some people prefer smaller places, where your voice can be more impactful. However, Fin is adamant about preserving the culture at the expense of growth, which is admirable. You can see that in the smallest details around the office and gathering feedback from all levels. The flexibility changed significantly from when I joined - fully flexible is now 4 days in the office. Fortunately, the office is a pretty great place to be. Working hours mean that it's hard to have a proper life outside of Wiser. If you have hobbies, want to train properly in the gym and also have family time - this can be challenging. Some people call it a "high-performance culture", but performance should be measured by output and results, rather than face time. The culture and contracts essentially prohibit people from working on other projects outside of Wiser. While this is understandable in some cases, it does limit the growth of creative departments. One can learn new things by venturing out of the industry and bringing new insights to the Wiser projects. Wiser is an extremely supportive place. It makes people feel special and gets everyone motivated. The flipside is not acknowledging failures and properly learning from them. Not every project is a 12/10 - especially creative endeavours. It would be great to spend time dissecting projects that didn't live up to expectations and implement changes. Disagreements and failures help creatives grow :) Overall, the pros far outweigh the cons, especially since the latter can be fixed very easily.