Business Manager - Business Manager ALTEN Employee Review

2.0
Oct 8, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Dynamic & young company. Good location. good facilities, competitive environment. Provide opportunities for you to growth if you prove yourself is good enough.

Cons

All top managers + aprox 90% employee in HQ are French, so very French working culture and management style, which are very controlling and tight with unachievable KPIs measured every week. There is no room to negotiate with the managers about KPIs or your own creativities. You must follow the rule or you eliminated, which is very dangerous for experienced people (probably for fresh graduates would work better - because they have no experience before and they can be easier to follow the managers' request). Although the contract says working hours from 9-5, you should prepare to work 8AM-8PM mins to strive with these KPIs + traveling 2-3 days/ per week to see clients. It is very difficult to have a life balance while your working hours like Alten. The working environment is very competitive and aggressive approach, there is no teamwork, the performance is judged individually. These could create unpleasant behavior between colleagues quite often. Some managers are very arrogant, rude, no humble. Unfortunately, no correction from the top management. Also, if you are not able to strive through KPIs, the company may request you to leave. So not much time to learn or practice with Alten.

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ALTEN Response
7y
Thank you for this detailed comment. ALTEN has developed its activities over the last 30 years following a pragmatic model based on both customers and employees satisfaction. Hence, receiving a review is a real improvement enabler for the overall organization and it is a pity to hear about some of your statements. While I understand the Business Manager position can be quite intense and challenging for some people, it is important to emphasize that it is built around entrepreneurship. As a Business Manager, you are the head of your own Business Unit, inside ALTEN. You are “in charge”. Being “in charge” means that you need to cover all the aspects of the development of a company from the recruitment of your team of consultants to the identification of new customers or the management of your Business Unit’s financial viability. Considering the responsibilities associated to the position, from your start in the company, you are associated to a Business Coach (your manager) who is in charge of giving you continuously: the tools, guidelines and support in order for you to be successful. In addition to the day-to-day support, your coach is effectively following-up your activity through KPIs enabling you to identify the areas of improvement you need to focus on. This approach enables you to enter into a continuous improvement mode, virtuous for your own skills and career development, regardless of your seniority level. As a Business Manager, you are as well an entrepreneur striving to deliver excellence to your customers and consultants, which is correlated to a strong follow-up of your activities. This follow-up is performed both remotely and in person, meaning that depending on the location and number of your different customers, you effectively need to travel within the UK. This close governance enables ALTEN to deliver a bespoke engineering service to its customers and tailored support to its employees. As a Business Manager, your performance is depending mainly on your ability to work with people and more specifically, with your identified “business partners”, namely: Recruitment team, HR team, Technical Direction, Finance, other Business Managers, Middle Managers,… and teamwork is simply the only way to succeed. There are no “self-made man/woman” at ALTEN. The environment being very dynamic, constructive feedback is welcomed at any time and provided by all seniority levels in the company. I am sorry you had to face some levels of discomfort in that regards. If it is the case, we encourage each employee to escalate any misunderstanding to his/her management, who will launch corrective actions. Finally, while ALTEN was effectively born in France, more than 50% of ALTEN Group’s activities are spread across 24 different countries focusing on local and international recruitment. Thus, diversity is one of the strength and pride of the company. ALTEN UK HQ is actually composed of people coming from more than 10 different countries, creating an healthy and vibrant working environment. Thanks again for your feedback and I am sorry you did not seem to enjoy your stay in the company. Please be sure we will take this into consideration and continue to strive to offer the best experience to all employees.

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