Pros
I cant think of many. The salary was good. err, that is it.
Cons
I had the misfortune of working for FIS in B'ham UK during 2015 and 2016. Where do I start ? This is the worst employer I have had the misfortune to come across. Here are a few realities of life at FIS. Primarily I would say the worst two things here are: 1. A total lack of communication from anywhere in the organisation. It is total silence. As such there is no overarching strategy that is passed down, no short, medium or long term goals. In short, no direction. I am sure the guys at the top have an idea, but does anyone else ? Nope, cos we are not communicated to. 2. They just don’t care about you as an employee or human being - you are simply a transient number doing a role at that particular time. There is no love, care or dare i say it respect for you. I am told this is a typical feature of U.S corps. but they cannot surely all be this bad. During the time I worked there I was set no targets or goals in my annual plan. This might sound like manna from heaven to all those who despise performance setting and annual appraisals until you realise at the end of the year they then beat you up as you have not met any goals or performance targets. Yes, you know, those ones that were never set. If you complain to HR you find that they selectively follow the rules that suit FIS and not those laid down in the employee handbook. I never received any feedback or appraisal during my probation period, which I complained about, but that was overlooked as it suited the company not to consider that. In short you will find that HR condones poor mmgt behaviour if it fits a suitable narrative so they can terminate you. The office in Bham is poor as well, hailing straight from the 1960's. The layout is drab, dark and very dated. The employee break room is tiny and unclean. There are no informal break out areas for quick meetings, meaning you have to go down two flights of stairs and sit in a communal reception area. The location of the office is poor with no where to go to lunch (save a Dominos and Fried Chicken place), on a very busy dual carriageway and surrounded by beggars. In short, its cheap. The atmosphere in the office is totally flat, there is no energy or enthusiasm at all. Its rather like an old fashioned library, v . v quiet. Corp benefits are poor. You get salary, pension, holiday. That’s it. The mmgt culture is also very aggressive, and this comes back to my point 2. People are fired and let go for the slightest of things. If you make any error or mistake I have seen managers scream at staff, (even on non work related matters (so moral is generally very low). My line manager couldnt make a decision to save his life. I'm not sure if that is because he just wasnt capable or he wasnt allowed. Another problem is that this is a very U.S centric org. where seemingly all decisions need to be taken there with very little regional autonomy. I could go on and on. Sincerely , serious consider if this is worth it as I say without malice or prejudice that FIS is an appalling place to work - perhaps a throwback to the dark ages of 1970's workplace culture.
