Pros
The knowledge, skill and professionalism of the client facing staff in Ipsos is simply outstanding and was the only reason I stayed as long as I did.
Cons
I echo other sentiments that I have read on here and would add that there are 2 fundamental problems with Ipsos: 1. Leadership manage the business on a day-to-day basis and have no interest in change management or taking the advice of the subject matter experts that they pay good money to help them implement change 2. The very top leadership of this company is past its sell-by-date but no-one will publicly acknowledge this. Didier is a really nice guy and has built an incredible business but its time for him to stand down and make way for a new leader. His CFO on the other hand needs to be run out of town. Her style of ‘leadership’ (and I use the word in the loosest sense possible) is to divide and conquer. She lacks an ounce warmth, humility or humanity and is quite simply a bully who would have been fired long ago from any normal organisation. I tried to make the best of my job and the amazing professional, hard working people around me but in all the time I spent with Ipsos I never felt secure as I saw the way in which people were treated like commodities by Mme Stoclet and the cruel way in which she forced them out of the company. She behaved like a spoilt petulant child with a new toy and once your time was up you were cast to the side without any value whatsoever, therefore I took the decision to leave, and Ipsos’ loss was their competitor’s gain. I was sad to reach this decision because despite the poor leadership culture, I was often able to focus on my job and have some enjoyable times when I was not on the radar of the Paris leadership. The values are a complete and utter joke and leadership pay only the most nominal of lip service – they certainly not know INTEGRITY if it jumped up and slapped them in the face. I would recommend Ipsos as a good place to work if you are on the client side where you can either a) develop as a more junior person or b) join as a senior once you have already gained your experience elsewhere but I would absolutely not recommend if you are in a support role. Departments are set up in isolation where they are not allowed to talk to each other or communicate without going through the CFO. Blame and backstabbing is a normal part of daily life and people live in fear of reprisals if they say the wrong thing or make a mistake. How one person is able to have this effect on a company in this day and age is beyond me but I am so glad I am no longer part of this toxic environment.
