Ok for a while but not for long term
Pros
The office is great, people are great. They really try to create a fun working environment. Company organises team building events regularly and people organise their own social gatherings often so there is always something going on. It's also quite multinational so the small talk here and there are actually interesting. I think this is a good place to start your marketing research career if you are a new graduate or coming to London from abroad and don't know anyone. You'll surely make friends here and learn lots very quickly but you'll also realise if you want to survive in London you need better salary. You can work 5 days a month from home after you pass your probation. They also let you work from home abroad if you can still do uk working hours.
Cons
IT and HR support is almost nonexistent which is quite frustrating. Even tough managers are quite nice, friendly and seem knowledgeable at the beginning, in 6-12 months you realise they are actually clueless and they always drag on making decisions so change/improvement always arrives too late. This is actually quite ironic because they expect PMs to be proactive but the management generally reacts after it's too late. Whole thing is a huge mess. It feels like everyone is working in a different way. There is no proper new starter training, there is no clearly set processes so whoever trains you, you learn to do the tasks as your trainer does. Most of the work is done by three different offshore teams. All three of them are working differently and as a PM you can be working with all three of them at the same time and it can be quite confusing to do the same task in three different ways. The systems are so frustrating as well, they are over-engineered and difficult to understand and use. They are also very slow and unstable. Staff turnover is too high and the team is constantly understaffed. The workload is not allocated equally and fairly. On top of the actual client work, you also have to work on initiatives which are quite time-consuming as well but you are not really given the time to work on them, you are expected to create time. Every manager/ team leader have their own opinion about how a PM should work. Because the team is always understaffed, you can work on projects for a different manager/ team leader and what he/she expects from you could actually be different to how you work with your current manager. There is no career planning; there are not even proper job specs. Same rules do not apply for everyone. Managers seem to have favourites and the promotions are hugely based on relationships. Career progression is possible if you are friends with the right people and if you always agree with them, otherwise there is no budget for you. They always ask you what you want to do, which objectives you want to set for yourself to progress but they never provide support and guidance for you to grow into the role you desire. Last but not least, the salary is really not worth the stress and the drama you have to experience in order to deliver the projects. Raise and bonus are almost nonexistent. If you end up at Lightspeed negotiate your salary very well at the beginning because the raise is insignificant even when you get promoted.
