Decent career, but difficult to get through to senior management
Pros
Over the years Nielsen provided me with a few different career opportunities in a classic step-ladder fashion, some of these leading to significant raises in salary, bonus and responsibility. Global company, had the opportunity to work with many different people from around the world on interesting projects. If you can break through in the review process, top performers can get a significant annual bonus. In many parts of the business, flexible schedules and working from home policies apply to accommodate a better work / life balance.
Cons
Sub-par employee access to technology for what should be a cutting-edge company in the industry. Difficult to get promoted, even if you are on target you may not get a minimal cost of living increase, much less any bonus $. Very bureaucratic company in general, especially dealing with VP level and above in senior management. Outsourced IT functions bring only junior level support to technologies, especially internal. Most corporate jobs (not sure about local) demand 24/7 access to you if needed (even jr. level positions), and can often disrupt "family time" on weekends or after normal work hours. Global nature of the business also means working odd times to join calls / online meetings with people in other countries & time zones. Senior Management does not listen to employees well, change is very slow to be implemented. Since out-sourcing in 2008, many jobs have become what was once the responsibility of 2-3 employees, trying to force more work out of less people for less pay. Benefit packages have increasingly gotten worse and more expensive, salaries for my group were at least 10-20% below the industry average for comparable positions.
