Pros
Gallup is infused with an entrepreneurial culture that allows you to drive your career to your own level of excellence. Flexibility in every sense. Caring colleagues and caring culture. Passion and belief about making the world a better place and a drive to act on this belief. The ability to become a shareholder if you are an excellent performer, the company will really work with you to make that happen. General management culture that is performance driven - if you like to work it is a fantastic place to realize a return on your individual efforts. The more you put into your career the greater your rewards. To counter some of the other posts, I work with four out of five people that were here as my colleagues when I started 17 years ago. We were those "youngsters that were given too much responsibility" at the time. Lo and behold we gained experience, made occasional mistakes (none too fatal), celebrated great findings and impacted a lot of organizations in positive ways,and learned a heck of a lot of valuable stuff along the way. Four out of six of my direct managers throughout my career are still with the company 17 years later. One retired, the other resigned. There has been change over 17 years, that is not always a bad thing. I would hate to be stuck in a time warp with the work and approaches we used 17 years ago. We would not exist as an organization if we held to that "golden age." Dynamism is hard for some people. Change is a constant at Gallup and is a necessity in a growing company (yes we are a growing company). Over the years I have shared my opinion freely with management and leadership in general meetings, through anonymous surveys, and on an individual basis. I have never felt fear about sharing my views on any issue at Gallup. Sometimes my view has taken root, other times it has not. Such is life! From the start of my career to this day I have felt comfortable e-mailing or calling anyone (including the senior leadership) with questions, ideas, and occasionally for explanations and clarity when I needed it. I have always been treated with responses and respect. There are no functions or aspects of a role that are too big or too small. You won't have an army of minions at your disposal to do the dirty work. There is no good or bad work. Every once in a while you will have passages in your career that will feel routine. I challenge anyone to find a career where that has not happened to them. Thankfully, even in those periods that felt routine, there was learning that came from it. Gallup is very non-hierarchical. You're literally 4 or 5 places away from CEO when you join the company. Career growth is correspondingly non-hierarchical. Growth is directly linked to your performance and the responsibility you earn. Some people are impatient to get that going before they've earned it or are ready for it. An oyster does not form a pearl in a day. I've worked in our operations and client services groups. It is the same in every aspect of the company. There are no shortcuts to excellence.
Cons
If you are looking for a hierarchical organization with clear lines of progress and promotion that is consistent with a lot of SOP's and a sense of "fairness" about it this is not the place for you. This is a company that rewards performance today and tomorrow. Yesterday was just that, yesterday. If you are a nine to five oriented person that wants a "job" this is not necessarily the place for you. It is a place to build a career, not to have a job. It sorts to performance. Organizational change can feel a bit like a whipsaw to the uninitiated. There are no safety nets to cover the tightrope act... but that is one of the things that makes it great and exciting. That is not for everyone though! There is not a lot of hand-holding, micro-direction, or procedural steps that you are expected to perform in most roles. If you need that, again, this may not be the place for you!