Pros
Solid financial company prepared to weather difficult times. Formal programs for time off and work life balance. No drama, calm personalities working in a professional manner. Company provides a wide range of good voluntary benefits. There is an environment of respect among peers and from managers to subordinates. There is open communications from senior management regarding the state of the business. Is an innovator in terms of adapting new technologies and streamlining the way business is conducted. Efforts are being made to remove the jargon and unfrienfly language from the company communications. HR support is available if needed and provided in confidence.
Cons
Leadership examples do not reinforce the time off and work-life balance programs. Even though the written policies emphasize the importance of work-life balance, the examples set by many managers tend to discourage people from taking advantage of the policies. Lack of clear direction from middle management. Projects are often begun with insufficient and even inaccurate information. Too much emphasis is placed on meeting deadlines versus actually having all the information to execute well. A high degree of siloing makes it hard to get the big picture view of a project. There is an unspoken push to have people take on too many projects and agree to unreasonable deadlines.