Pros
A large team of genuinely interesting people to work with in a convenient central London location. Free books on the pulp shelf. Cafe& Gym in basement.
Cons
Senior management is so distanced from the rest of the staff. "Them & Us" mentality, bad communication from above, and low morale among staff. Pressure is piled on and praise non existent. Everyone is stressed and tensions run high. Pay is rubbish, because IMO they coast both on their name and employing lots of nice girls with private incomes who want to work in publishing as a sort of hobby. Yearly salary increases are lower than the rate of inflation (but if you have a partner who is a surgeon, or in banking, or in anything with a decent salary as a lot of staff do, it doesn't matter does it?), and raises in my experience only ever given if offered a job elsewhere. Flexible working hours refused for single parents. Union representation ignored by HR. (And recently the CEO publicly acknowledged in the press that they would by-pass the union when making upcoming post-merger redundancies). Unpaid overtime and late nighters are expected as standard and time in lieu is rarely given. Staff are expected to take up the slack when staff leave and are not replaced. My job responsibilities and job creep grew and grew in a decade there, & in appraisals I would get upbraided for my admin failings, yet was employed as a designer to a team with an admin assistant... never employed on the basis of my XL spreadsheet skills. I wasn't granted flexible working hours despite other members of my own team having it. In the end I realised that I was never going to get out what I was putting in and have gone freelance. (And I never get work from them)
