Great "Work" Life Balance. No growth opportunities. Zero. Nada
Pros
This company is the heaven if you have passion to take things lightly and quiet. Some of the perks are unique and probably now unheard of any other company (at least in the US). Great 401k match, OK health insurance, relatively high job stability, airline travel on business class and 5 weeks of vacation (yes, you read right, five weeks). Workload is light as it gravitates towards the ones who deliver, so 50% of people are taking it very calmly. Pay is OK too. Some very cool people to work with. Overall is a very quiet place to work if you have low expectations, no desire to grow and are settled for a quiet life to pay your mortgage waiting for retirement. Industry is damn stable and this company has margins above 70% with loads of cash to spare. Environment is OK, in DC office there is a collegiate ambient while in Princeton office is a bit less friendly but still OK. Luxemburg and the Hague are totally different stories.
Cons
Well, first things first. Absolutely zero growth chances. This company looks like a state owned (it is sort of) with an over staffing of 30-40%. People look for things to do to pretend they are busy, no career opportunities and if they are so - limited - they are filled in Luxemburg: a place in the countryside around farms and cow waste smell. There are tons of people that you do not know what they do and have been there forever, lots layers of management and no flat organization: low level analysts do not you dare to contact VPs, you will totally ignored. Blue blood only melts with blue blood. If you want career progress, work on exciting stuff, looks elsewhere. Second, company is damn white male oriented. Not many females - and almost nobody at an important position - and very little share of minorities. Recently, lots of pressure for latinos to relocate to Latin America based on the country they were born (you get the idea ;)). HR is a joke. you will laugh or cry with the annual reviews. The system to reward people (bonuses) has a socialist touch trying to spread it across everybody (in America you usually reward out performers and fire under performers). So forget about doing the extra mile to earn more, it is not going to happen. Workforce is also kind of old, company is not attracting young folks. I have to say though, there are some very nice people around so it is not 100% bad. This company is also very very but very political. If managers have nothing to do, they engage in other activities such as conspiracy. The company works like a monarchy, with the CEO deciding on everything and the rest of VPs and managers working to please him. No intelligence needed. Everybody agrees with him. So people invest their time in intrigues in the kingdom. Some ethical issues - love affairs, over spending, etc - are also apparent with HR doing nothing. Last, I think the business is due for a hit. Most of the revenues and profits come from selling DTH capacity to Germany/France/UK. We are all seeing changes with OTT services, Internet and demographic changes. When that happens, the party here will be over and margins will take a nosedive. Company is slow to make changes, the same incumbent mentality you see everywhere companies enjoy fat profits so to be fair this is just another case of corporate blindness. This is sad, because you see all that wealth and money not properly investment in the future.
