Pros
Free drink in the office Talented staff
Cons
Lack of clear vision and strategic direction from leadership, they have a very limited understanding of how teams actually operate day-to-day. The transformation and new structure were implemented without meaningful consultation with team leads, particularly around operational needs and how work is delivered in practice. This has resulted in decisions that disconnected from reality and have not addressed the core challenges teams face. While the intention has been to reduce silos, the outcome has been the opposite. Teams are now operating in more isolated ways than before, with less clarity on responsibilities and collaboration across functions. There has been a lack of care and consideration for staff throughout this transformation process. Redundancies have impacted individuals regardless of tenure, including those who were only recently recruited. For those remaining, workloads have increased significantly beyond their original scope, in order to cover gaps left by redundancies. It is also difficult to reconcile the organisation’s stated commitment to EDI with decisions such as making the EDI team redundant. Although the transformation has been described as complete, there is little evidence of tangible improvement. In many areas, processes and ways of working appear to have deteriorated rather than improved. Millions has been made into the ERP system, yet they do not appear to meet basic operational needs. Its ironic to see this at the national AI and data science research institute. The work culture feels more distant and less transparent. There is limited visibility into how decisions are made, and communication lacks clarity and consistency. This has contributed to a sense of disconnect between leadership and staff, and has impacted overall trust and engagement.
