BBC Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

The BBC is a great place to work if you want to learn new technologies, have job security and are comfortable with bureaucracy. There was a wonderful internal focus on making sure that the British public were well served. Many colleagues are exceptional at what they do and the BBC worked hard to support the personal and professional development of their staff.

Cons

Even if you don't join the union, your pay rises are already determined by them. Short of accepting a promotion, your salary is what the union negotiated. This means that there were fantastic employees who were getting the same percentage salary increases as awful employees. And because of the union, awful employees would often be transferred from department to department rather than let go. I finally left after several years of pay rises less than inflation. My job reviews were always fantastic, but I didn't pursue promotions because I didn't want to get into management in their bureaucracy. As a result, while they said they were very happy with me, my salary stagnated. As for the union employees, some of them seemed more concerned with having a job than doing one.

While I had a decent salary, most regular employees are paid below market rates. This is largely due to political pressure and the BBC is having trouble attracting and retaining top talent as a result.

Pros

The brand, the output, flexible working, talented and committed individuals.

Cons

Political, frustrating, slow, siloed, bitchy.

Advice to Senior Management

Simplify structures, follow through on what you say, don't just promote/ recruit in your image.

Pros

A great deal of professional respect comes from having been associated with the BBC - in other words, it looks good on your CV.

The BBC do large scale web-technology well and you can learn a lot about how this has been achieved if you get into the right team and are around the right managers.

The BBC still build most of their audience facing web technology themeselves; only a small number of development projects are outsourced.

Cons

The culture is part university and part civil service. There is very little fear of failure because there is usually no consequence of failure. If you are coming from the private sector and are used to working with commercial goals in mind, then you might not want to stay too long for fear of losing your edge; apathy can be infectious.

There is little empowerment at the BBC and as a consequence, decisions are hard to come by and get reversed and switched all the time. Project goals change on a daily basis as one manager's will view is suddenly overruled by another's! You get used to it, but in your heart you know it's pretty dysfunctional.

There is an unmistakable whiff of entitlement pervading the place too - with very little evidence of any of it having been earned.

Advice to Senior Management

To try and change the BBC's culture would be akin to rewriting the Bible - in other words, there would be an outcry! The BBC is the way it is because a lot of people like it the way it is. It's an easy place for a lot of people, but the pay for permanent staff is proportional - i.e. not great.

Management needs to fix the dead-wood-in-the-workforce problem. This is largely a consequence of hiring experts at every turn and not nurturing the skills of permanent staff...and you don't have to hire more experts to do this!

Pros

Welcoming team, great rep/brand name, exciting working environment

Cons

limited scope for career progression, extremely hard to get foot in door as a paid runner/junior role

Advice to Senior Management

More work experience and junior jobs needed (even if for low pay - better than none)

Pros

* Good reputation, looks great on the CV
* Interesting and high profile projects
* Training in Agile development process, TDD, and other transferable skills
* Given enough time to achieve quality in development code
* Relaxed work environment, low stress

Cons

* Sometimes you can feel insignificent because it is such a large organisation
* Can be isolating socially if you don't click with your immediate collegues right away

Advice to Senior Management

* Encourage team building in the engineering department with regular social events

Pros

Lots of opportunities to move from one career path to another. Very flexible in regards to working patterns, giving most people a better work, home balance.

Cons

Can sometimes be expected to do more than your fair share of work, at times it can feel like you are doing a job that 2 people should do, however this is normally recognised and rewarded.

Pros

Really great team of people to work for, everyday is totally different and incredibly rewarding to see the final product of my work on TV.

Cons

The team leaders are not always as clear and helpful as I might like but this is to be expected in any company I would imagine.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more prompt at answering questions and less demanding of your staff!

Pros

It's a good cause, and we make high-quality stuff. What's more, when we do well the public notices and is pleased.

Cons

Cliquey atmosphere, awful wages, bad interdepartmental relationships. We don't get paid much, and senior management take the credit for what we do. People's wages aren't performance-related, and we don't get bonuses: pay increases in recent years have been below inflation and junior staff really don't earn much at all. The worst thing is, everyone assumes we get paid loads.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider paying staff industry-standard wages please. My wages don't cover my cost of living, and that shouldn't be the case in the world's best-known broadcaster.

Pros

good brand, high calibre colleagues

Cons

very political and people can be very nasty

Advice to Senior Management

n/a

Pros

Generally good, good teamwork, mamangement

Cons

stress, long hours and no food at lunch

Advice to Senior Management

None