FactSet – “Friendly place to work, but some things should be better.”

Pros

- Growing company.
- Some intelligent people.
- A relaxed comfortable atmosphere.
- Flexibility to work from home.
- CFA support.
- Free food.

If your main concern is a good work/life balance then this is a great place to work.

Cons

- Lack of transparency.
- Serious disconnect between certain offices and departments.
- Not hiring from the outside for middle and top management positions is a very bad strategy to take for a company of this size.
- Benefits non comparable to investment banks.
- It is all too obvious that HR could do a better job recruiting wise.
- Some managers at the low and mid level are utterly incompetent, this does not reflect well on the top. Some teams make very poor use of their resources.
- Politics. Cloak and dagger action behind the scenes.
- Career advancement. Not many opportunities. Many employees typecast and nailed to their role.
- Very soft management approach. Nothing done about individuals just collecting pay with little to show for it.
- There's a general lack of accountability in the ranks.
- The IT department is poorly run, but that's to be expected.

Advice to Senior Management

Undertake management review starting from the top.
Recruit people with excellent experience within the industry to some of your top positions.
Improve incentives to work harder.
Train managers in external courses.
Grow some balls - dismiss people who add no value to the company or move them elsewhere, this really is a no brainer.