What is working from home like at Advantage Capital?

Pros

I learned so much from AC and value the learning opportunities the firm has given me during my tenure. I may not be as strong as I am in certain skillsets had I not worked for AC. More specifically, the aspects I enjoyed are: 1. Impact-based investment thesis is intrinsically rewarding and is increasing in popularity across the investment space. 2. Tax-credits-based hedging strategy presents a great opportunity to broaden knowledge beyond traditional private equity. 3. As with most PE firms, exit opportunities are attractive.

Cons

Overall, it is a firm that is slow to modernize, leaving much more to be desired. But some pointed details can be found below: 1. Unstandardized management practices among Managing Directors, ranging from PTO to promotions, where company tenure for promotional consideration may range from at least 1 to 3+ years. It seemed a challenge for leadership to come to a consensus on COVID protocols and related policies (e.g., work from home was frowned upon/discouraged by certain MDs). During an all-company call in mid 2021, leadership could not provide a clear outline to the work-from-home policy. 2. Very uncompetitive salary compared to market, concentrated at low-to-mid levels. This is a single data point, but entry-level offers for the analyst position (located in cities with comparable cost of living measures) at similar companies within finance and adjacent/comparable industries were 33% higher on average 4. No formal training program where most, if not all, trainings are ad-hoc. It is also very unstandardized such that there is no knowledge base. As such, there is no such thing as a "best practice" for "XYZ". 3. Tons of informational silos across teams, even across sourcing efforts. This may be a result of the highly unstandardized processes and lack of training. 5. Some managers have had no experience with the work that their direct-reports are doing, resulting in inefficiencies, lack of direction, and unattainable goal setting. 6. Cliquey environment 7. Some managers engendered a climate where asking a legitimate clarifying questions was met with "you should know this". As such, it was intimidating to ask questions directly related to the work. Often, I had to spend an hour to confirm my thoughts/assumptions by looking back at old analyses when answering a question would have taken 30 seconds.

Advice to Management

This review sounds very critical, but I firmly believe that work that AC does is important and necessary in inching towards economic equity and inclusion. I hope that difference in thought, practice, or whatever it may be is addressed for the better of the individual employees. I think that an external assessment of the workplace culture, practices, etc. would beneficial to urging action.