Pros
A year ago, I would have said working from home and 4.5-day work weeks but now, even those perks are gone. So now literally the only "pro" is that it's chaos, and there's always opportunity in chaos.
Cons
(This feedback specifically applies to the LEGAL MEDIA GROUP of "NextGen," as that is the only segment of the company I have experience with.) The chickens have finally come home to roost - "Euromoney," the former company that has for years been run by clueless, stingy dopes who have always been woefully out of touch with the markets they're supposed to have been serving, has officially been dissolved. It's been replaced for the moment by a PE entity that is currently in chop-shop mode to prep for spinning off teams on fire-sale terms. In the meantime, the skeleton staff that remains is subject to increasingly draconian micromanagement and toxic conditions enforced by the back-slapping bureaucratic bullies "in charge." Yes, Euromoney may be gone, but the "culture" of UK-centric self-serving boys' club hacks handing down random diktats to its dwindling and beleaguered staff is as strong as ever, if not worse. Everyone's in survival mode now - if there are any successes, everyone's throwing their fingers into the pie to claim their share. If there are failures, those same fingers are pointing the blame at someone else, and eventually, you. Pay is well below industry average and conversations about raises, bonuses and timely compensation are routinely avoided and/or shrouded in officious, acronym-heavy corporate jargon designed to deliberately throw you off. Top that off with gaslighting and attempts to play down your achievements and undermine you personally to keep you from getting too "uppity" about pay. Did I mention the bullying? If I did, let me mention it again because it bears repeating. It's rampant, and it's some of the least professional behavior I've ever witnessed in the workplace. Gaslighting and combative, condescending heckling are common and have been been on display in front of colleagues. There has been shockingly rude and abrasive behavior, even toward hard-working top performers - and yet HR always conveniently look the other way and allow this to pervade. Oh sure, not everyone will be subject to this - favoritism is also rampant, and those who figure out how to navigate the politics and "play the game" will be treated as such, particularly if they're UK-based. Oh, and after years of slightly improved working conditions due to ex-CEO Andrew Rashbass making an attempt to pull the company out of the dark ages and add "somewhat" more humanity to the place by introducing WFH and 4.5-hour-week initiatives, the company has now dropped any pretense of empathy and those advancements have all been rolled back, seemingly for no good reason except for they are trying to take back control and avoid looking like the useless cops and hall monitors they are. So they now insist that you experience their incompetence and harassment in person. Thank you so much for your hard work steering us through four years of uncertainty by remaining as productive and successful as ever - here's your reward: more work and more policing. If you think I'm just being bitter and disenfranchised, don't take my word for it. Do your own research. Scroll through these reviews and conduct a search for the work "bully" and how many times "management" has been mentioned as the main problem with the company, and you'll see that many others have told this tale before.
