Kantar Employee Reviews about "management"

Pros

Small company feel but large organization benefits Management is really engaged and invested in the growth of the company and keeping keeping employees happy Fair recognition of work and continued responsibility given to those that deserve it Generally low political nature in the organization (Flat) Open culture

Cons

Compensation is a little under what you would want for the work but the experience & responsibilities make up for it and then some.

Pros

- exposure to office politics at its worst, good chance to learn how NOT to run a company, ever - opportunities for quick promotion if you're willing to sign over your soul to partners with no consulting experience - part of WPP - great junior team with tight bonds but mostly are formed because of long hours and oppressive senior management - some work is actually pretty cool, but most of it is market research reporting - client exposure at early tenure if partners like you

Cons

- lack of real consultants at this place who know what they are doing - management takes themselves way too seriously is super manipulative and thinks they are way more important than they are - really long hours and low pay, causes people to do things they shouldn't..especially after hours - reactive culture which tends to cause a lot of knee jerking whenever something bad happens - recent poor performance creating a lot of anxiety in the firm, head reductions probably coming soon - part of a much bigger company which drives a lot of politics - lots of brand confusion, mb vermeer, kantar vermeer, millward brown vermeer... Company doesn't know what it is - really low recent bonus payment, if at all

Pros

Good work life balance for middle management (SRMs), they are not expected to provide analytical support, no stringent targets to achieve, established clientele, good tools to promote making business development less challenging

Cons

One of the most hostile working environments; even worse if you are an executive (RE/ SRE) as you are always overburdened since you are among the 20% of the people who actually do 80% of the work. Reporting managers not only lack analytical expertise but basic communication ethics required of someone working in a MNC. Sycophancy is encouraged and mediocracy is promoted. Most of the senior manager’s time is spent in planning how to overburden the executives – make them work during weekends, when they are on leave etc. If you are going on a planned leave that you applied 6 months in advance you are made to work on tasks anticipated to come 2 months in future. There is complete lack of empathy; work is specially created and you are made to work on birthdays, during festivities, when there is a medical emergency while your managers conveniently take a week’s vacation to celebrate their birthdays and festivals. If you dare stand up to your managers- be rest assured of a big backlash; more work will be dumped onto you and you would be insulted & belittled in front of your juniors- the list is endless. Senior managers are so insecure that they push even their glaring mistakes onto you and have the audacity to question their juniors who are better qualified both in terms education & relevant experience when they themselves have little grasp on the basics of research. Senior management is extremely manipulative & clearly works with the strategy of divide and rule by creating disparity among people- you are either a favorite or not a favorite and it has very little to do with your professional capabilities and more to do with whether you indulge in meaningless gossip and sycophancy. If you unfortunately fall in the ‘not favorite’ clan then they do not stop at just discouraging you but go a step further so as to break your spirit There is little respect for an employee’s private life; lines are crossed all the time- an executive’s personal life is lunchtime gossip, employees who have dedicated 4-5yrs to the organization or have worked during serious family medical emergencies are questioned on their work commitment; you are even questioned on the feedback given in HR surveys which is supposed to remain anonymous Most of the senior managers have quit within 6-7 months of the executives leaving which in itself is a testament of how work used to get done in Kantar. Executives work more in their notice period than their managers do in their entire tenure. The list of cons is endless, quitting Kantar Health was one of the best decisions of my life and I just hope I had taken this step earlier. The memories of how my peers and I was treated here still gives me nightmares.

Pros

Management is focused and continues to work on improving the right areas of the company. There is no longer a new idea every week and a new boss every 3 to 6 months. People who were not contributing to the company's success were let go so those left are all working on the same areas of improvement. The systems and software platform are stable now so projects are almost never delayed becuase of system problems.

Cons

Many of the new managers do not know the market research industry very well so they are learning it fast.