WorldFirst reviews

3.7

76% would recommend to a friend

(319 total reviews)

Clara Shi

86% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

WorldFirst has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 319 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The WorldFirst employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

319 reviews
1.0
May 18, 2017

Austin, we have a problem!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The culture was really fun up until the point they started laying people off. There are also some really great perks - Beer:30 on Fridays, relaxed attire, decent benefits and a 401K match up to 3% if you stay for over a year.

Cons

The US business is not performing well with costs far outweighing what is being brought in on a monthly basis, which recently resulted in several key people being laid off. This, however, was not all too surprising considering they recently moved into an office they couldn't afford in Capitol Tower which they are now scrambling to find another company to lease half of the space. The systems are antiquated, and although they are making efforts to improve them, it is at a glacial pace with all of the decisions being made out of the London headquarters. Very few people with any working knowledge of the incoming systems from the U.S. office have been asked to help with these integrations which will ultimately result in the U.S. being the red headed step-child they have always been; constantly asking for things we needed to be successful but never actually receiving the tools we need. One example would come in the form of lead generation - the U.K. refused to help the U.S. business with placing lead forms on the site although they were happy to do it for the London office with no question. All efforts have been focused on the Asia market instead, and even though there were several workarounds which would require no assistance from the U.K., ideas were simply shot down. Anyone who has ever worked in marketing would know that dedicated landing pages linked from a pay-per-click ad is a best practice to give people specific information they are seeking. Pushing to the website which can hold more information than is palatable can and will often result in higher bounce rates, yet these autonomous solutions were presented to no avail. Anytime new ideas which were brought to the table they were often overlooked due to lack of resources, lack of will on key employees to actually do their jobs and try new things, or complete and utter lack of communication from top executives in the company. Nepotism is another issue with this company. They keep people who have been there, or are from the headquarters, beyond their actual lifetime value to the company. If you are not from the U.K. or from Canada, you will likely never reach a management position.

avatar
WorldFirst Response
9y
Thank you for your open and candid review. As you mentioned, we have had to make a number of strategic decisions that were necessary to ensure the future growth trajectory of the business. With that being said, we have been continuing to invest in our product, brand, as well as in our core business to drive future efficiencies and scalability. World First has seen an impressive amount of growth globally within the last 48 months and with that comes typical growing pains of centralized teams with cross-regional initiatives and local priorities. It would appear that you felt at work, your opinions did not seem to count which is disappointing to find, as freedom of opinions is a core driver of engagement and key area of focus for us at World First. We greatly appreciate your advice to management and we will continue to ensure employees understand a coherent strategy from the communication they receive from the organization’s leadership. However, HR will continually encourage both personal and professional growth for individuals whether that is with us here at World First or elsewhere. We wish you all the best in your future career goals.
1.0
May 20, 2016

It's an easy job but a bad place especially for women

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free food, you can come and go when you want. Some of the people are nice. Pay is ok.

Cons

It feels like you're at a frat party or you walked in the morning after a frat party where everyone is regretting what they did last night...Management doesn't care much... They hire their friends but most of them are not experienced enough to do the job so nobody really does much. It is a boys club and I wish I'd never come here.

1.0
Jul 14, 2017

Please, just stay home.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The pros are that I get paid twice a month. I show up every day, I get paid, we do it again. The pay is more than I can get somewhere else.

Cons

The company heads, and I am specifically looking at those who are (I use this term loosely) "in charge" of the US operation are constantly at war with the rest of the company and with their own staff. This creates a culture of fear and of politics. I don't get involved, I keep my head down, but this company continually crosses lines that make me wonder if it's really worth it. I will discuss something that anyone currently employed here will confirm. Last week, the whole office is called to a "town hall". Town hall means you will be barked at for whatever is going wrong at the moment followed by some a shallow 'team-building' moment out of the movie Boiler Room. Town halls make me nauseous but, like I said, I keep my head down, I collect my check, I follow the path of least resistance. At last week's "town hall" they told us they need to fix their reputation. Everyone at this meeting was told they should be posting good reviews anywhere they can on the internet. After this town hall, there wasn't even a creepy team-building moment to close. If I walked onto the street and picked any person at random, I would trust that person more than my direct manager and anyone else in control of this company. The politics, in-fighting, lies, and the dating between managers and employees makes the place toxic. The complete lack of knowledge of basic financial pipes and of proper professional decorum make the place dangerous. My advice to anyone reading this is not to become me. I can't quit yet, I get paid more here than I can anywhere else (believe me I am looking), but if I could roll back the clock I would.

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Glassdoor has 353 WorldFirst reviews submitted anonymously by WorldFirst employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if WorldFirst is right for you.