Pros
There are some stunningly good people working at Fourth. They’ve always been incredibly lucky with the talent they’ve managed to hire and I expect this is in part down to the dream that’s sold. Some of this is true, it was an environment that lent itself to openness and honesty and great friendships. The summer and Christmas parties are usually wonderful and arranged by a group of employees who are considered enough to take feedback to make them better and better each year. It is a place where some indivduals (often the loudest) can progress should they have the desire to.
Cons
My last days there it seemed to be less collaborative and more directive, yet there are processes in place to offer the facade of “team ownership” and collaboration . People can see through this. There is a strange management hierarchy throughout the company and much of this is cliquey anyhow so trusting people can be hard. If I said something to one person I couldnt be sure they wouldn’t say it to someone else and use it against me. This is off putting and makes doing a job really hard when trust is an issue. Many many people gave their feedback about why they were leaving, often because of management or lack of it and it seems nothing is done. How can HR not think that those that left wouldn’t have friends they leave behind to share their thoughts with. Everyone leaving can’t be wrong about this problem, so why is still nothing done? I think the company grew very fast and wasn’t scaled particularly well at the same time so tried to continue as if it was the small company from a few years ago. I do understand this but a grip needs to be taken or I expect things will get significantly worse and the good employees left will jump ship to pastures new. Salary wise, I think it’s a free for all. If you’re a good negotiator I’ve no doubt you may get what you want but I know there are many people significantly underpaid either against their peers or against industry averages.