Pros
Historically there had been good opportunities for travel (depending team politics) and a culture of flexible working which allowed for reasonable work-life balance. There were also the in-office perks like free fruit, pastries and drinks, as well as semi-regular drinks events in the London office... I'm not sure about other offices. Given the geographical reach of the GSMA offices and the global membership base, it was also a fantastic cross-cultural experience working with colleagues and stakeholders from every corner of the world. The majority of the 'do-ers' (junior to middle-management) plus a couple of exceptions at senior management level were deeply invested in impact their work had, and had supportive relationships with colleagues. There was also a sense of pride in the quality and reputation of our events.
Cons
Where to begin? Fundamentally the Leadership Team and Extended Leadership Team (ELT) have lost all sense of direction. The heady effects of cushy jobs, high profile personal platforms, global influence and a disinterested Board have led to an environment where departmental impact is measured and rewarded but individual Leadership are not accountable for their own performance. The organisation experienced a decade+ of rapid expansion, but without the essential leadership traits of integrity, courage and commitment to their own personal and professional growth, this expansion has exacerbated the dysfunction of those leaders. Initially Mats’ introduction of values and industry purpose was well received by staff and provided a ‘north star’ in aligning various parts of the organisation, but over recent years staff have become increasingly disillusioned with his perceived unwillingness to engage in the actual business of leading the organisation – specifically in dealing with his C-level direct reports and their dysfunctional teams – rather opting to pursue what was openly discussed within the organisation (including by C-levels!) as his efforts to secure his next role in the UN or Swedish government. His lack of desire to show up for staff was evident in his unwillingness to engage meaningful in the consistently abysmal staff survey scores on senior leadership year after year after year, or to deal with the systemic issues within HR. At the beginning of 2020 he berated staff on an All Staff call for continuing to complain about senior leadership behaviour... “We have the values on the wall and on coffee mugs”. Hello news flash – Values 101 says leaders have to model and be held accountable for their behaviours if you want culture change. Because Mats doesn’t show up to lead the organisation, the C-levels have free reign to act as they wish, desperately hiding their incompetence with cronyism (Advocacy), relentlessly putting profit before their people (Ltd and Marketing). HR is simply rotten to the core. Issues that were awful enough pre-COVID have become tenfold worse with the mass redundancies enacted during COVID. If staff felt that they were cared for and treated fairly before and during the redundancies, these layoffs would be sorrowful but not traumatic. However they have been so poorly handled that trust, engagement and performance within the organisation for those who survived is at all time low. This is unsurprisingly given that traits such as transparency, fairness, courage and empathy have not been practiced in the years prior. Everything you’ve read in other posts here about cronyism/nepotism, incompetence, disparity in salaries, undeserved promotion/overlooked promotion, etc is true. If you’re considering a job here – don’t. Don’t make a global pandemic worse by actively self-harming yourself joining this sh*t show. I know many current employees read the reviews here too (isn’t that a worrying sign?!) – update your CVs and make exit plans, you wouldn’t believe how much better it is out in the real world. Don’t martyr yourself for the purpose. Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you locked in this toxic environment.
