Pros
I had the pleasure of working with some of the most amazing people. I formed some very close working relationships with a lot of colleagues to whom I still speak to. Everyone is incredibly supportive, kind, and caring, and people go out of their way to help you and give you what you need to succeed. People aren't just out for themselves here - everyone helps each other because they know that it doesn't matter if you succeed if someone else on the team fails. Your experience with managers is going to vary on who it is. A lot of managers are just that - managers. They are not people leaders committed to empathic leadership, coaching, and helping their employees succeed. I've had different managers, some like the aforementioned, but on the other hand, I had the experience of working with the best manager I ever had at LRN. This individual was empathetic by nature and cared deeply about their employees' happiness and wellbeing - a trait not all managers at LRN possess.
Cons
LRN acquired Interactive Services in 2020 which is when chaos descended. LRN can't hold on to the great people they hire. They have a culture of accepting more work than their teams can handle so people are overworked and overloaded to the point of burnout so they all leave. But this is seen as not being able to handle pressure, so employees are blamed rather than the company acknowledging their own inability to plan based on capacity. Understandably, the work/life balance is horrendous, particularly for those in certain roles. What's worse is that this commitment to the organisation is rarely recognised or rewarded - not with promotions or pay rises, so don't bother doing any more that the minimum. There are no training/professional development opportunities and absolutely no career path/progression opportunities. If you accept a role here, you can expect to stay in it for the foreseeable future. They won't develop you for an open role you are interested in. Instead, they'd rather hire externally. Even if you do get the role, you likely won't receive the training or tools you need to succeed and you'll be expected to figure things out yourself as you go along. There are people who have been with the company a long time who don't want to listen to the ideas of people who are young or have not been in the industry/company as long as them. The company does not promote DEI internally, and if they do, they are not transparent about it. DEI is really focused on developing DEI programs/training for clients. Communication within teams can be bad. Decisions are made about projects without keeping key people in the loop.
