Pros
Relatively near a big Sainsbury's so useful for shopping.
Cons
I hope there isn't a word count for this. Where to start? I was sold on the innovative, friendly, pioneering company that was described to me in my interview 2 years prior to me leaving what can only be described as a sinking ship. I was lucky enough to work with some really excellent individuals, some of whom actually knew what they were doing. The vast majority of staff arrived at work in the morning wondering what changes have been decided by the more than useless upper tier, in what was no doubt another full banqueted meeting away from the prying eyes of the true work force. Hard work and dedication counted for absolutely nothing, zip. However if you slept with the right person, POW, upper management! Countless great ideas came spewing forth from those doing the daily grind of trying to meet unreal expectations of those so detached from the reality that it actually stopped being a surprise when we were told of yet another company restructure. I was only there 2 years and saw three 'restructuring' which if they were honest wasn't a restructure it was much more of a 'we have yet again underperformed so let’s sack some people and save money in the short term'. Staff poured through that company like sand through Dear Liza’s bucket! Having said that, although they went through clinical staff like a hot knife through butter, those lucky enough the receive bonuses often twice that of the annual wage of an average employee merely sat in their offices planning the next luxury holiday or golfing trip, knowing they were onto a winner. In the same month that they made multiple people redundant, the upper echelons of the company received enormous bonuses, it was and is a joke. In one of the aforementioned restructurings they replaced some mid-level managers, some staff thought actually thought things were going to change for the better, but oh no, they should have known better. These new 'managers' were told about the issues staff had: changes to job descriptions, low staffing, inadequate training, poor career progression etc. Optimism began to bloom and then reality came back with aplomb. The same excuses and the same empty promises began rattling around the department. ‘Oh yes we are listening, oh yes we do care, oh yes we understand, oh yes we won’t keep over subscribing clinics and then not staffing appropriately’ It was all total codswallop. I don’t know what is going on there now but I can guarantee with the same dishonest incompetent managers it won’t have improved, in fact I bet the staff are still being told the same old lies time and time again naively hoping that this time they really do mean it. As for the company they don’t even know what they are, they aren’t a ‘real’ research company, when I was there they were looking at ‘branching out’ Pfft, if they can’t do one thing correctly I do not think they should start on another venture. They bring in people who are really talented and motivated and then totally misuse them by putting them in relentless meetings, changing the goal posts and job descriptions until they see the light and leave too. I don’t think the company’s future is bright, not without a massive overhaul and that just isn’t going to happen. As for current employees, keep your fingers crossed for a redundancy pay out, oh wait, they scam people out of those too!!!