Ruffer Reviews
Updated 18 Feb 2023
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Found 46 of over 55 reviews
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- Current Employee, less than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Best work-life balance and good learning
Cons
There is no cons, still might improve in over timing
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. Ruffer strives for a positive working environment, a good work-life balance and a culture of continuous learning and it is great that this has been your experience of working with us.
- Former Employee, more than 8 years★★★★★
Great and interesting place to grow
7 Sep 2022 - in London, EnglandRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
This is more of a between 4 and 4.5 review. No workplace is perfect but my experience was very positive. I worked in a really great team and worked across with other really great teams. I sat exams to qualify and was fully supported the whole way, in particular emotionally which cannot be underplayed as a positive. My line manager in particular was incredibly supportive and remains so even after I have left. Firm purpose always felt noble in my view and they genuinely believed it. Management were extremely welcoming to me and I enjoyed interacting with them. Ruffer was generous with L&D budgets, make a strong enough case and they will support you in it and even front the cash. I could list a few more. I spent a long time there (most of my 20s) and I learnt so much so I will always remember it fondly.
Cons
Without trying to be "weasely" in my wording but the cons I perceived came from, mostly, the general flatness of most of the structure. I outgrew my position and the minimal churn meant I had limited space to expand - this lack of opportunity is not something that was done deliberately, more just a fact of life! I think my only real con is the opacity of messaging from leadership. I was close to it and saw some of it crafted and even I struggled to understand the point of it. This can and did create a level of apathy about the Firm’s direction.
Continue readingRuffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to feed back. Learning and development is important to Ruffer and we strive to support all our staff to achieve their career goals. Having a line manager that champions a culture of continuous learning is also important at Ruffer. Thank you for your comments on communication, we are listening to what our staff would like in this area and focussing on how we can continue to improve.
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Good company, lots of growing pains
18 Feb 2023 - Associate in London, EnglandRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
- They generally look after their people well - Nice offices - Work-life balance reasonably good
Cons
- Hit major growing pains, affecting the culture - Internal movement very difficult
Ruffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Ruffer is a people-centred organisation and we really do aim to look after our people. We do have significant internal mobility already and our staff engagement scores are strong. We are focussed on further embedding a positive and inclusive culture where everyone can develop and grow their careers.
- Former Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
Salary is above sector average
Cons
Deeply unhappy place to work. People vanish through revolving door and partners fired to cut costs.
Ruffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for your review. Our philosophy is to pay base salaries that are well positioned in the market. We use industry benchmarking, review internal relativities and performance assessment to inform our pay decisions and total compensation approach. As part of our evolving and growing business, some restructuring took place last year which unfortunately resulted in some departures. We care about the retention and engagement of our staff and undertake regular engagement surveys and feedback exercises to monitor this. We respond to these and are focussed on undertaking various initiatives aimed at developing and retaining our people as our organisation continues to grow
- Former Employee★★★★★
Ruffer is hands down the worst place to work at.
22 Jul 2022 - Investment TeamRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
You can leave fairly promptly.
Cons
Male, pale and stale. A miserable lot who trundle into work every day to sit around and chortle at other teams and those unlike them. Management have their favourites. You will not get promoted unless you fit their 'vision'. There is no legitimate hierarchy or trajectory for hard workers. This is a small, privately owned asset manager who do whatever they want, at the expense of those that work for them. Front office is basically all White. Back office still mainly White. Go on their website to look at 'Who's Who' for evidence of the above. They promote the most monstruous, slimey, self-serving people. DO NOT WORK HERE unless you want to be surrounded by sycophantic, opera-loving, passée, ex-aristocratic people who are desperately trying to cling onto their long-gone ancestral aristocratic status and are now clutching at a new world without colonial straws. Also - their performance evidences all of the above. Factsheets are warped by picking and choosing benchmarks to suit them. The reality of their performance vs. peers and the market speaks for itself. One "good" year in 5 years; and that "good" year only made a positive return of 7ish percent. You can't blame that on the pandemic forever, sweetie.
Continue readingRuffer Response
Head of HR
[25 July] Thank you for your comments which will be reviewed internally. Our recent engagement score and feedback does not reflect your comments. At Ruffer we are striving to recruit, develop and retain a diverse workforce and deliver an inclusive culture. We have many longstanding members of staff and partners. We promote people based on performance and merit and aim to provide fulfilling career development for all our staff. [4 Sept] Having considered this further internally, we would welcome the opportunity to better understand the issues you raise and to discuss our DEI plans. If you would like to get in touch, please email me at gvanmaaren@ruffer.co.uk’ Thank you
- Current Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Interesting firm with an authentic client ethos
12 Sep 2022 - DirectorRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Investment priority of protecting client portfolios runs deep across all teams, there is a genuine effort to do this well. A growing firm that still keeps a 'smaller firm' feel with opportunities to work with colleagues collaboratively. A lot of change over the past 18 months to react to changing market conditions and expand globally, at times this has been tough but also exciting opportunities and a good energy. Great flexibility.
Cons
Workloads can be heavy and roles are changing which adds to stress, communication from senior managers is not always consistent between teams. Career progression isn't always clear - .
Continue readingRuffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Collaboration and flexibility are important to us at Ruffer and I'm pleased your experience reflected that. There was a recent period of change in parts of the organisation and we are focussed on supporting staff wellbeing as we come out of that period. Career progression is a key area of focus as we would like to support all staff to grow and develop their careers at Ruffer.
- Current Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
Good place to work and everyone is friendly and helpful
Cons
No downfalls that I notice
Continue readingRuffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to write this review and I'm glad that your colleagues help to create the positive working environment we strive for. Senior management are committed to ongoing dialogue with all our people, especially when change is taking place, and we will continue to have open conversations, focus groups and staff surveys to try and ensure everyone feels heard.
- Former Employee, more than 8 years★★★★★
Reflecting on a decade at Ruffer
26 Sep 2022 - Investment Manager in London, EnglandRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
I worked at Ruffer for close to a decade. As it's been close to a year since I left, I wanted to leave a review with the benefit of hindsight. Ruffer is a growing and opportunistic firm, with a history of capitalizing on its investment engine to gain exposure to new asset classes and on its client facing teams to break into new markets (Europe first, then Australia and more recently the Middle East, Asia and the US). What makes this firm special: - Its people. I made life long friends at Ruffer and learned a great deal from my colleagues. The relationships that you build there carry through time. Since I left, many senior people have given me time and guidance to help me succeed in my new role. - High integrity. This is a firm where making a mistake and owning it is viewed very positively. This accelerates your learning curve and teaches you a valuable way to lead people. - Outstanding investment thinking: only when you leave do you realize how much being at Ruffer has shaped (in the best way possible) the way you think about risk, macro/liquidity regimes and implementing those views in portfolios in creative ways (Japanese life insurers to hedge duration risk!). - Early exposure to clients: I started meeting clients on my second day at Ruffer. Very quickly you will be trusted to lead part of client meetings and not long after that you will have your own clients to look after.
Cons
What to be mindful of: The company is going through a period of transformation which creates frustrations as well as lots of opportunities to those with the skillet to accompany and accelerate the change. Roles and responsibilities in parts of the business are being redesigned. When interviewing, be sure to ask plenty of questions about the role, the team and it all fits together. Senior Management is very aware of this. Before leaving, I spent time with the CEO to have a "no holds barred" conversation about what I thought could be improved. I should think that more of these conversations happened after I left.
Ruffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. I am pleased that you built such great relationships during your time at Ruffer - we value our people and we want to foster a culture where people are supported during their time with us and beyond. We also believe in giving people responsibility early in their career and I'm pleased that this ethos benefitted you. We acknowledge that Ruffer has gone through a period of change and we are focussing on ensuring everyone now has role clarity and clear accountabilities. The leadership team are really open to feedback and are having conversations with staff about what's good and what can be improved.
- Former Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Friendly culture
23 Nov 2022 - Investment Associate in London, EnglandRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Friendly culture, lots of socials etc and good work/life balance
Cons
lots of opaque processes and progression very dependent on team
Continue readingRuffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for your feedback. We work hard to maintain our culture and work-life balance is important to us. We aim to promote based on merit and we are working on ensuring we have open, fair and robust processes to support this goal.
- Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Lovely People Boring Work
7 Jul 2022 - Software Engineer in London, EnglandRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Everyone is great to work with, good culture and greatt benefits
Cons
Lots of people with not a lot of work
Ruffer Response
Head of HR
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. We take pride in our friendly culture at Ruffer and the benefits that we offer. I appreciate your comment about workload and will take this back internally to review.
Ruffer Reviews FAQs
Ruffer has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 55 reviews left anonymously by employees. 77% of employees would recommend working at Ruffer to a friend and 58% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.
77% of Ruffer employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Ruffer 4.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.2 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.
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Ruffer Response
Head of HR