Low pay & extremely poor work life balance
Pros
- Good company to have on CV. - Gives the chance to train in something different. - Excellent exposure to oil & gas industry, with some big wins in the past few years.
Cons
- Very low salary as a junior (S1, S2, AM1). At all levels, there's an expectation of high amounts of unpaid overtime. I fell under minimum wage on an hour-by-hour basis in my first year. - No work-life balance, and you have to be seen to be working overtime by management. There's a fundamental issue of presenteeism, as much as the firm tries to say they support agile working. - Very under-staffed, meaning an insurmountable workload, and high pressure. - Corners are cut, with partners and juniors alike smoothing over errors and potential issues to get the audit signed ASAP - ties into staffing point above. - Cliquey culture which ostracises those who aren't perceived to be working overtime, or those who don't get involved in office politics. - People within the office are commonly signed off on stress.