Pros
The people I work with, hybrid working
Kontras
Poor annual performance remuneration (on average, below CPI and market rates); daily (minute-by-minute) time recordal - billed and unbilled work; bad workplace culture; inefficient processes and procedures; poor internal communication; top-heavy structure where assistant and support staff aren't valued or listened to; profits before people
Pros
People are left to their own devices, which is a good thing if you know what you're doing. Not ideal if you're new. Hybrid working is the norm, with most never attending the office.
Kontras
The culture of the firm has shifted. It's gone from a place where people mattered, to one that has lost its connection with staff, particularly those in administrative or accounting roles who are not recognised for their solid work. Only middle management or higher are applauded at "achieving" anything worthwhile. Recognition by pay rise is non-existent for most with industry benchmarking given as the reason. Loyalty is not recognised.
Pros
The view from the Sydney office. The non C-Suite staff
Kontras
The members of the C-Suite. It feels like you looked at what SIP did (at its worst), Sprusons (at its worst) etc and decided lets do that. FBR used to be the place people in IP wanted to work, now it is a joke amongst the industry. The influx of corporate types into the C-suite who only hire their friends has changed the culture of the firm for the worst. And can someone explain why a firm of this size needs a BD team of 8 people, who often refuse to help non-Senior Partner attorneys with BD work, like preparing tenders, citing "it's not our job", while monopolizing internal meetings to extol the virtues of using the default Microsoft font (after spending a year hiring expensive external consultants to come to this decision) and good customer service like they're talking to children who have never had a job and showing they have a complete lack of understanding of the industry as they almost exclusively use examples from the food service industry rather than anything applicable to their audience. You have forgotten that your core business and product is your staff. Without happy staff you have a poor product that you can no longer charge top dollar for. With a culture where the professional and support staff are treated like they do not matter you will lose the top talent you have and will not be able to attract top talent to replace them. FB Rice needs to get back to its roots and start listening to and demonstrating they value their staff (rather than just saying you do and then doing everything possible to demonstrate you don't) and work to get their trust back. If you can manage that, FB Rice will once again be the place people in IP want to work.