Once a great place to work... Ask lots of questions before joining if being happy and successful is a priority
Pros
- Company is strong financially, revenues support Experian corporate - Plenty of growth opportunities - Strong, well-known brands - Benefits are very competitive with the best companies out there - Lots of very smart and talented employees who are also fun and down-to-earth - Management genuinely tries to care about employees and culture, and constantly tries to improve communication, great CEO that everyone loves - Recent push to work together more with other Experian units, many significant synergy opportunities there - Depending on your team, you could work with amazing amounts of data, stuff you couldn't in any other company except maybe Facebook, Google or Amazon
Cons
- Salaries are very low and not competitive, even when compared to other Experian divisions - Management is focused on short-term revenues, not long term plans. 3-yr plans are vague and not tactical or related to brands - Significant turnover, average 2-3 ppl/week for months including very experienced and senior managers as well as lower level employees. Little to no attempt at retaining talent. - IT is a separate entity with no goals tied to success of business, so they have no incentive to go beyond what is specifically asked. High turnover and lots of low-paid contractors result in poor work quality and slow turnarounds - changing a word on a website can take weeks. - Company tries to project itself as a cool "dotcom" type of business (game room, 5 cent snacks, team events, branded swag), it's nice, but too corporate to feel real - Unqualified managers have not been good for the company, resulting in frustrated employees and increased turnover. Manager quality is very inconsistent with no 360 review process to help - Some managers are very political, others are very CYA and refuse to take accountability, some borderline unethical (HR turns their heads) - Budget and headcount constraints make it difficult for many to do their jobs well - Very rush mentality, management may say it's "fast-paced", but it's really more of a frenzy of chasing tails and not getting anywhere. Projects are rushed out with errors and missed requirements instead of taking a little more time to do things right. Results in burn-out and frustration by many people. There was a significant layoff in 2010 that wiped out a large percentage of employees, including very strong (and personable) leaders that drove a wonderful culture where people cared about the teams and each other. It was almost a family environment with many coworkers hanging out after hours, even with their bosses. But once those leaders were sent packing, the culture changed forever.