GfK

2.0

29 Apr 2017

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Flexible hours and working from home policy are a major, possibly only, advantage. Everyone is really nice and laid back. If you just want simple work with nice people and a lot of flexibility this is the place for you. Some investment in training. UX department is forward thinking. Good chances of progression because talent leaves. Grads are respected and treated with care.

Cons

Lack of enthusiasm amongst staff. Probably driven by the stale uninspired environment in the Canary Wharf office. You can smell the place rotting from the inside. There isn't any creativity, ambition or innovation in most of the teams. They don't even know what it is. Management is completely incompetent. They can't even give a basic presentation. It's highly unlikely they will come up with ideas of how to save a crumbling company. They spend their time pretending to be something they aren't with little resource, talent or strategy. They have no clue about the developments in the rest of the sector. No wonder they have just realised they were disrupted years ago. There is little technological initiative or business strategy to get out of the mess. Senior management keep referring to some strategy no one has ever seen. Might be generic statements they keep mentioning. In which case, the strategy is pointless. Global company with few global initiatives. Inability to form meaningful relationships with clients or between staff. No culture. No perks. They won't even provide decent coffee. It's a career dead end. No one takes them seriously inside or outside the industry. Whatever little they do well, is not marketed. Management seems to spend most of their time dealing with bureaucracy and impossible targets.

GfK Response

Hi Thanks for your comment. Thanks for the 'Pros' mentioned, all valid if somewhat 'backhanded'. Take onboard your comments re: environment, location and creativity... To counter that I would state that we have quite a new office (less than 2 years) in a dedicated floor and a half on the 18th floor of the Citi bank building, with 360 degree panoramic views of the London and the Estuary. We also have a number of meeting rooms, communal offices and breakout areas ...Whilst we're not running around jumping over beanbags and shooting each other with Nerf guns we do try to facilitate a creative, relaxed workspace. Thanks for your opinion on management, we do our best to keep up to speed with industry trends and align product and strategy accordingly - I think it is difficult not to know what is going on in the broader MR community given the and comparative transience of the sector. As you will know from our internal intranet and regular 'Townhall' discussions we like to keep all colleagues informed of our strategy initiatives and direction when appropriate. We have longstanding and deep consultative relationship with a variety of clients. Don't drink coffee so can't comment, the tea is more than acceptable for me though! We do have a number of other perks i.e discount gym membership, sports and social club, regular events, discounts to events etc We have as good reputation in the industry, think your thoughts here are rather unfair. Take on board your advice to management- this comment will be circulated to senior staff. We (HR) would be very keen to ascertain who and why has advised you not to post here- please do get back to me in confidence – adam.nicholson@gfk.com

Falling apart trying to keep up - Innovation Consultant GfK Employee Review

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