Perrett Laver reviews about "colleague"

Firm has developed at pace - sometimes hard to keep up

Working against deadlines is not for everyone but it is not as stressful as some think it is. You have to be dedicated and truly care about the sector to achieve good results.

Quantity/structure of work that does a disservice to quality provided to clients, candidate experience and employees' work/life balance. High level leadership focus on financial profit that leads to questionable decisions. Sad to see so many smart and talented colleagues who felt nothing will change and left.

Over time, bullying from partners and consultants, no communication

Consistent lack of communication/transparency regarding progression, salary and the firm's general direction. Training is poor and lacks standarised practice. Progression is determined entirely via favouritism and not by competency (their KPIs are not standarised). Poor salary compensation and will not match costs of inflation. In 2023, it was roughly 15% below the market rate. Consultants who have been "brought up in the firm" have zero management training and often bully/belittle junior colleagues. Management (from direct report to London managing partner to global partners) are completely uneducated on human sustainability and cannot integrate behaviour/compentency-based metrics. Their tech is too outdated to gather the relevant data and they wouldn't know how to read it if they did.

Consultant and Researcher Divide: As seen from various reviews in the thread, the issue still persists and it will most probably not change. Consultants who come from outside the firm tend to be more knowledgeable, friendly, inclusive and professional as compared to those who 'grow -up' with the firm. Researchers do not get the respect they deserve from many of the consultants - they are seen more of a resource rather than colleagues. Trust is only built between the two if you do well from the very get go, most researchers do not do well early given the lack of proper training and development (see below for elaboration). While we are aware that there is high turnover in search, PL seems to lose researchers faster than competitors. The rate of retaining researchers is laughable - this contributes to the overall lack of experience and seniority of the team. Training and progression: Inconsistencies in the way new associates are trained. Lack of a proper career progression metrics. Promotions are mainly based on capacity and your 'connections', instead of skill and talent. I do believe that there are consultants who need people management training as there are some who are absolutely unpleasant people to work with. For prospective graduates considering a role here, I would say you might be better of looking at the top global executive firms (SHREK) to build your career in search as they are generally better equipped to prepare you for the industry, and pay competitively too. Perrett Laver would suit people who are in their mid-career/late-career. Compensation and benefits: Decent starting pay but the lack of bonus and communication around it is disappointing. Researchers would have to serve 2 years before gaining a 'bonus', regardless of the amount of work you do. The bonus scheme is laughable and not on par with the industry. Diversity: Absolute lack of diversity in all forms in the management/senior partners. It is ironic that the firm prides on their diverse appointments while having a mostly white/middle-class management. Database: Lack of training for associates and reluctance of some senior consultants to be familiar with the database leads to inconsistencies. This might have changed recently.

- tech outdated, tech department is helpless, and little company support if you have issues - no salary progression, not even inflation bumps. someone exceptional that I know worked for 4 years without any raise at all - with that, no career progression. as a researcher you might move up to senior researcher but the salary increase is 2% and the nature of the work is exactly the same - if you’re good at your job, they will overwhelm you to the point where you are drowning and you will be put on the trickiest and most uninteresting projects - DEI does not exist here despite it being in the core values. the company does not recognize any other religious holidays except christmas, and there’s also a drinking culture, which is contrary to some persons religious beliefs. senior leadership is all male and european. some few women in power but also british. - business is in financial trouble, massive layoffs and firings across the world - some consultants are on a power trip and will belittle you despite them not being your boss - HR does not exist. the company truly, really, flat out lies about your benefits so read them very closely. there is no HR person and everything goes through the COO, who is massively incompetent and highly unqualified to meet the overwhelming demands of her job. - no focus on career progression and development. they cycle through people rather than training and retaining. in my team alone, 4 people left or quit in 4 months. - if they tell you at interview that you will receive a company pension, make sure it’s in your contract. otherwise you will not receive a dime. i know 8 colleagues now who have been lied to. - favouritism is big here. if you don’t do the bidding of the partners to your core, you won’t be so lucky. - company spends its limited budget on unnecessary travel for the consultants who clearly just want an excuse to vacation - the employee owned trust payout is nonexistent. i only made 20$ the whole time i worked here on this. the bonus is also nonexistent, i was promised about 10k during the interview and received 1300$ after tax. you also don’t get your bonus until the payout period. it goes calendar year, so if you worked jan-dec for your bonus, you won’t see it until the payout which last year was late and in august. if you quit before august, no bonus.

sometimes not enough training internally

It was very hierarchal in an unproductive way.