How to assess a company’s culture

You got the job. You’re over the moon. So it’s an absolute no brainer to say yes, right? Not quite. Just because you have a job offer, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider your options. Getting an offer means you ticked all, if not most, of the boxes. It means they want you.

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This gives you a good bit of room for negotiation as well as the time to consider whether or not the company is a good fit for you. Because believe it or not, company culture plays a huge part in an employee’s overall happiness in a role and their experience in a company – particularly for people of colour.

A 2021 survey on diversity in tech (conducted by .tech Domains), found that two-thirds of minority workers have reported experiencing bias in the workplace. How can you ensure that you don’t become a statistic, and invest your time and career in a company culture that doesn’t align with your values?

Do your research

There can be a lot of misconception around working for well-known international companies. Whether those misconceptions lie around employee benefits or work-life balance, many people on the outside seem to have ideas about working for larger companies without truly knowing what this entails.

Professional platform Candor offers insights into what working life is really like at some of the top global tech companies. You can use the tool to get intel on company culture, pay scales, and best of all, the company perks.

Glassdoor is a reputable website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. While reviews are obviously subjective, if there are several negative reviews, your alarm bells should start to ring.

The anonymity of employee reviews offer a better chance of genuine feedback so it may help to form a picture of your prospective employer.

Speak to staff

Nothing beats getting the scoop on a company’s culture than getting it straight from the horse’s mouth. Are you connected to any current employees on LinkedIn? Do you know anyone working there? If there is an opportunity to mingle with a few staff members, it could save you a lot of time in the long run. You can ask them how long they’re in their current position, workloads, staff turnover and what they like about working for the brand.

Also, review any employee pictures: do they all look the same? That will give you an idea about whether or not the company puts diversity and inclusion values into practice. Similarly, you can reach out to previous employees to find out more about what they liked or disliked about a particular job and company culture.

Consider staff turnover

Another way to determine whether or not a company is a good fit for you is to consider the staff turnover. Is it high? If so, ask yourself why the staff members are leaving. A high staff turnover could indicate low levels of happiness in a role or a company which could also point to undervalued staff members.

On the flip side, if there is a history of staff members staying in a role for a long stretch of time, it could be indicative of a healthy company culture where employees are quite happy to go to work every morning for a wide number of reasons.

Trust your gut

A healthy gut instinct will never sway you in the wrong direction. You can do the research, speak to past and present employees and even discuss the job offer at length with your friends and family. But at the end of the day, it really comes down to how it feels at your very core. If you’re having doubts but know the opportunity is too good to pass up, think about ways you can improve the culture internally. Maybe you’re the change they were looking for.

After all your research, however, you find the company is not for you, don’t give up. Your next move is still out there. Here are three open positions that might be right up your street, and you can find plenty more on the Fintech Futures Job Board:

Account Protection Specialist – Global Fraud Protection, Amex

Amex’s UK Identity Protection Team (IPT) is looking for a highly motivated, engaged Customer Care Professional with a passion for coaching and enabling peers to reach maximum results to join our diverse team in Brighton. Part of the Global Fraud Protection network, they are part of a big, multinational team, dotted across Europe and India.

As an Account Protection Specialist, you are the front-line contact and represent the American Express brand, putting customers first in all your interactions. More than just a friendly voice, you are a problem solver, a relationship builder and a team player.

Sounds like you? Apply without delay.

Business Intelligence Adoption Lead, Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) realises that analytics and data are a significant business differentiator for financial services companies and as a result it is looking to drive a more sophisticated approach to how it produces and distributes analytics and business intelligence (BI) to enable all colleagues to make quicker, more data-led decisions and this role will be at the forefront of this effort.

The Business Intelligence Adoption Lead will be responsible for driving usage of the group’s strategic BI and visual analytics tools, whilst uplifting capability and skills in order to help LBG achieve its ambition to be a truly data-driven bank. You’ll establish a visual analytics adoption roadmap to enable self-serve analytics and drive usage of strategic visualisation tools as well as be a champion of the data consumer, helping business users understand how visual analytics can solve their problems and deliver valuable outcomes.

For more information or to apply today, click here.

Manager – Banking Data Governance, PwC

Technology, data and analytics is the largest single group of technologists within PwC, with 450 people working across the UK, and the lucky candidate will be joining a team which leads in the development and execution of data governance strategy and capabilities, supporting financial services organisations in managing data risk and maximise the value of data as an asset.

Want to learn more? Check out all the details here.

Ready to start your job hunt? Start exploring opportunities on Fintech Futures’ bespoke Job Board today!