Pros
Depending on your project manager/time manager you might have lots of freedom to pursue your own interests and ideas (but little structure to learn from)
Very open to part time work
Cons
Dishonest and untransparent salary structures. Promises about salary development were almost never followed, and when you brought it up and tried to negotiate, you were laughed at or told you were being ungrateful.
Culture of employee recognition totally broken.
It was common to see colleagues crying in their offices because of being overworked, brutal talks with leadership, unmet promotion promises, etc.
There were "flat hierarchies", but this meant that inexperienced people were given responsibility and work that overwhelmed them and there were no effective support structures to help them learn and succeed, and people are not paid according to responsibility level or merit.
Lack of quality control of scientific work.
Most projects have little impact - insights don't reach decision makers, especially the European research projects.