Pros
Work colleagues are great and really make working there worthwhile. There is a subsidized personal trainer (a benefit that has carried over from the original owners and *should* be staying in place) and you are given two 45 minute sessions a week with him during working hours. The holidays are good, you start off on 24 and can work up to 27, and you can carry over a good few also. Taking time off however can be a nightmare....some people haven't been able to and have lost their days. Opportunities to move to Dublin offices if based in Limerick which is a positive for some. They have limited flexitime and working from home options; this is always under review though so cannot be taken for granted.
Cons
The company has handled the takeover very very badly. People on the ground have really suffered and have given up hope at this stage. There is little/no scope for career progression and the pay is VERY poor. It's the kind of place you come for your first job out of college and move on after a year or two; but they dont tell you that until it's too late. There are highly over qualified people in unsuitable roles there. Management are running around like headless chickens at the moment trying to put right all the wrongs of the takeover, but it all feels like too little, too late. A recent development saw them work on career paths and gradings, which was eagerly anticipated....they then handed out insulting and frankly outrageous ratings to staff, people with degrees and masters being told they are BELOW "Professional" level?!! It's madness. When staff spoke up, they were effectively told to put up and shut up.... Management also like to change people's job titles to make them unemployable on the outside....you have to really market yourself to move on from Firecrest. The atmosphere on a day-to-day basis is dreadful; everyone is fed up, underpaid, overworked and feeling really unappreciated. There are huge troughs and peaks in the workload, some teams can see MONTHS go by with little to no work and then all of a sudden be faced with weeks' worth of overtime. Project scheduling is horrendous and deadlines are constantly missed due to under resourcing and bad scheduling. This puts unfair pressure on some key team members and just adds to the sweatshop environment in there. People are leaving in droves (an average of 2 per week at the minute) and are not being replaced in vital teams. Ultimately, I would say to avoid the company for now, give it a chance to pick itself up off of the ground. For me personally I chose to move on and revisit working there in the future should things pick up and they identify qualified, worthy candidates for roles (there is a bit of nepotism going on and unfair hirings). I have hope for Firecrest; management are trying to turn things around, but they have a LONG road ahead. Best to leave them to it and apply in a year or two...if they make it....