Pros
It's an outwardly friendly company on-the-surface with a thin veneer of caring about its employees and staff. Basically, you get a free lunch and are expected to appreciate this in lieu of any other company shortcomings. However, therein lies the caveat for which most contractors and/or employees will come to realise, in that HR doesnt really care about you or your long-term outlook with the company. There is little interest in investing in your future with any form of year-on-year plan and it is interested really in what you can provide in the short term and how easy it will be to dispense with you when it becomes necessary, if necessary. You will therefore become part of an 'expendable workforce' should you choose to retain a position here.
Cons
It's below that thin veneer of happy-happy-joy-joy where you will find the back-biting and inter-departmental power struggles exemplified by conversations taking place in a meeting room one minute, then a different conversation taking place behind your back about the same topic 10 minutes later. UM is an organisation that is relying heavily on it's past achievements while struggling to overcome operational immaturity, gross inefficiency and inconsistent quality levels. In this respect it openly risks maintaining its' market position without considering or implementing adequate controls. UM is attempting to keep up and develop as an organisation but the elusive and confusing C-level tier, weak management structure and under-developed corporate mentality will eventually preclude its future ambitions. UM will react to, rather pre-empt its' weakening market position, while product development engineers will become subject to increasing and impossible expectations by an over-ambitious, immature Product Development Board culminating in frustration and a lack of job satisfaction by those affected. There is also a vast range of salaries leading to resentment, dissatisfaction and demotivation, especially amongst the younger recent graduates.