Absent Management, mis-allocated talent. (This review is for OgilvyRED, not Ogilvy & Mather)
Pros
OgilvyRED is very good at hiring and recruiting good people, resulting in lots of smart and highly qualified people in the ranks. definitely a good brand name & benefits from affiliation with Ogilvy - good path to go down if you want to be a brand manager or transition to another role in the advertising side of ogilvy & mather (which can be hard to get without an 'in') lots of variety in project subject matter, which produces the opportunity to gain some very specific knowledge about some very specific industries. lots of perks from being a part of the ogilvy building (roof deck, ping pong, relaxed culture)
Cons
management is not great at putting good talent to work in the right places. many employees hired out of top business schools / undergrad programs end up spending large amounts of time on low level tasks (writing up interview notes from recordings, putting together competitive messaging audits, making decks look nice) and not a lot of time on actual strategic work. there is a strong lack of 'teaching' culture - management has tried to implement quarterly training sessions but what's missing is an environment in which management/partners take an active role in developing employees, rather than treating them as resources for deck design & procedural work etc. (see above) compensation is below market at all levels. bonuses are very rare (and are quite small compared to those received at other brand consultancies) and the methodology for who actually gets them has never been defined and is quite murky. overall, comp has no clear connection to employee performance / evaluations. morale is low, specifically among experienced hires. there is a common sense that what is promised to experienced hires during the interview and hiring process (client-facing responsibilities, leadership of project teams, real learning opportunities) is not delivered, which creates resentment. Criticism of the organization falls on deaf ears (at best) or results in employees being ostracized or treated with contempt. There is no mechanism to gauge employee satisfaction, and upper management has been consistently absent and does not seem willing or able to make any sort of changes to address these crucial issues. There are lots of bright young people in the group - people who care about OgilvyRED and about their careers who only notice structural and organizational flaws because they live within them every working day. People make suggestions to management because of a genuine wish to improve how the company works on a day-to-day basis. If these suggestions are shrugged off (or worse), it's no wonder that morale and company culture continues to decline.
