HR is pretty sh-t here. Based on my experience with recruiting, they don’t even know what FactSet does!
39 replies (most recent on top)
And we have a winner! Behaviour vs behavior was exactly the essence of the post, thank you for spotting it Sherlock! Does that give you another clue?
Dear I'm Angry-
"Not to mention this unsolicited advice completely overlooks the cultish, frat like behaviour at FactSet. "
Just like your unsolicited opinion (this is a forum), this is a place for ALL unsolicited advice and recommendations from all of us. Commenting on others objections or statements like "blowing off steam" are completely accepted here.
Interesting how you spelled behavior too.
You can offer solutions to problems and work towards them - LMAO! The assumption is that these problems are solvable by individuals… Also why are hordes of people in the management/leadership positions and paid as such if I have no support and have to find my own solutions?!?
Remember FactSet Future? As an ex-employee, my manager at least had the courtesy to speak to me before I left, I was given a thank you note which showed basic respect and humanity. In speaking to some ex FactSetters over the last year, some weren’t even given the courtesy of a conversation from the leadership or HR before being let go. Literally put in a corner and treated like trash after years if not decades of service. These HR/ELT “leaders” are so inhuman and indifferent in how they have conducted themselves, it’s shocking they take pride in FactSet’s “culture”
Oi! How come no one has thought of the head of compliance turning a blind eye to HR malpractices? HR and TA in my office led to more drama than business efficiency. Not only did the HR team disrupt operations with their lack of experience and gossip, the L3 managers of these people continue to give credibility to random assertions without evidence or a fair assessment. These “leaders” are torchbearers of mental harassment and infringing on people’s reputation. Someone rightly suggested below, they are better absent because their presence leads to inefficiency and cruelty.
I have a sales manager who insists I work like a specialist because the Specialist RCD is busy playing golf and going for dental appointments during office hours. What’s worse is, he thinks he is god’s gift to FactSet. I also worked with the NB Sales Director who thought the best way to sell was to sit behind a spreadsheet and analyse everything that was wrong with the opp. The sane leaders have left my region and I am actively job hunting. For the post on “Move on”, don’t be surprised if that’s what a lot of people do when the economic tide starts to shift. It is an employers market now but people don’t forget the lack of basic courtesy and mistreatment meted out to them during these times.
Culture? You mean the free pancakes, ice cream, gossiping over drinks which many leaders endorse as central to building confidence and connections at FactSet? Or the one where if you challenge a view point which is dysfunctional, you are labelled as being difficult? Did HS, CH and their directs ever consider that there are 100’s of people who are impacted by their decisions and lack of deliberation? What about the jokers in Sales/ Specialty / Implementation who cannot demo a workstation? If you are in a product/tech company and you cannot demo the product because you are “senior” are you really senior and setting an example for being tech savvy?
“You can offer solutions to problems and can come up with ways to reach those solutions”
Yes, which is what FDS is known for. It entrepreneurial spirit where sales sits in for consulting interviews, CMs focus on hiring, product managers give client demos, specialists write rfps. Is that an efficient way to run the business?
Not to mention this unsolicited advice completely overlooks the cultish, frat like behaviour at FactSet. One thing to say diversity matters and quite another to have people who are inclusive of differences of opinions. If you see who’s left behind - it’s the old timers who reek of “ this is how it’s always been”
“ Let people have some fun and blow off steam. Most of the posts are whiny but some make excellent points”
A company that boasts of its culture has a situation where people need to blow of steam on an external message board. Psychological safety, much? I used to think FactSet did a great job of keeping bureaucracy and self serving politics limited. I don’t think that’s true anymore with the current administration at L2/L3/L4 who seem to care more for their own vested interests than the company’s overall interests.
Let people have their fun. It’s ok to blow off some steam and helps people know they are not alone in their thoughts. Also it appears some senior elt people are reading this So maybe someone will gain some insight. Agree most of the posts are whiny and not helpful but some make some excellent points
I heard about this site and decided to take a look. Wow. Commiserating and aligning around a shared unhappiness is ok at first. But there’s a point of diminishing returns. Accept it, change it or MOVE ON. What’s not working, how rough things are, etc… You’re ki-ling your headspace by rehashing the same old negativity over and over again.
No one wants forced positivity in the workplace. But you can offer your own solutions to problems and come up with a plan for reaching that solution.
Rudderless, directionless situation right now, ELT hoping for a wind change to save the day.
Bring back Edward !!
Has anyone noticed if CH has been at the NY office where she has her own space, or is she working remotely while others are required to come in?
It's sad how many people are anti-union I guess people would prefer to not have any labor protections and get laid off with no warning if we have a bad quarter.
Yep, working from home and a side of fries, that’s all one might be able to afford the way sales is selling and HR is bullying around with culture and comp. Ohwaitaminute, that’s unless you are an old timer in the US, with a few millions in offloaded stock as ELT, have a knack for making a mess people beneath you have to keep cleaning up! #canonlyaffordfriesfromMcD
Holly sh*tballs batman!
We need a union, we need to strike, we need regime change and I want to carry on working from home - Can I also get a side of fries with that?
Analytics doesn’t mimic the RCS org, it jibes at it, with perceived superiority, breaking and bending the rules as much as possible. Must ask the HRBP for RCS why she gave these long excuses about SVP being tied to tenure when Analytics/ SBUs has them even for those who are fairly young in experience. Was her boss in London blind then? CH - how could you allow for these exceptions when you insist your team bulldoze everyone! HS - talk about being uptight with others when you hear of noise about them while being blind as a bat to your own misguided decisions. Aren’t you all meant to be role models? Oh I see, so long as you say the right things and do nothing, you’re still taking those dollars home with 100% job security!
Leaving Cusip aside as the thread has already discussed pros and cons - there isn’t a single acquisition that FDS can say has been a successful one. Let’s note that most of these acquisitions were on the Analytics end to aid the PLC. The Analytics Leadership retrenched the very people who brought depth and subject matter expertise in Analytics. Why does Analytics need to mimic the RCS org and battle for control on client engagement? Guess who offloaded $6M in stock options? The special advisor on many of these acquisitions. The GC and ex-CFO are gone but of the ones that remain, can any one of them take accountability for the dysfunction? There is no point in asking the ELT for a coffee or live debate. The propensity to handle a conversation, listen to the reality on the ground has diminished given the power hungry leaders at the forefront. Dissent is not seen as a means to learn and improve, rather a sign to isolate/bully/fire the ones who think/ communicate differently/ call out the dysfunction. Zero accountability on CH, HS, RR or their directs for failing to make decisions for the overall good of the company. Millions siphoned in comp by these few who are unconcerned when it comes to doing right by the employees.
I assume due diligence is performed by cfo and general counsel
New proposal: TERM LIMITS!
ELT members can only serve as ELT member for X years, and any equity granted to them during that period will not vest until X years after they've completed their term.
WHY?
This aligns leadership behavior with long-term business growth & objectives rather than focusing on short-term financial engineering to hit metrics.
WILL IT HAPPEN?
Never, but we can dream right? :-)
CFO left
Isn’t there a Class action lawsuit against factset for cusip acquisition too I assume whoever pushed that deal without taking that into account is gone Someone didn’t do proper due diligence. When you buy a company w crazy high margins like Cusip , it’s probably a monopoly Sure initially it will look good as the prev poster said , but I wouldn’t want that driving my growth
The condescension in your post, @6cqb+1uMQRgnp, re: CGS doing well makes me believe you are an ELT member. Let's assume you are...
- I welcome a live debate in the next town hall or even over coffee.
- If CGS is "supporting the rest of the company", then please enlighten me as to why a very recent acquisition is supporting the company rather than its core businesses.
In every case study or article I've ever read, a tuck-in acquisition augments the core business functionally rather than supports it financially.
This "well it's done well so far" viewpoint is what's cost FDS a lot of future growth. CGS is going to face headwinds given the seemingly favorable attitude/comments towards FIGI. So what will "support the business" when CGS no longer can (or no longer does)?
I know the individual heading up regulatory affairs, I've worked directly with her, and she's good. But regulatory affairs (RA) are different than legislative affairs (LA), and our current head of RA is very well suited and networked for LA... regardless - I know she's doing her best and is good at what she does. No need to try & inspire my confidence in her as I'm already confident in her; it's the ELT that I (and seemingly others) are not confident in.
Tangentially, are you telling me that, among other things, a potential switch in the market infrastructure from CUSIP to FIGI was considered in the CGS acquisition? If so, whoever valued the deal from FDS side clearly did not take that into consideration as paying $2bn for an acquisition in a market that has seen an average deal size of $55m seems fairly overpriced, even more so when you limit the scope to regulated businesses, as you point out, and a business that is facing significant potential headwinds. Not sure about you, but my finance professors drilled home that every potential result of a deal under consideration has a financial value that must be considered AND INCLUDED IN THE VALUATION. If you do that, I don't see how you can come close to a $2bn valuation that siphoned off a lot of cash flow from internal investments and from equity holders.
The post regarding CGS is utterly and completely untrue. CGS has exceeded growth and margin expectations in spades and is supporting the rest of the company. Regulatory views will wax and wane depending on the administration. To fully understand this, one needs to know about regulated businesses, which is not a core skill at FactSet, although it has an exceptional (and underappreciated) head of regulatory affairs in DC. She was hired by the former General Counsel, who is sorely missed! It is easy to write uninformed posts, but all of this was carefully considered during the acquisition.
Whoever greenlit the CGS acquisition needs to be held accountable given the favorable outlook US regulators have given to switching from CUSIP to FIGI. I don't care if it's CEO, former CFO, former CPO, etc... That is a $2bn acquisition for which FDS had to issue its first ever bond offering and divert cash from other acquisitions, internal investments, or returning to shareholders. TWO BILLION DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN (potentially).
If you don't know what this means... the cash cow that FDS thought it was acquiring in CGS could be all dried up... what makes it worse is that FIGI is a Bloomberg thing. Google it. It's very problematic for FDS & we need to rethink our acquisition strategy ever since current CEO took over (2015?).
Who is gc?
Based upon timing of these threads , seems like the culture was lost with gc departure.
What is really painful to watch as a manager is the lack of reasoning and accountability by senior execs/ELT. Whether it is talent acquisition/ L&D/ HR/ total rewards & benefits, they are better absent than making impaired decisions. Sales ops leadership policing decisions, looking at spreadsheets without any real understanding of the situation on the ground. The lack of a corporate structure that works beyond Americas, it feels like there is no deliberation or even an afterthought to the decisions being made. Move the teams together, then split them, then move them together, then split them. Give the CPO accountability for product but no budget to make decisions. Give L3 budget but then take it away and restrict hiring at random causing infighting within groups for scarce resources. It is no less than a hurricane that has left debris to be cleared up. The cost of this has been paid by people on the ground - either fired, tired or confused about what the scope of their work is meant to be. It’s evident that the people who need to be let go are the ones making these mindless decisions. Old, overpaid people in the US who have been at FDS forever making a power play without any real impact whatsoever.
While CH leads the way along with HS in ruining FDS culture, it’s her directs at L3/L4 that really steal the show. Their incompetence is mind boggling. Their lack of business acumen is astounding. They get paid to bulldoze people instead of helping them - much similar to the vigilantes who claim to protect their own. From being absent in the previous reigns to being cruel in the current times. What a journey it’s been under CH!
Since CH joined, factset culture has gone downhill.
Profit Margins are high, executive compensation is high, it is extremely tone deaf that CH and some other senior executives sport their swanky Bvglari/ Van Cleef Arpels jewels that run into 100s of thousands of dollars while citing reasons for tight comp budgets. Speaks volumes about the leadership and their commitment to do right by employees who they are working beyond 100% in the name of efficiency.
any idea what raises will look like for top rating?
HR doing what it does best, bullying managers without any visibility of business needs or care for retention of top talent. CH, along with her minions, needs to take a good hard look in the mirror. They have accomplished in bringing a toxic environment at FDS.
Base comp is looking looking like 1-3%, few promos, bad pressure on ratings. No real reason to stay.
FactSet stock - down 1.2 % YTD
MSCI stock - up 6 % YTD
S&P Global - up 18 % YTD
LSEG /Refinitiv - up 19 % YTD
CD - 4 to 5 percent YTD
S&P 500 - 20 percent YTD
Great job to CEO, former head of sales, executive team and board for such great results. Heavy Insider selling from executive team shows their confidence
AI initiatives are mediocre and product enhancements are lacking compare to competitors. Another restructure combined with layoffs will be the answer they try again to fix
Aah, the earnings call, the one where the ex-CRO tried to sound like she understands sales and seasonality. If only she understood how to foster trust and alliances in her org.
Appraisal season shenanigans. They don’t need to announce anything, they’ll just enforce the bell curve and insist those below expectations be on PIP/ managed out eventually. Efficiency was referred to a few times on the earnings call. They are going for the margin play till FY’25 Q3 rather than projecting higher ASV growth. Is the street buying that story? For now, perhaps.
The board is offloading their FDS shares in millions of $’s - that should be a good enough cue.