Cares far more about its shareholders than its staff
Pros
Some very talented and likeable individuals whom I've learnt a great deal from and become great friends with. Amazing quality and breadth of travel products across the portfolio. If you can imagine it, TUI probably offers it. Good pay
Cons
An ageing and very archaic hierarchy with lots of office politics and a large blame culture. Slow to adopt new technology and processes across the entirety of the group. Thomson and First Choice get the big bucks and opportunities thrown at them for good TUI PR, whilst many of the other brands are antiquated and have a lot to catch up on. Synergy and Communication - Terrible internal communication across the group resulting in disconnected activity and duplicated efforts, resulting in huge unnecessary costs. The structure of 'growth via acquisition' where each brand is managed individually means many brands were formally competitors and this results in unhealthy internal competition where brands don't like sharing their results and strategies across the group. Even down to things such as inductions, you receive no welcome pack or formal welcome. You're just left to your own devices to try and find what you might need on the least user-friendly intranet. There's also no up to date global contacts directory so you have to track colleagues down via your own means. Group benefits - There was outcry why Thomas Cook slashed their benefits but they're still better than TUI's, unless you work for an individual brand. I went on one Thomson flight and didn't go on a single TUI holiday during my 3 years at TUI as it was cheaper to shop with competitors, even as a staff member. Career progression - I hit the glass ceiling within my first roll there and it seems to be more of a case of 'who you know' than 'what you know' when it comes to promotions with a definite 'boys' club' culture. It's very cut throat and those I've seen progress within the head office functions aren't afraid to trample over others to get to where they want to be. Members of corporate and head office functions have less sense of belonging than those working for one of the brands where staff morale is much higher. Very poor work / life balance and office environment - very little in the way of team building exercises, staff entertainment and functions. For example we had to arrange our own Christmas parties within our team and weren't invited to other nearby Christmas parties within the group.