Barnardo's reviews

The CEO and his Chief of Staff, are out of control. The whole organisation and Senior Team are managed by the whims of the CEO’s vanity. Complaints around the culture and behaviours of the office and the organisation are ignored and swept under the carpet. There is a bullying and coercive culture at the very top that is well known and is left unchallenged and unchecked. A work culture begins at top and because of the behaviours at the very top a poison runs through the organisation which has empowered some to behave in the same way. Others are so broken by the toxic culture they simply try to survive another day and protect their teams as much as they can, others have normalised the behaviour. Any complaints that are made are met with a wall of senior staff telling you to 'keep it confidential for your own sake', while mid-level and lower HR team members are completely powerless to do anything. This results in people feeling isolated, belittled and unsupported. Whistle blowing attempts are just ignored. There is very much a feeling of what is the point in complaining, it is well known that nothing will happen and then your 'cards are marked'. Positive empowerment at the senior levels is non-existent – the CEO and Chief of Staff are, apparently, experts in all areas of the organisation, Brand, Retail, Fundraising, Safeguarding, every area. Highly experienced and well respected people are hired to do a job then are told how to do their job. The Chief of Staff is empowered by the CEO to undermine and belittle at every level - more like his enforcer than Chief of Staff. Beware, if you are applying for a job at the Head Office, they will likely offer you the world and a higher than average industry wage. Ultimately this is danger money and a pay off for turning a blind eye to the toxic culture.

Barnardo's is currently suffering a 'Digital Transformation'. The vast majority of the previous IT staff (50+ people) have been made redundant with the management having little idea of the skills or responsibilities that have been forced out of the organisation. This has created enormous holes in domain and organisational knowledge which will affect operational stability going forward. To compound this issue a significant number of those who were able to transfer to new positions, have understandably decided to leave of their own free will, due to the inept, blame shifting leadership now in place. A large number of contractors have been used to fill some of the gaps created by those leaving as well as the positions required by the new Digital Team (all earning industry day rate) - this has been at huge expense to the charity. Their expertise is no substitute for the experience that has now left, meaning that working within the Digital/old IS team Team has become a high stress, chaotic affair. Now so many people have left, there is no turning back and since so much money has been spent to this point, I suspect it will continue until there are serious changes at the top (hopefully extending as far as the Board of Trustees who have allowed this mess to go unchallenged). If you're looking in to one of the digital jobs, at this point in time, just walk on by.