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The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Engaged Employer

Terrible place to work - Manager The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association Employee Review

1.0
Dec 24, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A great cause People on the ground are dedicated and passionate experts changing peoples lives despite the organisational structure they have to operate within Pockets of excellence exist Good pay and excellent benefits

Cons

Appalling leadership at a national level - disconnected and lacking ability to connect with wider workforce Cliques and silos at every turn no accountability for decisions or transparency or co-production in evidence at all Limited understanding by national and regional senior staff of the services that have been created or how they operate on the ground no one seems to be able to drive change in a way that is strategic and logical, its a mess, and completely disconnected in every area of the business Staff promoted into leadership roles who do not have the skills, knowledge or understanding to do the roles Exceptionally poor / non existent leadership at a regional level Siloed working poor use of resources / money wasted at every turn no access to learning and development and not supported to access external learning and development entirely focussed on dogs, and that now is not the core of the business poor working environments which are unacceptably noisy and unwelcoming bad communication poor treatment of key staff on the ground who have no one to turn to when problems arise un-acceptable and un-realistic workloads with no solutions offered No HR support for managers who have to deal with a constant and wide range of issues they are not trained to undertake and have no proper support in dealing with inadequate training and inductions for staff despite relentless recruitment all resources and comms are focused on dogs, when other services have far greater outputs and successes and are completely ignored and under-resourced

Explore other reviews about The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

1.0
Mar 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A very worthy cause and rewarding when it goes right Different locations have different cultures and may be more positive than my experience in a regional hub

Cons

Many trainers still stuck in a punishment mindset, commonly saw dogs collar checked and shouted at, on one occasion witnessed a trainer suspend a dog off the ground by the neck. Raised concerns with management, nothing was done and quickly realised I was being viewed as the problem, told in the same conversation I just didn't understand what it takes to train a guide dog. Tried to escalate to HR, literally stonewalled, absolutely no interest. Bullying and cliqueish culture and management promoted above their competence, overseeing areas in which they have no knowledge or experience. Poor institutional understanding of dog behaviour and training. Deeply entrenched resistance to change.

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The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association Response
1mo
Thank you for taking the time to feedback on your experience of working with Guide Dogs, and thank you for raising your concerns. This is not the environment nor the type of behaviour we would ever wish to condone or ignore, and the welfare of our dogs, colleagues and service users is of utmost importance to us.
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