Pros
There are some great people who work there that make the place bearable for each other.
Cons
- Old-fashioned management team who procrastinate over everything and won't change ways of working to become more streamlined, modern, efficient and effective. - Unnecessary hierarchy in a small office to allow certain senior people to maintain their status and power, while blocking other newer and more forward-thinking members of staff from progressing and achieving their potential. - Senior managers are insecure and threatened by any new talent, so will hinder development and micro-manage to prevent you from taking any initiative and learning too fast. - Unequal pay structure - a less capable / reliable person will get paid up to £9k more than a more capable and reliable person doing the exact same job. Also internally promoted employees who have worked hard and already demonstrated commitment, loyalty and motivation will always get given the lowest salary that SBS can get away with paying for that role, and aren't given an opportunity to negotiate pay based on their previous experience. The company places more value on external candidates who have done nothing to demonstrate commitment and hard work, than they do existing employees because they see existing employees as not having the same leverage as external candidates. - Pay is much lower than industry average across the board, especially for colleagues who are working as buyers in Operational Procurement, who are paid less than a shelf-stacker in a supermarket and have such a huge workload due to underselling of the benefits and value of the service by the person who was n charge of marketing the service to potential customers. - Unfair annual reviews where you can provide ample evidence of how you have exceeded in your role, but the score you get will be determined by senior management regardless of how well you can demonstrate and illustrate your progress. Also annual pay increments of less than £500 a year are not worth anything when they've been taxed and NI has been taken, so there's no incentive to want to excel in your role because the reward is barely worth the effort. - Management culture which rewards bullies and lazy people who barely show up for work, and penalises those who work hard and play by the rules, and are the victims of bullying in the workplace. Management is also completely ineffective in tackling bullying when there is plenty of evidence to back up accusations, and will take the side of the bully if they are perceived to be doing a good job. - Oppressive working environment. - Poor annual leave - only the bare legal minimum of 20 days for high pressure, high stress jobs. - If you choose to self-fund your work related study qualifications, you will be penalised for this. You won't be given any flexibility with working hours, you have to use your annual leave allocation to study and sit exams, and then you'll be penalised for being off sick when you're overworked and haven't had any actual time off for rest because you're forced to use your annual leave to study for work-related qualifications that the company is benefitting from! - Arrogance in management, managers who won't speak to you if you're not a certain pay grade because they see you as being beneath them. - Senior managers working on furthering their own agendas to the detriment of the customer and the rest of the team. - Favouritism - you'll go places if you're willing to butter up the right people. If you just work hard and expect your good work to be recognised and rewarded, you'll be bitterly disappointed. - Terrible IT systems which are not fit for purpose and which are a hindrance more than a help. They're not linked up, there are too many out of date systems, too many passwords, and you need to be MI5 to book a meeting room in our own building. - Most incompetent and untrustworthy HR team I've ever encountered. Certain HR reps don't know the meaning of 'confidentiality' and HR in general have a very rigid and unyielding approach to peoples' individual circumstances. - Jobs that were previously done by mature and experienced members of staff who were efficient and hardworking have been farmed out to teenage apprentices who don't know the meaning of 'work', don't show up on time, leave early every day, take multiple cigarette breaks throughout the day (even the non-smokers) - all because SBS can get away with paying them less than what was being paid to the mature, experienced members of staff. These kids should be working in Primark, not in a serious office role. - If you work in Operational Procurement, there is almost no chance of progression unless a Senior Buyer role becomes available and you actually want the stress and pressure of that role, or unless you move up to Strategic Sourcing. There is very little investment in staff training and development. In fact, there is no formal training at all - you just have to take your initiative and ask people questions to learn anything. - Too many more cons to list.
