RS Group reviews

3.5

58% would recommend to a friend

(699 total reviews)
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Simon Pryce

59% approve of CEO

56% positive business outlook

RS Group has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 699 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The RS Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

699 reviews
2.0
Dec 13, 2017

Says one thing and does another

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Being such a big business there are lots of opportunity to develop by moving around the business. Reputation is a big factor so a degree isn't always needed. Great for someone with smarts who wants to get on and is prepared to work from the bottom up. Good benefit package and this year the bonus suddenly became a real incentive, as opposed to the pennies it has been until now. If you join the right area work life balance can be brilliant. The Innovation Team for example.

Cons

The culture is shocking, broken promises are now the norm and HR and senior/middle management are verging on vindictive in their treatment of employees. Recent redundancies have been declared as reorganisation but are very obviously a cull to reduce headcount and serious caps have been placed on salary increases even for those moving into much bigger roles. Some salaries have been capped with a promise to increase in April, a fairly obvious attempt to improve FY17 end of year figures. Senior leadership are promising a culture that middle management are unwilling or incapable of delivering, making the senior leadership appear out of touch and dishonest. This has been brought to the attention of a number of the senior leadership team but no action has been taken. Huge numbers of long term employees have opted for redundancy, preferring unemployment over the repeated reorganisations that seem to have no impact on the effectiveness of the day to day working of the business. HR have made mistake after mistake, with apparently no accountability for their actions. Digital in particular is to be avoided at all costs, with the boys club determining who is allowed to progress and who needs bullied out of the business. Not the time to join.

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RS Group Response
8y
We are disappointed that you have not had a positive experience while employed by RS, we have both informal and formal channels for employees to share their views with us to help us learn and improve. Your feedback is really important to us and will help us to continually evolve in order to create an amazing experience for our employees.
2.0
Dec 2, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The company has pockets of talented, hardworking individuals who care deeply about their roles and projects. - Historically, there used to be a strong, collaborative culture under a previous CEO that empowered employees to do their best work. Some of that remains but reduces year on year, especially since the recent CIO, CPO and CFO hires. - Ambitious transformation projects often provide opportunities to grow and learn, although execution falls short due to too many competing priorities.

Cons

- The arrival of a new C-suite has marked a significant shift towards a rigid, hierarchical "1980s mentality," where control and compliance are prioritised over collaboration, empathy, and innovation. - Senior Management often makes unilateral decisions without consulting experienced employees or involving those directly impacted, eroding trust and morale, and failing to adapt to modern leadership principles and workforce expectations. - There is a strong preference for "yes people" who align unquestioningly with senior management directives. Employees who raise legitimate concerns, challenge poor decisions or offer alternative viewpoints often find themselves exited out of the business, further stifling innovation and trust. - Regressive steps to remote working are being undertaken, encouraging people back into the office with minimal rationale, just that the offices are underutilised - no data to back it up, just the CEO citing his 19 year old son's needs to make friends or the MD stating the buildings are pretty. - A large number of colleagues have faced redundancy across the organisation, demonstrating RS is not performing well. While they are inherently challenging periods that every company goes through, the lack of sensitivity in how they were handled further undermines trust in leadership and reflects a transactional, process-driven approach rather than a people-first mindset. People Services are cold, and the C-Suite is completely disconnected from the harsh reality of their employees' lives, health, well-being and mindset which has flattened morale across multiple areas. - The approach to major decisions gives the impression of "golf course deals" or backhanded arrangements, with little transparency or evidence of a coherent strategy. This fuels mistrust and a sense that priorities are skewed towards benefiting select individuals rather than the organisation as a whole.

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RS Group Response
1y
Hi, Thanks so much for taking the time to review your experience of working here at RS Group. We always love to hear about our people’s experiences and appreciate it when they tell us about what they think! We’re sorry that you feel RS Group has not lived up to your expectations as an employer, we pride ourselves on being a people-first business and are always looking to improve what we do, to enable our people to make amazing happen. You have raised some quite significant concerns and issues for us and it would be really useful for us to speak to you (confidentially of course) please use the email below so we can chat. If you have the time, we’d really appreciate it if you could share more details. Please get in touch with us on R.Feedback@rs.rsgroup.com with the subject line F.A.O Employer Brand Team. Thanks RS People Team
2.0
Dec 18, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

RS is one of the biggest players in IIOT and that brings plenty of opportunities with it as this sector will only grow in the future. There are pockets of strong talent in the company and most people are great to work with.

Cons

Business Change department top management is erratic, manipulative and promotes culture of fear, intimidation and micromanagement. Talks the talk but does not walk the walk. Employees are not trusted. It's all about command and control. Everyone who tries to stand up to it is eventually removed from the company or forced to leave. People are now afraid to ask difficult questions or challenge decisions. With all this HR is either complicit or non-existent. The company tries to create a positive image and change the culture but that will not work if people making these changes are the very people responsible for the bad culture.

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RS Group Response
8y
We’re disappointed that you have not had a positive experience while employed by RS, we are committed to building a great place to work for our employees. We encourage our employees to share their views with us formally and informally in order to learn and improve. Our Business Change team make a hugely positive impact on our wider business and make an amazing difference to our customers. Our business is in a time of huge transformation and this team are at the heart of this.
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Glassdoor has 790 RS Group reviews submitted anonymously by RS Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if RS Group is right for you.