I want to state that this is my personal opinion of this company and position, everything in this review to my knowledge is correct and accurate. This should not be taken as a reflection of every department/role with in the business.
Where do I begin, I wish I had more positive things to say about this place but essentially it was hell on earth.
I worked for this company for around 3 year 6 months on a First Line Technical Service Desk based in Southport and during my time I saw many things that were out right wrong. I watched numerous other members on my team suffer as a result of poor management, high workloads and unrealistic goals. Four members of staff left this service desk and after speaking to each one all replied that they felt bullied out of the business.
Once new starters came on board which was frequently due to the level of staff turnover. It was very much sit here watch this person and re-create. This was a big problem as most people didn’t not have any prior knowledge using various software and languages needed for the daily role. No training was provided from a technical aspect and this was largely pushed onto existing staff to provide who were already battling through unachievable workloads. A training plan was provided for all new starters however I cannot remember a single time one was followed and completed fully.
The blame game was a very rich culture on this team and many others, management where not concerned about the circumstances as long as they had someone to stand in the firing line for a failure of process. High workloads and low staffing levels meant this was a regular occurrence and if you were not liked then you didn’t stand a chance. I would also expect to attend meetings about meetings about meetings.
This is the red tape monster at its best preventing you from speaking out against management and process the ones who were willing to do this in my opinion where basically smothered and prevented from progressing at all. I was told on more than one occasion that I was replaceable.
if you took the leap to fight your corner and spoke to your HR representative this would not help at all. HR where not on your side instead they take the easy road and sided with middle management. Nothing was ever left confidential and I also question the confidentiality of the “hotline” they provide.
The progression in the company was hardly there. Natural progression was not implemented to its fullest and this is what I believe was largely down to money saving. You however do get a performance plan with yearly reviews or brain washing sessions. Basically filled with unrealistic goals and milestones that you will never meet. You are also told that you need to drive your own progression however when you ask for help with this don’t be surprised if you are given the answer “how do you think you should do it” with no real direction or constructive help. Your plans are also not adjusted to take into account the surrounding circumstances so if your team is a half capacity it’s just tough luck you still need to deliver.
This company is very big on “The one Experian” culture to ensure its clients know they work as a unit not as individuals. however management and colleagues are perfectly happy to throw you under the bus to save their own skin. I have never seen any form of proof that “One Experian” was ever implemented fully for this service desk, instead they sided with the childish approach and relied instead on the he said she said playground antics to solve problems. Management would often argue amongst themselves via email in full view of their teams further bringing question to if the company can claim it follows the “One Experian” values it so dearly abides by.
Amazingly people who held the same role where not paid the same base salary and when this was found out instead of addressing the reasoning for this you were told “we don’t talk about salaries to each other” .. I don't recall any rules and regulations on this. So I would make sure that you get what you want in the interview as it will not likely change. If you think that your wage will go up a lot each year well it will not, average of 3-5% and in some cases gave a 1% bonus…
Training issues where very apparent here. During my time on the Service Desk I supported a total of 6 products in different aspects however was only actually trained on 1 of these and received no formal technical training for any of the 6 products! I find it ridiculous that a member of staff is expected to support a product when they have not actually been shown it.
Even with all of the above taking place on a regular basis this did not compare to the battle you had with direct line managers. It was not a relationship it was a dictatorship, you could never give a reason for not meeting the ridiculous goals that where set to the point where it was unbearable.
In summary I would recommend that you steer clear of this position and this company, in my opinion its everything that wrong with the industry and rather than taking on new talent and nurturing it, it destroys and stifles it. I hope that you heed this warning and just find something else, the grass is greener and you would be a fool to submit yourself to such an awful set of circumstances, poor management team and overall negative working experience.
