Awful working experience - Recensione dipendente - Analyst presso Hartley Pensions

Good pay, A lot of exposure to sides of the business you wouldn't normally get, Good team,

No permanent employment as business is in trading administration

None at all for this company

For anyone considering a role here, I recommend reading this in full. This is my personal account of my time at Harley’s, shared to help others make informed career decisions. At the time I worked there, the company was in ongoing administration. In my opinion, this created low morale across the business and uncertainty among both staff and customers. The duration of the administration process also seemed to raise concerns from customers, and in my personal experience, several expressed scepticism about the company’s stability. From my perspective, the customer support function lacked strong structure, training, and engagement. In my experience, many colleagues did not appear fully focused on their duties during working hours, which, in my opinion, impacted service delivery. The most difficult aspect of my experience, however, was the leadership style of the director. In my personal opinion, his management approach was overly controlling, often dismissive of new ideas, and created an atmosphere of fear rather than collaboration. For example, he was highly involved in even minor operational details and could reject initiatives without open discussion. On one occasion, he told me I was “trying to run instead of learning to walk” when I attempted to make process improvements. There was no structured initial training—learning was primarily through observation—which, in my view, left new hires feeling overwhelmed. Stress levels among staff were high, and many colleagues privately shared negative feelings about the work environment (although, understandably, they did not voice them openly). My departure was handled through the recruitment agency while I was on holiday. I was informed that the reason related to my LinkedIn profile being set to “open to work.” In my personal opinion, this was inconsistent, as most contractors in the team had the same status. I believe this decision was influenced by interpersonal dynamics rather than purely professional grounds. In my view, there was also visible favouritism. Certain staff members seemed to have lighter workloads, more private time with leadership, and personal connections within the office. While this is my personal interpretation, it contributed to my perception of an uneven playing field. Overall, this was the most negative work experience of my career. In my opinion, the environment was toxic, morale was low, and leadership style was autocratic. I would not personally recommend working here.