Extremely Poor Employer - Recensione dipendente - Business Development Manager presso SPARK EPOS

Unbeatable location in Newcastle's innovation centre — easily the best working environment in the city, surrounded by like-minded people and energy. Every day brings something new. The SaaS and robotics space moves fast, and you genuinely get to try, experiment, and learn from it constantly. A culture of real ownership — if you're someone who thrives with autonomy and wants to make a tangible impact, this is the place for you. Being part of a small team means your work actually matters and is visible from day one.

Ownership is expected from the get-go — there's little hand-holding, so those who need step-to-step direction may struggle at the beginning.

The pay is a livable wage. (Unless you're in sales, basically ignore whatever OTE he's promising you) The products are actually good but we're essentially just a middle-man for robot companies in China, the business has nothing to do with any manufacturing.

Oh boy. I don't normally write reviews and I've worked for some stinkers, but this one takes the cake. I should've known what I was getting myself into on day 1 when they handed me a DIRTY macbook covered in dandruff and beard hairs, still logged into someone elses account who also only lasted a month. The business is run by what can only be described as a pathetic man-child. All his employees warned me before seeing it for myself that he will ask you to do one thing (reasonable) and then complain that you didn't do 3 other things that he didn't ask you to do and claims he did. Take exact notes of what he asks you to do because he doesn't have the emotional maturity to be told he is wrong. The company goes beyond AI-first and goes for AI-only, despite hiring some very capable people, resulting in just absolute slop being produced. My job description was written by AI and I believed I was going to be a software tester using Jira. Asked for my login. Nonexistant. Literally a scam. I was told in my interview that it would be 75% testing and 25% customer support, where it was only 100% customer support, and he started using the same lines of "I never said that" which is absolute bs because it was one of the main factors of me taking the job. I had even written it down with dated proof at the time he'd said it, to which he continued to deny. You should not have to record every single conversation to prove you're correct about something, which is unfortunately something you have to do here. I was literally desparate for a job before working here and since working here I have had another employer ask me "why would you choose to work there" as they have a reputation for being a poor place to work. The helpdesk phone is a cracked screen iphone 6 with a phone plan that doesn't even call numbers beyond mobile. The hours are 9-6, and you're expected to work more. I received a FORMAL disciplinary in my first week for leaving at 6:20 after saying I would help to fix a critical issue. I thought he was joking so I laughed. He was not. HR does not exist in this company so you just have to put up with the bs. If you're desperate like I was, use this job as a stepping stone. He promises commission to everyones including people not eligible when he's in a good mood, he was literally never paid it. For sales he might sell you the dream, but based on what I've seen it looks like MAX in a good year you'd make like 2k (probably less) on top of your base, so negotiate a good base because it's basically what you're getting. THERE IS NO GROWTH! He promises growth because the company is growing, but he has no intention of expanding the operation, including yearly pay which is why 90% of employees have a tenure of less than a year. So much communication is in mandarin which is great if you speak it, terrible if you don't. He will literally say your name and speak about you in mandarin to the operations assistant who also speaks it and will not tell you what he's saying, which creates a culture of distrust and general stress. I am not individual in this. Thank you for my Ted Talk. This was the only thing in this job where I wasn't forced to use AI.