25% - Recensione dipendente - Account Director presso Spark44

...that’s how much the management and supporting staff are underpaid. This extremely capable team of young people are manipulated by the senior management. For example, by the rigging of the staff appraisals, or changing team structures to apply new job titles, that allows the senior management to side step offering promotions or salary increases. I was told that the company had very limited funds for salary increases. But they could afford to pay me 20% more than the equivalent position in another company. What’s more I had to do almost nothing for it. This role was a true traditional Director ‘bag carrier’ position in the real sense of the term, and all the managers knew it. Most of the responsibilities associated with an AD role at Spark44 are either controlled by other departments, or completed by the managers or completed by JLR. The little work that the senior team had to do was made to sound so complex it just beggared belief with my peers in other companies. Add to this a brand new £2000 MacBook to use to read emails and company branded £15 Moleskine Notebooks to scribble in, available to almost every employee. Therefore its not unreasonable to conclude Spark44 is awash with money, but is more concerned with their outward appearance than retaining any of their talent base. Ive spent 20+ years in the industry and never seen anything like it. I was pressured by senior managers to lower the scores awarded to my team in their annual appraisals, crucially after their appraisals had taken place, and their scores had been agreed. But I refused not least because it’s illegal....! I had completed the appraisals on the condition that no manager would receive a score lower than their previous appraisals. Since their previous appraisals, all my managers had completed more work than had been planned with even fewer resources available to them and yet they all still met deadlines. How on earth could any self respecting competent professional take the view that appraisal scores should therefore be lowered? The only conclusion I could reach was this must be linked to JLRs critical review of Spark44 performance. If the senior management team presented JLR with evidence to show the managers were performing ‘just adequately’ with ‘manager agreed’ appraisal scores of around 3 to 3.5 appearing to support this, it would deflect JLR from concluding the real issues were higher up the chain of command. I changed my log in password after I discovered attempts were being made to use my credentials to log in to the appraisal website without my knowledge or consent to lower the scores that I had refused to change. If this had been successful, it would give the impression I had logged in and made the changes, and the individuals who would have adjusted the scores would not be discovered as the perpetrators. I made some staff aware of what was going on including members of the HR team. Sadly other ADs bowed to the pressure and reduced the scores they had planned to award their respective management teams, even though in meetings these ADs stated they felt uncomfortable doing this. It’s amazing what people do when 20% is at stake. After taking legal advice I had no choice but to record this activity, put it in writing and threaten to take it further, reminding some individuals again and again and again that these activities are clearly illegal and they knew it. By doing all of this I stopped my teams scores being unfairly and illegally altered, but my actions meant my days at Spark44 were numbered. But I couldn’t risk an employee discovering what was going on and then look to prosecute Spark44. If this happened I would have to produce evidence to show that in my capacity as an AD and line manager I had acted correctly. This was crucial because I had aspirations to retrain as a special needs teacher, helping vulnerable people realise their potential, and live independently without feelings of anxiety or self doubt or succumb depression or worse. In order to retrain I would have to agree to a comprehensive background check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Universities and schools request access to DBS checks for anyone training to become a teacher or working with young people especially those classed as vulnerable. If I was linked to any pending or successful prosecution of any kind, this DBS check would record the details. There was no way I was going to risk my future career aspirations by having a flag on a DBS check denoting a caution, interview or pending prosecution linked to Spark44, and through association linked to me, because of their management practices. Not surprisingly, Spark44 asked me to leave. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t skip down those stairs to exit their building fast enough...! My only regret was I didn’t say goodbye to my team, or thank them for working above and beyond what should be expected -day in day out, or wish them every success in the future. I sincerely hope they have left Spark44 now and moved on with their careers. It was heart breaking to see them trying so hard, knowing no matter what they did to get on in that business, it would be futile. Im now a Special Educational Needs teacher working with adults that have mental health issues and challenging behaviours...oh the irony.... Im relieved that the business practices at Spark44 didn’t ruin my future plans for a more rewarding career. The experience serves as a sobering reminder as to why I will never contemplate working in the industry again. As for advice...