Vantaggi
The people - the team is full of the nicest people willing to help you. Global reach - you get to to work with colleagues across South Africa, the US, Spain, Singapore and Germany Remote/hybrid working - central services teams have more flexibility about working from home or the office
Svantaggi
Ever increasing workload - you’re expected to take on more and more, whilst still delivering on BAU tasks with no recognition or support. You raise it to management that you’re working 10 hour days/evenings/weekends and they question you as to how you’re managing your time and make you feel like you’re not doing enough. High turnover - turnover in central services is higher than you’d expect, and there’s little knowledge retention. Management then have half-baked training/onboarding plans for replacements who then leave and the cycle continues. Its often a case of resign too or be left with more and more to do. Management - either completely out of touch with day to day operations and their employees. They leave quite often too. Managers often schedule team meetings or 1-2-1s only to not attend because they’re too busy. A lot of the managers also work 50/60 hour weeks so they probably don’t have the energy to care about their teams and how they feel. Horrible communication on every single level of interaction possible - team members leave and no discussions happens as to what happens with their workload. You don’t even get a handover. Management and senior management give you conflicting instructions/tasks and you’re caught in the middle. Company changes are disseminated through whispers and rumours. For first time last month we got a 9 minute update call from the CEO at 5PM on management changes and the focus being on profitability. Even communication from team to team is disjointed and results in duplication. Lack of resources/recognition - one thing that’s done well is coming down on you like a ton of bricks when you make a mistake, but recognition for a job well done doesn’t happen. HR - issued new contracts with increased notice periods for central services but surely the focus needs to be on improving employee experiences so people don’t want to leave all the time? Exit interviews feel like a tick box exercise, we’ve had a number of leavers from my team alone over the last few months and absolutely nothing changed. I doubt anything will change when I leave. Surface level D&I initiatives - surveys to collect feedback, posters and reading lists with training sessions, but managers still book in meetings at 8AM when you contractually start work at 9AM and have to do the school run? You’re contacted outside of work hours with “urgent queries” on personal mobile numbers? Your workload means you work in the evening, weekends and during annual leave? All socials/events centre around alcohol? Pay and benefits - in line with industry average but if you take into consideration the hours worked and the pressure you’re under, its not enough. Benefits non existent below management level, only things provided are statutory
