Cancer Research UK Reviews

3.7

60% would recommend to a friend

(1,057 total reviews)

Michelle Mitchell

67% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Cancer Research UK has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,057 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Cancer Research UK employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
1.0
19 Oct 2014

Modern Day Slavery

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My amazing and loyal volunteers who stick by me no matter what. My lovely regular customers who see and realize more then you think regarding the company _ note to head office.

Cons

I joined the company having lost a close one to cancer. I have been working in retail for years and thought i may as well retail manage for a good cause. Apart from the above mentioned, this has got to be the most vile and badly managed company i have come accross. There practices and the way they treat their managers are shocking. There is a play of egos amongst training managers, area managers were no set role is defind resulting to them speeking to you in which ever way they wont and have become so confident in doing so as knowone investigates. They will always hide behind 'we are fighting the cause' which allows them the behaviour created. The role of a manager is above and beyond the title as are its targets. Store targets, gift aid targets, cash donation targets, volunteering targets, fun day targets, donation station targets and all under the title of Store Manager. You get no praise for your work, and even if you achieve one target, they are quick to point out the ones you dont, making you feel belittled and unvalued. They make you incegnificant and praise only those high achievers to make you work harder. Complete bully boy tactics. There are Managers known to rig and manipulate there figures and bad practice just to meet there unresonable targerts. People off on stress including higher up, is stress not a caurse of cancer?, managers and drivers with back injuries through to the amount of lifting involved. No rewards and benefits just more more more. Company needs investicating........................

1.0
22 Jan 2024

Avoid

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

None can be shared unfortunately. It is a charity that operates like a corporate, they spend a lot. Check the salaries of the senior managers the lowest around £65K going all the way into £255000 a year.

Cons

Managers are not trained well, HR lacks independence and covers up any grievances, CHECK THE EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS CRUK has been apart of. This Charity has spent in excess on £5 million in the last 18 months on consultants and external contractors providing very little value of return. There has been significant culling of certain business units, an environment of bullying - refer to tribunal results again. TOXIC. I do not feel Directors would be able to work in the professional world as they would be sacked. Their people survey explained staff have very little confidence in leadership, if the staff feel like this, it shows the little value to donors money. PLEASE divert your donations to Macmillan and other cancer charities

avatar
Cancer Research UK Response
2y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, and we’re sorry to hear of your experience. We want our staff to be able to reach their full potential in a positive environment, and importantly, to feel able to speak up. We encourage you or anyone who may have experienced or witnessed any form of unacceptable behaviour to come forward so we can investigate. We have different channels to do this, including a confidential whistleblowing phoneline or we can put you in touch with a member of our HR People Services team. Please contact us on hrservicecentre@cancer.org.uk.
3.0
8 Sept 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You meet new people all the time. Every day is different and you face new problems on daily basis, which is great, as I love a challenge. It is great, to make the shop look nice and hear it from customers.

Cons

The job as Shop Manager (my job) is not that well paid. We are required to meet weekly DONATED TARGETS (income from donated sold items). If we do not meet them, our Area Managers then ''bully'' us, in terms of WHY DID WE NOT REACH THEM. I say bully, but it is like, daily calls, texts, etc., keep asking us, if we are at least half way through with the income of weekly target, texting us, way after closing time, with questions about the shop. I am not saying every AM is the same, but most of them are this way. They send us WAY TOO MUCH stock from other stores, and expect us to deal with it. When we say, we have no space for it,most of the AM say: TELL YOUR VOLUNTEERS TO DEL WITH IT. The worst is, that you are expected to REACH THE WEEKLY DONATED TARGETS ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE. The job title is SHOP MANAGER, but they want you to be a fundraiser too. We need to organise FUN DAY every few months and raise in excess of £150. How? E.g. through tombolas, selling cakes etc. Then we need to organise DONATION STATIONS, and raise at least £2000 a year. HOW? Ask local business, if you could set up stall there, where people drop off their donations, or simply ask local business to donate their unwanted stock. OUR INTERNET IS BLOCKED: we cannot use e-mail, so of course, during day, you have no time for this, as you deal with donations, refunds, shop being tidy, training the volunteers, hiring volunteers, doing the H&S checks. When will you do it then? I tell you. At home, in your own time, but you get paid only for about 36 hours work weekly. In fact we do rarely have lunch breakes. Plus we need to overlook the H&S. Fire safety, etc. Area Managers just boss you around because of the targets, but are not very supportive.

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Glassdoor has 1,265 Cancer Research UK reviews submitted anonymously by Cancer Research UK employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Cancer Research UK is right for you.