Colas Reviews

. I wouldn’t want anyone, especially graduates to go through what I went through, so I will be as detailed as possible for those considering working for Colas in Leeds. I had three offers for a graduate scheme and unfortunately for me I chose Colas based on the fact that I was promised to have the best training and would be looked after. On my first day I was approached by several employees who told me I made a mistake joining the company due to bad management team that stall employees training and development. From my first week I was forced to work 50 hours a week (7am to 5pm) even though my contract stated 37.5 hours. I was not paid overtime. When I tried to bring this up they threatened to fire me in front of co-workers. I was told that whoever interviewed me during the hiring process sold a fantasy to me and was clueless as to how things are done in Leeds, that they could treat me how they pleased. I was devastated by this and I began to regret my decision joining the company. I was meant to be shadowing one of the engineers but he made me feel I was a burden to him and would ignore me when I tried to ask questions relating to the job. He would abandon me on site and tell me my main purpose on site is to be an extra man so they could account for labour cost from their client. I got Ill from going to site, I was left on site in harsh weather conditions doing nothing with no one to learn from or help me understand what was going on on site. It is against company policy to use a personal car that is not business insured to site. The management went against the policy and forced me to use my car to site.. When I told them I wasn’t business insured and wouldn’t like to use my car to travel 15 miles to site they threatened to fire me. They also said they would reimburse me for fuel but they never did. Confidentiality was another issue. Personal matters were never in confidence. Everyone knew your business and would gossip intensively in detail. I was meant to be given a new company phone but the manager refused to give me one. After several complaints I was given an old phone that was used by a former employee, I could see personal/sensitive messages that I shouldn’t have access to. This is just a summary of my experience as there is a whole lot more to share. My experience led me to a state of depression. The manager told me depression was common and I have to overcome it. Colas almost made my passion for engineering become a nightmare. Luckily for me I found another graduate role with another company abroad that has a well structured graduate programme and treats me like a valued individual on their team.