VSLA - Consultant Ethical Tea Partnership Employee Review

Great teams in countries of operation.

Leadership went from bad to worst with very little expertise or understanding of the tea sector, very little consideration for staff wellbeing or employment rights, and a vision of international development stuck in the 90s. The current work done struggles to demonstrate value to members.

At the time I was working at ETP, there was a team of smart, experienced, motivated staff, who felt very valued and part of a supportive community. The work was impactful, a small team was very effective and able to use resources from public and private partners in a very efficient way. Partners enjoyed working with us for this. •The ED and senior leadership (at the time) trusted the employees and gave opportunities to people from all seniority and geographies to share their thoughts and ideas.

Sadly, by the time I left, the work culture had soured somewhat. New leadership created an environment where long-term international contractors feared their job security and were untrusted. It felt like new leadership favorised staff members they had hired personally, and eventually almost all staff previous to the new ED joining, were pushed to resign either directly or indirectly. There was a common sentiment that the new leadership had little care for the people of the organisation. Some staff members felt gas-lighted and the ED would talk about staff members to other staff members as well as external stakeholders. This was very embarrassing to witness and ultimately damaging to the reputation and sense of unity of the organisation. It feels like the organisation lost its values. With staff well-being - especially of those based outside UK- not being considered important. It was such a shame to witness as it was so great before.