Pros
- the children are great to work with - fellow ed workers were friendly
Cons
- long hours in questionable working conditions (most buildings are falling down and covered in mould) - extremely high staff turnover (we are talking about a hundred staff leaving out of three hundred staff network wide a year, the training cohorts see about 80 new employees on their graduate scheme a year without considering those who are hired after the cohort recruitment) without any changes made to ensure employee retention - ridiculously low pay - felt like working in a cult - questionable safeguarding procedures with the outcomes not always best for the child - little room for career progression, career opportunities above education worker were senior education worker (one year of service required equalled in an extra £1000 in yearly salary before tax, centre leader at £32,000, dismal pay for the actual requirements of the job) -really long notice periods required to give when leaving (around 2 months) - training extremely long winded (it could've been done over two weeks instead of four) and largely inapplicable to the role and was pedantic and condescending - independent thinking strongly discouraged, everything is set out for you leaving no room for things to be done in a more efficient or independent way - company 'values' are cult like and are not open to discussion or deliberation, they have to be followed with no room to question the impact or assess the harm that they could inflict. - Values are constantly preached yet they are never extended or considered in relation to individual staff needs - cold calling was a large part of the job - 5 days of the holiday allowance has to be taken at Christmas when the centres close for two weeks or alternatively, unpaid leave -CEO is unapproachable whilst claiming to be heavily involved within the charity - no time in lieu offered for constantly working over agreed hours and short lunch breaks -minimal amount of staff were aged over 35, most staff were in their early twenties.