employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

The Big Initiative

Is this your company?

Toxic environment with high staff turnover and micromanagement - Anonymous employee The Big Initiative Employee Review

1.0
3 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nothing at all. Colleagues are nice, but you can't even build friendships with them. As soon as management notices you're getting close with someone, they'll fire you both with no reasonable explanation.

Cons

THE WORST EMPLOYER EVER. VERY TOXIC ENVIRONMENT - AVOID, AVOID, AVOID Note on the company name: The company name changes every few years, which is a huge red flag. If you want to read more reviews, search for "The Vocational Training Hub" (TTH Group) as that is the current name and the old name was "The Big Initiative — another old name was The Training Hub. I imagine they'll change it again soon. Leadership: The owner/CEO is a bully. He bullies his business partner and staff during meetings, in front of everyone. He has threatened staff in front of the whole office that they will not pass probation. Every business decision is made based on the owner's feelings with no business plan behind anything. They hire 5–6 people at the same time with no plan, then after a month or so either fire them without reason or change their job role, and the same thing keeps happening over and over, for the past 5–6 years. Probation: Almost nobody passes probation. Everyone's probation period gets extended by 1–4 months without exception and without reason. Working Hours & Flexibility: No flexibility whatsoever Everyone takes a 10-minute break at the same time in the morning, 10 minutes in the afternoon, and a 40-minute lunch, like it's an army. Staff are expected to arrive 30 minutes before the official start time just because the CEO wants it, despite working hours being 9–17:30. Contracts stated hybrid working, but management suddenly enforced full-time office attendance for everyone, except one favoured individual who works 4 days from home and 1 day in the office (likely a family connection or similar) Management Style: Micromanagement to an extreme level. Zero trust in team members, every single thing you do is monitored and controlled. HR has login access to everybody's inboxes and checks work emails, Zoom chats, and Monday boards on a daily basis. Everybody sits in a small office together, still you're not allowed to ask question, or get help from your colleagues on finding information. You're only allowed to create a Monday ticket or send a Zoom message to ask any question, even if you are on a phone with clients! CEO sits in the same office with everyone else but he is so arrogant that he doesn't talk to anyone but only sends emails, Zoom messages and Monday tickets and expects everyone to answer immediately, no matter if you are in a meeting or on a phone call. Culture & Colleagues Colleagues are nice, but you can't even build friendships with them. As soon as management notices you're getting close with someone, they'll fire you both with no reasonable explanation. Feedback - Going Nowhere They sent an anonymous feedback form to all employees. Around 90% of responses raised similar concerns. Nothing came from it, instead, more people were fired within a week.

Explore other reviews about The Big Initiative

1.0
3 Jul 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are absolutely none. Do not accept a job here, it will be the worst thing you ever do.

Cons

The list is endless but to name a few: - Owned and ran by a bully, his only interest is lining his pockets but will pretend he cares about vulnerable children and people. - Staff turnover is insane, average around 4-5 people getting hired and fired a month because no thought is put in to a hiring strategy or whether the business can afford the staff members being recruited. - No flexibility, your break times are set to 10 minutes at 11am, 40 minutes at 1pm and 10 minutes at 3pm. - You will be told you can work from home one minute, then a month later this has changed and all staff must be office based (even after employing people who live hours away - tough luck, you're fired!) - Management are seriously manipulative and will throw sly digs and comments in if people have time off for bereavement or illness. - The culture revolves around a ''hush hush'' mentality where everyone is scared to talk to each other out of fear of being threatened with losing their job due to forming friendships. - Employees are fired, removed from all group chats and no communication is given to the wider team so everyone is treading on eggshells 24/7. - Everyone is slowly being replaced with off-shore cheap labour.

2
3.0
14 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This role is Fully remote

Cons

none that i can think of but salary is good

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All