Pulse (UK) Reviews

3.7

79% would recommend to a friend

(240 total reviews)
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Mike Barnard

86% approve of CEO

59% positive business outlook

Pulse (UK) has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 240 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Pulse (UK) employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Human resources and staffing industry (3.8 stars).

Reviews by job title

240 reviews
1.0
3 May 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some genuinely nice people, free drinks, opportunity to make a decent amount of money if in the right area of the company. Aspects of the on boarding were really useful and allowed you to meet more people which was especially helpful when you are new.

Cons

Where to start ! When I first started I thought i had struck Gold everything seemed so perfect but it wasnt long before I started to see past facade. As I said there are some genuinely nice people there but there is ALOT of two faced behavior going on. People in upper management will be ever so nice to you in and around the office as they build up a case against you for your dismissal. High turnover and considering the office doesnt have that many people alot of people leave or. dont pass probation. Many people have commented on the fact that people who are referred rarely pass probation (presumably because someone stands to make a grand and they do not want to pay out). Having spoken to a number of people within the company across the floors I can tell you so many people are unhappy at Pulse London and the way it is run. In addition many do not agree with how people are treated as disposable individuals rather than valued team members. Quite a few individuals are seeking employment elsewhere. The fact you are FORCED to pay a pound to dress down on friday for charity. The idea is nice but when there is a register ticked off to ensure you have paid your money and if you dont then senior management will pay you a visit it does make you question where the money is actually going? To the charity or the company? Charity should be goodwill and because you want and with a giving heart. Glass ceiling for people from ethnic minorities: As a Caucasian individual this particular point has no impact on me personally but I still believe there is an injustice occurring. Ive heard people pass comment on the fact that it seems particularly difficult for ethnic minorities to move through the company or secure senoor positions. There is a high concentration of ethnic minorities in some of the lowest paying roles where the earning potential is little to none past your basic salary. Micromanagement: Micromanaged to the nth degree this is one of the most unbearable aspects. Call times of 2h a day with no regard for the quality of the call. If your call stats are low you will know about it which would be fine if a call needed to be made but calling nurses and clients JUST to make up call time doesnt seem productive. Two faced people. This is something that you do not notice at first but the longer you are there you will quickly start to realise that so many people are two faced and should not be trusted, they will speak badly of their colleagues to other colleagues yet pretend to be friends in person. When they want you gone they will find absolutely anything to use against you, even the smallest mistake you made in your first month will come back to bite you when they want you gone. Clock watching culture. In all fairness to Pulse most people feel they can leave on time however God forbid you should try to get ready even one minute early (to avoid missing your train and having to wait 45minutes) and you will be told you are contracted to finish at x time and you work until the minute. However if you come in early not one person will tell you this is not your contracted time to start and you must stop working. There is an absolute culture of Pulse Taking, taking, taking and giving very little back and being very rigid. They would get so much more from their employees if they felt valued, respected and like Pulse were reasonable. Unfortunately the free drinks on a Friday and free bi monthly drinks cannot make up for the shambles that is Pulse. There is so much wrong with this company

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Pulse (UK) Response
10y
Thank you for your review. It’s good to hear that you found aspects of the on-boarding useful as this is an area we have heavily invested in. However, overall I’m sorry the experience you had whilst working at Pulse was not as positive as we’d like to achieve. We want to create a culture that is professional, high performing and where everyone is treated fairly and can realise their career goals and ambitions. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us. If you would like to follow up with me personally on rozie.edwards@ukics.com I will take any steps necessary to address any specific issues in confidence.
2.0
27 Nov 2016

Wrong side of average

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

*Office location *Some good people work here (though lots have left / are leaving) *Well established company *Some good social events like Thursday night drinks every few months *Opportunities available on the intranet in other divisions so company is quite open *Have an oncall team so you don't have to take work home with you / oncall phone *Some good benefits - help cover travel, basic annual leave, team building trips *Do occasional charity events *Dress down Friday - donate a pound for charity *Free coffee and tea etc in the kitchen

Cons

*Company too big and has lost personal touch *Never had the commission structure explained. I billed more money from month to month but actually earned less. I've been on different schemes depending on how well team performs. It's always changing and I think it is discretionary dependent on my managers mood *Not a job if you're money hungry as there are too many limitations in place. If you do well then management often simply don't comply with the scheme from the last month. For example - I supplied into every available unit on my client list yet I got penalised for not converting a new client *Pointless targets as the indicator if you're doing a good job is if you make 100 calls in a day and are on the phone for 2 hours. Plenty of better ways to monitor progress *Different teams have different clients and you can be doing better than a colleague who is underachieving in a performing team but earn much less - it is not a level playing field regardless of what your manager implies *Management team are cliquey and rarely acknowledge the team working around them *unless your face fits* *Managers spend hours in meetings but we never get any feedback other than to ring more people - un-inspirational leaders and do little to motivate teams *Was often spoken to like a child being addressed by a teacher. I've recently completed university, got 4 A's at A-Level, worked very hard in my Pulse role and was very contientious so believe more respect was due. I learned that some managers are former nurses and have been there a long time which gave them an air of superiority which disengaged a large number of us *Managers don't say hello when they come in the office and you can see through them when they chat to you during their 'rounds'. This does nothing for the already low morale. They don't have to say hello but don't expect staff to be forthcoming when you come around for small talk *Work long hours without any thanks - tiny piece of a big business and that's how you get treated *Too many people (mainly a couple of managers) living on past glories. Clients may have historically been converted but keep coming back because of the service we continually provide, not because of a client meeting 20 years ago *Promotions are given not always earned. Given to keep hold of some staff or to conveniently replace people that leave. Recently a number of consultants were made senior but still did the same job as before *3 really good managers have left and weren't effectively replaced. I think 2 have gone to other parts of the company which makes me think it's not all bad just that this division is not a good place to be anymore *We were based over two floors in our office but laterly could fit on one as so many people have left *Change the plan every couple of months and don't have much faith in management. Lost lots of market share while management decided the best course of action but they never asked us directly who speak to the clients every day *When first employed I was promised the world but reality is very different - commission structure, career development, training, social events etc nothing is as outlined *When I started, I went through the onboarding process which was overkill especially given I had previous recruitment experience. Most colleagues that started at the same time have left now *Asked to do an interview with my manager but neither had ever done one before so looked like amateurs regardless of the set question interview form *Didn't get to vote on the designated charities we support and when I questioned about it I was told that we did but didn't voice our opinions so decision was taken out of our hands *Morale low and not a pleasant place to work *It's one rule for one person and a different for another; flexibility with break times, doctors appointments, targets, sickness, expectations, business dress *Pulse no longer regarded as the best agency in London and have lost a lot of market share *Office feels like a call centre *No sense of a team - I had no idea who half of my colleagues were who sat 4 desks away from me

1.0
4 Aug 2017

Sharks don't only swim in water

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice office, few friendly individuals and nice chilled water.

Cons

Pulse are the perfect example of why recruiters get a bad name. For an individual with confidence, from the minute I set foot into that place I felt intimidated and looked down on. The company culture is awful. A very dog eat dog environment where you can tell that everyone is in it for the money and for themselves. Even when you are greeted by the employees on your first day you can read right through their artificial smiles. As I see other people have said, they are a very one dimensional "our way or the highway" type firm. A wide variety of arrogant, stubborn personalities. You cannot even voice your opinion in the most professional way without some giving you a glare or a sarcastic, rude remark. It really is the lion's den and you get bullied and intimidated from the word go which for a job that requires you to communicate for a living really does affect your confidence and self esteem. I strongly advise everyone to avoid working at this place. There is a strong reason why their staff retention rate is so low and if you go on any job boards like reed, totaljobs etc you will see that they are constantly advertising new vacancies. I wonder why that is?

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Pulse (UK) Response
8y
Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. I can assure you that your experience is not representative of the way we treat our people or of the culture we aspire to achieve across the business. It would be useful to know what area of the business you worked in and to understand your review in more detail so we can look to address any issues. Please contact me in confidence at rozie.edwards@ukics.com
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