Telford MOU, treated like a number and not as a person
Pros
I worked in the Cofely Telford MOU which dealt with incoming mail for the DWP. Basically opening the letters and arranging them for scanning and indexing. The work was the easiest thing I have ever done, and I was pretty much a pro within a month. - Great team atmosphere amongst non-management colleagues - Good pension scheme
Cons
- Management had no consideration for people's lives outside of the job. Expected to work totally different shifts (10am-6pm, followed by 6am-2pm, followed by 10am-6pm on one occasion) with no arguments, regardless of childcare arrangements or other factors. - Frequently told not to take breaks as scheduled every 2 hours in order to meet an unreasonable deadlines. - Instance where one department did 12 hour shifts over Christmas, and were called into the office to be told "watching them work was like watching paint dry" - No opportunity for progression. I undertook a range of extra responsibilities such as holiday rotas and productivity figures with the promise of a Team Leader position when it arose (this was said to me by a Supervisor), which did not materialise when the position became open. I received no praise or recognition for my extra work and was expected to continue with it regardless. I ended up refusing. - Unfair dismissals: one woman suffered a miscarriage and took time off to deal with it, upon her return she was dismissed for having too much time off. - 'Set ups': it is common knowledge within the workplace that the managers 'drive out' people who they dislike from the get go. One man, who openly struggled with depression and anxiety, was refused a probation meeting even after the initial 3 month probation period. He then made an error in his timesheet and was dismissed for falsifying documents. If he had had his probationary meeting, he would have been a permanent member of staff and therefore cautioned rather than instantly dismissed. It is worth noting that many others have made the same timesheet mistake and not been called up on it. There was also 2 other instances where 2 Team Leaders were visibly driven out of the company and forced to resign. The Team Leaders in question were moved between different departments on a daily basis and set unreasonable targets, and had their management style criticised, even though all staff were working well. Both of these Team Leaders resigned. - Lack of consistency in management. During my time in the company, I had 6 different Team Leaders. There was a period of time when I did not have a clue who I should be reporting to, because it was being changed on a daily basis. For a long period of time there was also only 1 Supervisor out of 3, and no Site Manager.