Satisfaction on delivering a service to the customer and local community, putting something back to people who may not had the best start to life great place to be

Pros

None really

Cons

Not a lot

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Easy and welcoming

Volunteer (Former Employee) - Coventry - 25 June 2022

Good place to work. Easy and welcoming staff with short hours. You always know what you're getting into and the work is not too hard at all. I highly recommend.

Pros

Good staff

Cons

Short hours

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Insights into Barnardo's

Based on 116 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Inclusive work environment
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
Support from manager
Energising work tasks

good experience

Sales assistant (Former Employee) - Bonnybridge, Falkirk - 21 June 2022

this job provides good experience to those who are too young to work in a paid industry. the staff are lovely individuals all working towards the same goal which is supporting charities.

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Amazing company to work for

Store Associate (Current Employee) - Roborough - 11 June 2022

Absolutely amazed with this job. My training manager has been so supportive along with other manager's. I'd highly recommend working for Barnardo's. I wish I'd done it sooner.

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Easy going, gained valuable experience

Charity Shop Volunteer (Former Employee) - Aberdeen - 11 June 2022

Quite slow at times when there was nothing to do as shop not very busy. No clear manager for a while so often different people would come and go, however this was not much of an issue. Other volunteers were lovely and supportive. Would recommend if you enjoy chatting to customers, sorting through donations etc. and if you would like retail experience as I learned how to use a till.

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Meaningful work - well supported.

Administrator (Former Employee) - Wales - 10 June 2022

I enjoyed my time working for Barnardo's. There is a real emphasis on doing the best for the people they work with. A really good charity and very responsible in terms of stewardship.

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Overworked, underpaid and unlikely to promote from within

Manager (Current Employee) - Stevenage, Hertfordshire - 6 June 2022

Culture over the last 2 years has become awful. Higher management have no consideration for shop staff. Stress, zero work life balance. Not enough paid hours of staff given, volunteers are expected to make up the difference and cover shops.

Pros

Working with volunteers

Cons

Stress

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fun workplace

Sales Associate (Current Employee) - Aberdeen, Aberdeen City - 31 May 2022

Nice and relaxed environment, volunteers make the job. busy shops definitely keep you on your toes. Customers are also very lovely and friendly.

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Generally pleasant

Sales Assistant (Current Employee) - United Kingdom - 29 May 2022

Typically sorting donations and serving customers, generally a pleasant place to work. However be prepared for lots of lone-working if you don't have volunteers.

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Great place to gain experience

Volunteer Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Bebington, Merseyside - 26 May 2022

They take volunteers for shifts of 2hrs or more, with mostly 14-18 year olds helping out at weekends. I would typically work a couple of hours on a Saturday alongside 1 paid member of staff and being one of 1-2 other volunteers. The management and staff were always grateful for the volunteers and I learned a lot.Responsibilities of volunteers included till work, taking donations and asking about gift-aid, tagging and putting out stock, and keeping the shop front looking tidy. The staff were always on hand if there were any problems with customers or if you had any questions. The most enjoyable parts of the job were chatting to the regular customers. The most difficult part of the job was seeing members of staff get stressed/over-worked when other volunteers didn't show up for shifts. Overall I loved turning up for my shifts and feeling like I had made a difference and raised money for a great charity.i

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Okay place to work.

Store Manager (Former Employee) - Staffordshire - 24 May 2022

The main thing I didn’t like about the job was the lack of real breaks you had and literally working on your own in a shop. Overall it was a good experience and I was able to progress to a manager role there.

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An uncharitable employer.

Store Associate (Former Employee) - Westhill, Aberdeenshire - 23 May 2022

Pros - Working with lovely customers and donors. Cons - Management lacks clear, accurate and supportive direction.Volume of work expected by Barnardo's corporation is impracticable.Being overworked with unsupportive management evokes low morale - staff and volunteers frequently criticize each other.Volunteers treated like staff - expected to work shift - if not, store left short handed.Expected to be on-call during days off and vacations - frowned upon if unavailable.Too busy when working solo to take a lunch break.Pressured to enroll/sell Gift Aided items.

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Without doubt the worst company I have ever worked for.

Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Lincoln - 22 May 2022

I applied for this job as I needed the money, I did wonder why Lincoln were always advertising and after having got the job, I found out why. Most of the staff seem to last four months, the culture is awful, the IT is very outdated, the manager gets nasty but possibly due to being constantly berated by the area manager.

Pros

The volunteers and customers who are lovely.

Cons

The culture

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Probably ok, but my experience was dreadful

STOCKROOM ASSISTANT (Former Employee) - Glasgow - 21 May 2022

This is specific to the Barnardos I volunteered at, but it was a nightmare. The manager changed every couple of weeks, I was never taught how to use the till despite being promised to he taught since my first shift, and the environment was very awkward. The customers were nice and some of the managers were lovely but some managers were so hectic that I hardly met them, and some fellow staff were very standoffish and difficult to work with.

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My review

Volunteer (Current Employee) - Dundee - 19 May 2022

They are good at what they do and are well trained to deal with any situation that arises and they always try there best too help anyone who needs it.

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Chaotic

Early Years Support Worker (Former Employee) - Plymouth - 16 May 2022

Disorganised. Inconsistent services at a very basic level. Ineffecient - no sharing of what could easily be centralised tasks. Need a complete overhaul of systems and procedures.

Pros

Lovely colleagues.

Cons

Little guidance or support and everyone is doing the same things differently.

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Poor excuse of a charity

Store Associate (Former Employee) - Manchester - 11 May 2022

New staff are treated like lower class citizens as most have been in the company for several years No support from management , complaints not listened to No time for breaks

Pros

None

Cons

Work way more than paid for

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Ok foe experience

Coustumer service (Former Employee) - Blackburn - 10 May 2022

Its good for building experience could be better, the management is ok, standing for long hours and the best part is that experience nothing to be honest cool workplace

Pros

Chill workplace

Cons

standing long hours maybe boring

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Newport teams cans/ cnf- avoid!

Family Support Worker (Former Employee) - Newport - 4 May 2022

The pay is a joke for anyone supporting a family, or even a single person. There is also no progression. A lot of members have left over the years due to poor management. The pros of the teams is that you can do a lot of training, but they do it all at once poor organisation. Team manager manages two teams. She is not very emphatic, or nice character to work with.

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Good fun

Sales Associate (Former Employee) - Fife - 3 May 2022

Really great place especially as working involves a lot of decision making and more discretion than what you can get in a lot of retail stores. Lots to learn and always something to do but the environment is really relaxed so even in stressful times, it is always a good place to be and everyone is supportive. Of course, there are the odd individuals or issues that creep up but that's just the nature of any work place. Company itself is committed to looking after their staff and volunteers.

Pros

Very relaxed, great people and interesting items

Cons

not always availability to develop

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Least charitable workplace in retail

Store Manager (Former Employee) - NI - 23 April 2022

Shocking management, lunches are unpaid but I had to work through that hour every day, often worked 10+ more hours than paid, manager was often rude and stand off-ish, when asking for support in the role there was no willingness to even help. The unpaid staff/volunteers and the customers were what made this positive. I was thoroughly disappointed as the interview process ran smoothly and the expectation of working within a charity was wonderful but there is far too much paperwork, red tape and unnecessary (and overpaid) authority figures. It is sad to see a charity ran as just another business that couldn’t care less about the staff who honestly do their best to fundraise for a good cause.