Barnardo's Employee Reviews
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Barnardo's is a safe environment for people who are looking into a job at some point in there life. Volunteering at Barnardos is good way to gain confidence and flexibility as work your way around and gain trust with the public.
Pros
Great way too start volunteering if looking for a part-time job afterwards.
Cons
Minimal security, the shop is quiet small with only a hand full of staff.
Most of this job is training. Sessions are cancelled on a whim and the working conditions are strict. There is no empathy and the work team are not a team.
Very busy, quite a manual role, juggling a lot all the time. Always work to do so not for faint hearted.Great teamwork, a lot of computer work and recruiting for volunteers and safeguarding to be complicated.Instructions from area manager to complete and keep on top of everything to do with store, computer tasks, stock / donations/Gift aid / fundraising and volunteers. All doable if you work hard and keep up. A good company to work for. Pay is basically minimal wage with no benefits or bonuses. Very hard work but I enjoy it and appreciated the charity cause.
Pros
Great charity
Cons
Very hard work. Always juggling lots of duty’s at once
I worked with Barnardo's a while ago now but, often fondly reflect how good it was to work with such caring and considerate Team. The work day would usually be busy but, the work was varied, which meant most days were different and that is something I enjoy. Would highly recommend working with this charity.
Pros
Great Team
Cons
cant really think of any
I worked here as sales associate for four years, I was expected to do all managers jobs, ie train volunteers, keep health and safety records up to date etc. This I didn't mind, but when applying for any managers jobs 'never had enough experience'. You're expected to change days off at a moments notice and even cancel holiday dates. After shop closes you then cash up and have to take money to local post office (don't get paid extra for this). Never get a break for lunch, have to grab quick bites in between serving customers. Everything is targets and budgets, you have to hit a figure each week, if you do, it goes up the following year!. Only good thing was the volunteers, some good friends were made with my time there. Nothing was confidential, all shops knew about other shop staff personal problems! My manager always gossiped about everyone, not professional at all.
Pros
Volunteers
Cons
Expect to work extra for no extra money or thanks
Be prepared to work long hours, heavy lifting involved. Managers cover each other so if you have a problem then you have no one to go to. If you want to have holidays it's always a problem. Very often you will need to work on your own and if there are no volunteers then you have a problem as you may not be able to have your lunch break.The company expects you to work over your breaks and you never finish on time - meaning you work an extra 2 hours sometimes without being paid!Definitely the most corporate charity which is not humanitarian!
Pros
some nice volunteers
Cons
They pay is awful for the amount of work
I volunteered at Barbados for a short while. When I was there I learnt new skills. The members of staff and other volunteers were warm and welcoming they made me feel part of a team
I volunteered at my nearest barnardos and I loved it , the staff are so nice and helpful and it was always a good atmosphere, you get a employee discount on stuff in the store and if something is unable to be sold employees can take it home instead of the bin would 100 percent say volunteer there its very rewarding
it was interesting working behind the shop as I was able to understand the process on what happens. A typical day was, you had a lots of clothes to put on racks and labels on. there wasn't anything difficult about the job it was quite easy.
Pros
free time
Cons
not organised
This is a one-person role, training is one day reading a power point. Plus volunteers are like gold dust..trying to keep volunteers is even harder as inductions are quite book heavy. The KPI’s are unreasonable, the workload too extensive for one person to manage 50 plus bags of donations a day, 100 on a Wednesday.. on top of incessant stock rotation & constantly doing overtime/volunteering due to shortage of staff. Conditions are also unacceptable. Toilets without lights, fire exits blocked, no where to even sit to eat your lunch. I would never get my hour lunch I would have to close the shop & take only 10 minutes to eat as I would often have no support. There should be security in every shop also, many times I felt unsafe & vulnerable due to thieves or troublemakers. No amenities, one heater for a shop also. Worst job ever
I worked here for around a month and could do no more, first of all when I applied I assumed it was just another sales assistant job, but you are actually an assistant manager without the pay bonus. They barely train you and get frustrated when it takes you a while. One of the volunteers was stealing donations and rather than get rid of her they moved her to another store??? They made me work in a different store on my own and when the takings went missing, they blamed me, although the manager had told me their had been thefts there before. It was obvious this had been going on a while and I was a scapegoat they could blame for it. I got threatening emails for weeks afterwards, then they quickly changed their story to "we suspect you and two other people." Clearly something dodgy is going on within this company.
Pros
None
Cons
Bad hours, bad management, bad staff
A really get place to work the team are really nice and kind and funny. They don't have a dress code but I recommend you dress nice as there will be a lot of customers
Awful place to work. A lot of bullies and the old guard. Management has no experience of residential only rest bite. Never saw manager, gave no training always muck up your pay. Payroll unhelpful. Kids are great and some staff. Really demoralising place to work. Avoid.
Working for barnardos was a memorable experience. The Volunteers were very nice and welcoming, they are a big help.
The other staff were also very helpful.
The main problem with barnardos is that upper management doesn’t care about those working in their shops. Lone working is a big part of the job, if you don’t have any volunteers in that day you will find yourself running the shop on your own.
Pros
Very nice volunteers, staff and customers.
Cons
No support from upper management.
Can be worked to the bone, expected to work overtime without extra pay, however Managers and chief have huge pay. Internal structure run very much as business, of-course good for the longevity for any company but can be at the detriment to staff and service users. PBR a huge thing for Barnardos, and when on contract the staff are put under extreme pressure to perform. Good training offered but no job progression.
Pros
Good training
Cons
Overworked underpaid
Management isn’t understanding what so ever. As a Sales Assistant you are trained as part of management because you will more than likely be left to run the store yourself 3/4 days a week. However the pay does not reflect this (you will get less than the actual manager for doing the same work) and there is no chance that they will pay you overtime!
Pros
It was a learning experience
Cons
Management and pay
Love working here. Great place great managers! Caring and very supportive. Love my job so much. Great job satisfaction. All staff are very passionate with the work we do for children and families.
Pros
everything
Cons
none
On the face of it everyone is nice. Manager is nice but in truth she’s there to pass the time. Has no clue about young people and their challenges. Doesn’t like making difficult decisions, doesn’t like challenging people and as result ends up annoying staff. Constant comparisons about how other teams work but misses the point that they are led by strong managers. The Mids have assessors who are forceful and therefore the manager bows down to their request having no regard for the tutors and other staff. It’s a mess to be honest. The funded programme doesn’t get the time commitment it requires and numbers are not exactly truthful!
Pros
Tutors who care, nice office and work areas, good money
Cons
Poor ETS manager who doesn’t understand the needs of young people and cannot make decisions
I really enjoyed working there. I learned a lot about customer service while i was working there as volunteer and it helped me to build my confidence and learn team work.
Like minded people all working to ensure the young people are given the best opportunity to flourish.
Excellent management support and ability to progress knowledge and career.
You have the ability to learn from peers during in house training sessions.
Monthly management suoervision
Pros
Excellent management support and ability to help young vulnerable people.
Cons
Charity work does not pay well.
Barnardo's is a great place to volunteer and it gives you a lots of great skills and experience in the retail industry. Throughout my work experience I gained a lot of skills in retail and done amazing tasks. The managers I've had throughout my work experience were all supportive and gave me great crictism and feedback on my tasks and what I needed to improve on. The working hours I had were great and every work day was normal or completely different with sorting out different types of stock, working the till, dealing with a customer problems and many others. The volunteers I've had throughout my work experience were all great and working well in team tasks was really good. If any students are thinking of finding a job in retail or looking for any work experience in general, this is one of the best places to work at for work experience in the retail industry.
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