Call handler position, long hours and can be very mentally draining. I felt that it was a job for life, workload was heavy and demand often outstripped supply.

Pros

Good team and rapport with colleagues

Cons

Being shouted at a lot by callers

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More bothered about how the organisation looks

Call Handler (Current Employee) - Manchester - 30 May 2022

GMP have gone downhill as employers. My experience is they do not care about their staff's welfare and put more pressure on certain roles due to other roles not performing effectively. They also do as little as possible to support staff through issues and only a handful of people will help you. The pay is better than you think due to the enhancements, but the pay does not make up for the rest of it.Also, if something happens and you raise issues about GMP or the work environment, or you make a mistake, GMP will protect themselves first.

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Insights into Greater Manchester Police

Based on 31 survey responses

What people like

Ability to learn new things

Areas for improvement

Energising work tasks
Support from manager
Inclusive work environment

Not worth it

Police Constable (Current Employee) - Manchester, Greater Manchester - 10 April 2022

If you think joining the police is all fun and games and what you think it is, throw that all away. The worst police force, the worst managers and supervisors and the worst crime management and employee welfare you’ll see. If you want to ruin your life then this job is for you.

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Stressful, draining, dangerous and not worth it.

Police Constable (Current Employee) - Wigan, Greater Manchester - 9 March 2022

The training for the job is non existent, they focus so much on what the offences are rather than teach you the practicalities of the job such as how to build court files, how to do admin and manage workloads so you end up on division without a clue what you’re doing. The workloads are also insanely high, you’re expected to do the job of response and investigator at the same time carrying crimes and caseloads but never having the time to do anything with them because you’re busy … responding and taking on new ones. Colleagues have been known to be carrying 20-30 crimes at a time all of which need full investigations and most needing court files building, it’s insane and does not work. Then you’re punished when crimes have been carried for more than 6 months. The impact the hours have on your social life is not good. A lot of the time rest days can be cancelled and you’re expected to work all hours, the shift pattern is atrocious and this job really takes a toll on your mental health and even impacts your family life. Officers known to have break ups with partners because of the stress caused. Overall policing is broken in this country, low pay, lack of support from the people at the top who don’t care what happens in the ground, lack of staff with retention struggles and the depression and low morale is like a disease amongst staff. If you have other options please go with them. This job simply isn’t worth it anymore.

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It's a great family led by political donkeys.

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester - 2 March 2022

I would genuinely hand on heart recommend NOT applying to become a police officer. The experienced bobbies you work with are great however the SLT (senior leadership team) are not fit for purpose. They are all in bed with each other (literally).There is no support for officers and resources are below what is expected.If you do apply I wish you all the best however please take some time to consider other options as this will take up your life and have a serious impact on your mental health as well as your work life balance.All the best

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Police Officer (Current Employee) - Manchester - 16 February 2022

They don't care less about you. All you are is a number not person. The management only care about advancing there career by using you as an example.

Pros

None

Cons

Millions

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Can be rewarding but very stressful.

Police Officer (Current Employee) - Wigan, Greater Manchester - 14 February 2022

This job can definitely be rewarding however it is also a VERY stressful job. A lot of other forces work a lot simpler and better and a lot of people have transferred due to this reason. However, they are supportive, they look after you and my team were amazing. Just a shame that it doesnt seem to be improving on the number of crimes/jobs each person carries like other forces are.

Pros

Rewarding, friendly team, supportive management

Cons

Long hours, no social life, extremely stressful, a lot of pressure, can affect mental health

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Hard work but very rewarding

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester, Greater Manchester - 18 December 2021

Great team ethos. Good training. Hard work but well supported by colleagues. The expectations of management are very high and you will be under a lot of performance scrutiny.

Pros

Good training. Job security

Cons

Shift work. Long hours

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Very stressful work, Thankless Task

Call Centre Advisor (Former Employee) - Manchester, Greater Manchester - 21 November 2021

You help people, they verbally abuse you. High responsibility Not valued Long hours Not what you know , It’s who you know to progressRegular changing of Command & Control personnel The Police hierarchy do not understand how to deal with Police Civilian Staff.You make the smallest human error could cost you your career.

Pros

Helping people in their time of need

Cons

Stressful

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Awful place to work

Radio Operator (Current Employee) - Manchester - 30 August 2021

Be prepared to constantly be scrutinized, have the finger pointed at you, never thanked or given any positive feedback, work every hour god sends and work with snakes.

Pros

None

Cons

Awful shifts, horrible people

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Nice place to work but hard to not 'take the job home with you'

Business Administration Apprentice (Former Employee) - Manchester - 16 August 2021

Worked there on 3 different occasions and enjoyed each time I was there however found it hard to not take the stress of the job home and found to keep up with the workload I'd only see my kids to wake up and drop to nursery and to pick up from nursery and put to bed again which eventually didn't seem worth it for my family. Nice team feel, good employee support, training on the job, easy to settle into but can sometimes get very repetitive but that's down to the role not the workplace. The higher up could definitely care about the staff more and more funding wouldn't go amiss to raise the number of staff to reduce the stress from such a huge workload. Salary could be better.

Pros

alotted breaks, flexible working available

Cons

long hours, salary could be better

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Rewarding Vocation

Retired Police Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester - 27 July 2021

A police officer role in any department is challenging and rewarding, but can sometimes be frustrating. A varied life experience is vital, along with a mature attitude.There is no such thing as a typical day. Even in training you can be deployed to assist at a large scale incident; albeit in a minor capacity, (ie, scene logging, redirecting traffic or the public away from a scene etc).The culture is different for many people but in the main a close team mentality with a big emphasis on supporting colleagues and high standards of service.It’s worth giving some thought on your reaction to the onerous parts of the job (death, serious injury, vulnerability of victims etc). Whilst these extreme parts of the job are not daily it’s very likely you will encounter one or many different types of incidents involving the stressful situations. There is support within the organisation and other officers and staff are always willing to listen.You will work hard but the results are rewarding. Whether that is the overtime pay, enjoyment of working with colleagues or a simple “thank you”. Most people that their achievements are recognised and appreciated. On top of that the pay is really good and the pension scheme is very good and rarely matched in any other job.

Pros

Rewarding and rarely boring.

Cons

Long hours and punishing shift work.

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Stressful, overworked, not supported and undervalued

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Bolton, Greater Manchester - 25 July 2021

If you want to lose your soul and make yourself Ill then work for GMP.There are far better forces where you will feel valued and human again. Join one of them....any of them.....just not GMP

Pros

Job security but same in other better forces

Cons

Everything

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Stressful, Chaotic and underpaid.

Police Officer (Current Employee) - Manchester - 9 July 2021

I'm a Student Officer at GMP. The bulk of my training has been delivered via online learning due to Covid. This has left me and my colleagues from my intake woefully unprepared for the job.The job itself is Chaotic. There is no organisation from management as you will find the bulk of your supervision is very inexperienced. There is a toxic culture where as a response officer you will be held to the highest standard and expected to do everything that is thrown your way. There are other departments that regularly throw response under the bus, usually staffed by bitter employees that are draining the public purse.You do very little actual police work. Your day will consist of domestics, missings and mental health cases. You will not be arresting criminals or helping the hardworking members of our society.If you have a stable job that pays well under no circumstances should you join the police. The pay is awful. Considering the dangers and responsibility placed on officers we should get payed double.

Pros

Job security (to an extent)

Cons

Long Hours, Poor pay, poor management, not real policing, toxic culture.

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Not what I expected

Administration apprentice (Former Employee) - Bolton, Greater Manchester - 10 June 2021

I got a job here as an administration apprentice. They had no idea what to do with me, I basically used my own initiative and had to create a role for myself. Often at the beginning I had nothing to do. It was nothing like I thought I did very little admin. And had to figure out how to do everything I was asked pretty much myself. I was lucky that I found work to do as many other apprentices had nothing to do.

Pros

Most colleagues were lovely

Cons

Very niche

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Good place to work

Police Community Support Officer (Current Employee) - Oldham - 2 February 2021

Overall job is good, every day is different. But sometimes stressful. Lots of responsibility. For a single person this job will be fantastic. Main issue is every week not fixed days off. Work environment is good.

Pros

Weekend allowance

Cons

Different days off every week

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Competitive Culture and not in a good way

Temp Post (Former Employee) - Sedgley park - 9 January 2021

People are treated very differently depending on their role, how long they have been there, who they know. It’s a very internal gossip organisation. If you are not an officer you are seen as a second class citizen in the main. You wear different colour badges green and blue so it’s very obvious. It’s very internally clique!!!

Pros

Made some friends, Toil time

Cons

Internal prejudice

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Fantastic place to work

Police Community Support Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester - 17 November 2020

I worked for GMP for 10 years as a PCSO and within that role also performed a couple of seconded roles working with the the police cadets and on a domestic violence operation. I found that the role of PCSO can be as full as you want to make it. It comes with core duty’s but has a huge scope for expansion depending on how much or how little you want to make a difference in your community. I only left as I moved to Devon and now work for the Devon & Cornwall police

Pros

Feeling part of the policing family

Cons

Can deal with some very stressful situations

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Watch your back

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester, Greater Manchester - 13 November 2020

Sadly those in management are too worried about their position to stand up for those they manage. Not a career for life anymore, do it for a few years then move on. I enjoyed some of this job but in this world of looking at everything with hindsight, you are damned if you and damned if you don’t. I got out after nearly 9 years, though didn’t leave the way I wanted to- more fool me for having loyalty and a hard working ethic.

Pros

Job security- we will always need the police

Cons

Awful hours, poor management. Difficult to progress upwards internally

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Secure, pension and supportive

Police Community Support Officer (Former Employee) - Manchester, Manchester, UK - 12 November 2020

I enjoyed my time at GMP.It’s a secure job with a good pension scheme.However as a PCSO I didn’t like being single crewed . Being out late at night by myself was unnerving . Also you don’t get much support from Police Officers in general.. most of the time you were left to your own devices , patrolling your area and getting involved with the community .

Pros

Good pay, good pension

Cons

Shifts and being by your self

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Ok

Working Freelance (Former Employee) - various buildings - 1 November 2020

Work flows could be improved and the application of new technology and constructions technology applied. management styles are poor with an outdated approach which would not survive in the private sector, many areas of the property estate could be improved, but a lack of vision and maintaining the status que seems more important than looking at alternatives to manage and maintain the estate, continual budget reductions are at the heart of the problem with a lack of finance to invest