Ground Control Employee Reviews
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Don't go to GC looking for an easy life.Its demanding , its hard and you'll struggle at times.But its a great place to work, they have a work hard/ play hard attitude. They have industry leading systems, fantastic staff and team cultures and you'll learn and develop massively.Youll be given autonomy to be enteurprenureal and expected to be accountable and you get out what you put in.
Pros
Great tec, nice car, great team and colleagues, great social events
Cons
Long hours, stretch targets, not enough paid holidays, basic pension scheme
I joined Ground Control in 2020 and have had a fantastic experience with them. Everyone has made me feel extremely welcome , in a culture that's completely inclusive with a large family feel. The management are very supportive , and during Covid we've had great communication to check everyone's OK. There are loads of opportunities for developing your career, and lots of people have worked at Ground Control for over 10 years. It can be fast paced , but you're working with great people, in friendly teams , and everyone is always grateful for for everything that you do.
Pros
Great Benefits, Career Opportunities, Collaborative Family Feel
If you have heard all the negative rumours about Ground Control, they are all true, and sadly outweigh the few positive attributes of the company. Long hours, highly demanding, little managerial support at all levels, high management have terrible relationships with the sub-contractors, penny pinching to the extreme when it shouldn't be, and you definetly don't feel valued as an employee. My advice would be don't bother applying for a job with this company, unless you are extremely desperate for employment in the utility arb industry, and willing to do 12 hour days too.
Pros
Work Van
Cons
Bad Management
If you have heard all the negative rumours about Ground Control, they are all true, and sadly outweigh the few positive attributes of the company. Long hours, highly demanding, little managerial support at all levels, high management have terrible relationships with the sub-contractors, penny pinching to the extreme, and you definetly don't feel valued. My advice would be don't bother applying for a job with this company, unless you are extremely desperate for employment, and willing to do 12 hour days.
Pros
Working outside
Cons
Bad Management
Where do you start with Ground Control?? A shambolically run organisation who try to win contracts all over the place, with no structure in place to manage and resource them? Greedy for every penny to the point of upsetting nearly all their sub-contractors. Incredibly demanding management, and massively inflated demands.
Pros
Working outside
Cons
Everything about Ground Control Ethos
The expectation is work 24/7. Most people burn out after a few years. Its not the worst company but the culture has evaporated in the last 3 years. The company simply is not what it thinks it is. Rapid decline in quality.
Pros
Nice car with salary sacrifice
Cons
No escaping and burn out guaranteed.
Excellent directors and contracts managers, always there if need be, however they are more than willing to let you get on with your work if there guidance is not required.Health and safety officer is also very approachable
Pros
Good support when required ( If required)
Cons
N/a
Poor management, lack of communication and lack of training. I was thrown into job with no lead, I saw my line manager twice in the first 6 months of working there. The work life balance did not exist as you were asked to drop everything and head to anywhere in the U.K. if an incident happened.
Expect half or less of what your owed.They are professionals at keeping money back. They can get rid of you whenever they want. Unless your full time paye with them then stay away from sub contract work.
Pros
Your own boss
Cons
None.
Unfair to staff, take lies into account. I would not work there again. The only positive is the staff they assist when the doing is rough. Only positive was money was on time.
Ground control ethos is hardcore. As a business they reward key players and value people who add value. Very business and can be very stressful however its worth it. Very good company to work for
Applied here and got a response asking what experience i have.I replied ive got over 20 years experience and listed every bit of machinery i can use.They never replied,so i messaged them again,no reply ????? Wouldnt want to work for this company if this is how they treat people,being ignorant and not replying.would of been ideal for me if they actually got back
Flat structure, therefore extremely hard to be promoted.
Great at allowing employees move around the business to best suit their skill set.
Lacks communication from top down.
Friendly environment.
No parking.
Pros
Free fruit, comapny share options, lunch and learns, summer BBQ and Christmas Party per annum, bi-annual bonuses, training
Cons
Face paced, stressful, can be long hours, lack of communication accross the company
Stressful place to work, lots of travelling. Management expect more productivity exponentially. hardly any career developement. Average salary. Minimal training .
Loved doing work experience, very nice people and enthusiastic. 100% recommend. lovely building and location, very easy to get to. Learnt a lot while working here.
Good to work for, family owned by husband and wife. Very good culture at work, reflected by repeat clients and business. One downside due to the small size of the company is lack of training opportunity.
I worked for this company as a ‘Field Team’ however my costs never increased in nearly a decade, I asked the management over the years for a rise in pay but they are well versed on how to slip the subject. I was expected to work for £15-£18 per operator per hour (no travel time or breaks are recognised) For this rate I had to factor in absolutely everything, van, insurances, waste, machinery, pensions, branded PPE etc.
All operators, from seasonal temps to owners must complete mandatory in-house, online training courses, I was required to pay for these but they are no use anywhere else, if I failed to comply my account would be put on hold.
My vehicles and equipment/machinery which I own and pay for was audited twice PA by a manager, non-compliance with the smallest of things was a complete headache and any costs were met by me.
From time to time work was won in my area, it was automatically allocated to me, however most of the work was under priced and I couldn't deliver it, when I raised this with the management I was threatened with the removal of existing work which would be passed on to another team. On one occasion a large chunk was taken from me to start up a new team with no warning. I hear from other Subbies that this type of bullying is common but as a Sub-Contractor theres absolutely no support or means of reporting this, in the end I didn’t refuse any new or extra works, however as a result I had a pile of under paying sites draining my business.
Once per year you get a chance to have your say at the annual Road Show (if you can’t go you will be fined) - more...
Official response from Ground Control
18 September 2019Thank you for the feedback, it is always most welcome.We wanted to update on some of the points you raise. However firstly, thank you for working as part of our amazing team for nearly a decade. I trust with your current comments aside, that this decade must have worked out okay, to have been part of our team over so many years. As a business we dedicate ourselves in removing all the costly time consuming administrative items that normally are associated with landscaping works; i.e. Quoting for new work / Mobilising new work / Setting up invoicing and chasing for payments / Scheduling / Paperwork to report on jobs completed / Travelling to finding, assess, new & additional works / training / management / RAMS and compliance.In regards to compliance, yes we do pick up on anything that isn’t 100% compliant - by being safe and compliant we all get to go home safely to our families. Being 100% compliant and being able to demonstrate this to our existing clients and new potential clients, means we can tender for and win new work that benefits everyone. It is the only way that small teams like yourself could work for blue chip clients. For example; we had a field team in the Glasgow area that undertook some unsafe works by being present on site without holding the client required training qualifications, despite this being communicated prior to all team working, on numerous occasions (including the very day before this was picked up). This type of incident as with any H&S incident is taken very seriously by our clients and ourselves, as the training and compliance required is - more...
High levels of bullying from area manager. Low morale and the area manager has no idea what he’s doing.
If you have grievance about your manager it’s swept under the carpet by head office and they make you out to be a liar and you have imagined being bullied.
Pros
None
Cons
Being bullied
This was a supportive strong kind team to be apart of. training of a great standard to prepare you for the role. kind and friendly staff always willing to help
Extremely busy in the summer - as would be expected from a gardening company.
Busy in gritting though snow periods
Nice people working there.
Mainly young people
Pros
Free fruit
Cons
No parking
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