Groundwork South Employee Reviews

Good hearted company, trying to help disadvantaged people into work. Reed however seemed to used the company as an information gathering exercise, providing very little support

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Amazing place, good team

Cafe Worker (Current Employee) - Crawley, West Sussex - 3 August 2023

Walled garden cafe,Everyone is super nice and accepting, I’ve never thought a job could be so good in this industry as it (in my opinion) can be quite competitive with other cafes and places of that line of work. The management isn’t always top notch but we all kind of work together to help out and make it work. It is a cafe after all, it isn’t a one woman job, it’s a group job, and there, we’re like a family. As a 16 year old I personally think my pay is very good. Obviously it’s a bit different when you’re paying bills and things but the pay could be a lot worse. The customers that come up are lovely too. Sometimes there will be a customer or two that aren’t very happy or can be rude but we try (and 9 times out of 10 succeed) to keep a smile on our faces and give them the best service we can. On the rare occasion that we can’t it’s usually that we’re trying to keep on top of orders of food as it gets very busy haha. Overall, the cafe is an amazing place and if for whatever reason I stop working there I already know I am going to miss it. This job is the best I could’ve asked for and if you’re looking for work in hospitality and catering then I suggest you come here :)

Pros

Free lunches, flexible hours, good pay, friendly staff, amazing environment to be in

Cons

Gets extremely busy and can sometimes be hard to keep on top of

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Insights into Groundwork South

Based on 3 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Energising work tasks
Time and location flexibility

Good company to work for.

Senior plumber (Current Employee) - Thames Valley - 19 March 2023

It’s a great team of people I work with.On a typical day of working I will visit several dwellings to assess their water efficiency ,fix any leaks where needed and installing water saving devices. I found the management very supportive in helping me to achieve my goals within the company.

Pros

Good working times.

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Great Opportunities for Personal Development and Outstanding Colleagues

Fundraising Officer (Former Employee) - Remote; Occasionally in Morley Street (SE1, London) office - 8 March 2023

Fundraising Officer (Bid Researcher/Writer) at Groundwork South for 18 months. TYPICAL DAY: A typical day consisted of identifying opportunities and drafting funding proposals for 4, 5 and (occasionally) 6-figure trust, foundation and statutory funds.LEARNING: In short: lots. No two days were the same, this role included frequently working on specialist and diverse projects alongside expert conservationists, youth workers, refugee integration professionals etc.. Support from senior colleagues was encouraging, comprehensive, and led to personal bid writing/success improving. MANAGEMENT: Very engaged management who genuinely care about the projects/staff whilst working in a precarious financial climate. Got to see this first hand in weekly development calls with Operations Delivery Manager and Director of Development who would often ask for input from colleagues at all levels. WORKPLACE CULTURE: This role involved working alongside incredibly knowledgeable/experienced staff, all of whom immediately made me feel part of a community. Occasionally required to work overtime (reclaimed reclaimed via toil) owing to the deadline-driven nature of the work. However, this was rarely conducted in isolation and the team has recently expanded which will reduce this.HARDEST PART OF THE JOB: Missing out on funding. Though this is part of the job, it never gets easier. MOST ENJOYABLE PART OF THE JOB: Working alongside colleagues (experts in their fields), co-writing bids, sending the 'application successful' emails, occasional project development involved.

Pros

Outstanding Colleagues and Incredible Room for Personal Growth

Cons

Occasional Overtime Required

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Interesting projects, anatomy and flexibly

Manager (Former Employee) - Hampshire - 8 October 2021

Given lots of flexibility to manage my own time and grow projects. Team is really dedicated and knowledgeable and feel very supportive. Hardest part is that their is lots to learn. Most enjoyable is working on projects that make a real difference.

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messy

Officer (Former Employee) - South - 25 June 2021

poor infrastructure, no direction, treading water, savagely low pay but they'll keep piling on work, follow the money rather than the purpose of projects

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Groundworksouth

IT Manager (Former Employee) - Denham - 25 July 2019

My review Worked there for years as IT manager Unfortunately I was made redundant due to poor Management of the trust . This was due to leaderships mistakes taken by individuals not understanding good business strategy and basics . Trust went through a long period of loosing good Experienced professionals . Not a very rewarding company to work for in the end

Pros

Flexibility

Cons

Poor management, no guidance no training

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Management don't value or manage staff

Project Officer (Former Employee) - Groundwork South - 11 November 2018

I worked for Groundwork South for two years and received no management or training for my job. We were sent off to do our job with nothing more than a job description - the whole organisation seems clueless and disorganised. The only thing that seems to matter to them is saving money with people on multiple contracts so that no one job gets done right. The people I worked with were great and as supportive as they could be, but they didn't know any more than me. Systems don't work properly (we were locked out of the organisation's cloud-based servers on a very regular basis) and they are slow to pay expenses. The charity is set up to do some brilliant work - I really liked how they sold themselves, unfortunately they don't actually achieve what they set out to do. Valuing staff and providing some direction would be a good start to getting it on track.

Pros

Flexible work

Cons

No one has any idea what we are supposed to be doing

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Nice place good people

Landscape Gardener (Former Employee) - Plymouth, Devon - 12 February 2018

Was a good place to do my training helped me out a lot gave me slot of experience in the job I do know and gave my the relevant training and support to advance in the sector

Pros

Lot of training available

Cons

Little bit non structured

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Decent workplace

Centre Manager (Current Employee) - West Drayton, Greater London - 10 January 2017

I work with community members in West Drayton on a daily basis, assisting them with a rang of issues such as job searching,cv making, interview techniques, benefit advice, help with social services. I also work with other organisations such as the council, the police force, and various schools in the borough.

Pros

Flexible hours

Cons

very stressful

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Jobs at Groundwork South

Weekend Cafe Bar Assistant

Crawley

30+ days ago

Youth & Play Assistant

Had to get the job done regardless.

Waste Operative (Former Employee) - Plymouth - 7 October 2016

Wasn't a great place to work. I didn't learn a lot whilst working there and the management side of the company wasn't organised and would have conflicting messages.

Pros

Was paid

Cons

Everything

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Fast and rewarding place to work

Assistant Team Leader (Former Employee) - Brighton - 3 September 2016

Everyone was very welcoming and you get some great advantages for working. It is very rewarding due to the nature of the work. The management were fantastic and always there to listen.

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Good charity, Bad management.

Project Worker (Current Employee) - Southampton - 16 February 2016

The work Groundwork do is varied and interesting but they are not the best employers. There is little job security and they lack management and constructive planning.

Pros

Positive and varied

Cons

No job security

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awesome and relaxing work.

Volunteer / Painter (Current Employee) - Hastings, ENG - 10 June 2015

working at your own pace, gives you a sense of control in your work, boosting morale and willingness to push yourself. cold or shine, we work to keep our towns heritage.

Pros

work at your own pace

Cons

weather pending

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Friendly working atmosphere

Green Doctor Advisor (Current Employee) - Kent and Medway - 1 February 2015

The job entails going around to peoples houses and offering energy and water saving advice, it is an independent working job. Colleagues and team leaders are friendly and there a couple of training courses available but the company do not like to put people on them very easily. Given the job is customer engagement based that is the best and worst part of the job depending how receptive and polite the customers are willing to be.

Pros

Flexible working hours

Cons

Late shift means often do not home till after 20:00

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A great organisation with a great Ethos!

Devon & Cornwall Programme Manager (Current Employee) - ENG - 24 April 2014

Throughout my career with Groundwork I have developed and delivered a wide range of community projects a diverse range of transferrable skills and undertaken a variety of training activities to aid me in my personal development. I joined Groundwork in 2002 after pursuing job advertisements in the area, looking for a new career. I wanted something that would pay the bills, but also something that was interesting, had scope for progression and which preferably allowed me to work with people and the environment. After following the Groundwork Trainee Project Manager training programme, and undertaking a broad range of training courses and work experience opportunities, I was promoted to Project Manager in 2005 and since went onto become Programme Manager in 2009. My high-lights to date have included working to establish the social enterprise, Purist Natural Beauty, development and delivery of the Olive Branch project; supporting young people at risk of exclusion or offending, and the delivery of a diverse range of projects aimed at regenerating community spaces. I have loved working for Groundwork and although at times has been stressful managing a diverse range of projects and working long hours to fit the needs of the projects/communities it has been great!

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