Carer Assistant in Woking, Surrey & Guildford areas Good company, good training but long hours for what you actually get paid for.
The company is great in terms of training and support. However, you only get paid for the hours that you are actually in a service users house. They don't pay you for time driving inbetween visits nor any gaps between visits. So in order to get paid for say 5 hours a day you'll need to be in uniform & technically "at work" for around 10 hours. They do pay 30p per mile but not to/from the first/last visit. You only get around 15 mins to drive between visits so often with traffic or when a visit has over run you're either late to the next person or it eats into your 'gap' which is supposed to be a break but by the time you've taken into account driving to/from the next person, the traffic, any time over-run etc it doesn't leave much of a gap. The 30p a mile is more generous than some other companies but in reality you're blatting around doing lots of small journeys in your car so it doesn't really cover fuel as well as wear n tear etc. In training they tell you that you'll always be given info before you visit a new service user but this isn't true, sometimes you arrive to find some document sheets missing. Head office has recently moved from Woking to Godalming & they expect you to go there regularly to pick up stuff, which if you don't live locally, this can be a 45 min journey that you don't get paid for. The office staff seem unorganised and unfriendly. I've heard at least one of them make snide remarks about a Carer who had texted them for help. They also say in the interview that they can guarantee a certain number of hours but in reality it is a zero hours contract and you might not get enough hours to pay your bills if you're not 'flexible' enough to do hours that you might have agreed in your interview that you couldn't do. Their 'shifts' are 6am - 2pm and 2pm - 10pm, but even tho visits are only between 30 mins to 2 hours long, they seem unable to fit these around your hours if you cannot be available for an entire 'shift'. So if you can only work 8am - 5pm for example, you are unlikely to get many hours which is bizarre considering the job states 'flexible hours to suit your needs' .
The service users are mainly lovely and the other carers that I have met also seem lovely.
Care Assistant in Canvey Island, Essex Enjoy working for Novus Care
I've worked as a care assistant for Novus for 6months now, and I love it. Its a very rewarding job and the office staff are always friendly and helpful!
Care Assistant in Canvey Island, Essex Avoid like the plague
Novus care is shocking the management and communication is terrible non paid training then charged for it when you leave they’re all about taking in that company no giving just taking they compare you to other staff they don’t listen the money well don’t go there I wouldn’t recommend anyone to work there I wouldn’t let them loose with my hamster let alone a human being!
Dom care in Wickford, Essex Cowboy company
Got a job at the wickford area, I badly hurt myself after doing my training, they said they would get back to me for shadowing, what a joke they never bothered to contact me, I have heard bad things about this company I wanted to give the benefit but they seem to be a cowboy company not thinking of the staff or s/u I have been in touch with relevant agencies to complain, apparently I’m not the only one, I am good at my job I don’t like people taking the rise out of me, this place should be closed down
Care Assistant in Reading, Berkshire Toxic is the only word to describe it
Started off ok for the first week, sent me out shadowing once and then made me go out on my own (same story with every single staff member) training is 3 days 9-5 UNPAID !!! travel time is 15/20 between each call UNPAID !! some travel is 20/25 minutes driving between each call UNPAID !! Phone calls every single day on your day off at 5.30/6am because incompetent staff call in sick every single day, I think personally it’s because very weirdly you aren’t allowed to be friends with colleagues so no one cares about who covers shifts when everyone rings in sick daily. Management are a joke, not once while I worked here was the rota I was sent for the following week accurate it changed daily every single week. Toxic , stressful , rude and staff are trained so terrible because they’ve been rushed into working so medication errors happen daily and no calls complete to a high standard of care at all.