Southwark Council Employee Reviews

Great colleagues but a lot of micro managing. Typical day is getting on the phones for 9am and taking calls up until 5pm. Breaks are allocated for you which is annoying. Feels like being back at school at times.

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Frustrating leadership that don’t focus on growth.

FM (Current Employee) - London - 26 September 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Central location, good strategy and dynamic demographic in residents.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Decision making really long and FM department challenged by poor leadership.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Poor integration and silo working.

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Insights into Southwark Council

Based on 20 survey responses

What people like

Time and location flexibility
Clear sense of purpose
Ability to meet personal goals

Great career progression opportunities

Senior Planning Officer (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 11 September 2023

Good place to grow your career, supportive team and good salary. Lots of interesting projects to work on and a very forward thinking council. The diversity is great too.

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Proactive and compassionate

Occupational Therapist (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 11 August 2023

Social care is tough going but Southwark is an amazing place to work. There is an established leadership team and a willingness to problem solve. Less red tape than other areas I have worked

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Poor leadership

Service Manager (Former Employee) - London South East, Greater London - 18 July 2023

Blame culture, poor leadership from assistant directors who take no responsibility for their actions but expect middle management to take unnecessary risks.

Pros

Leaving

Cons

Poor leadership

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Helping vunrable adults

Senior Support Worker (Former Employee) - Dulwich, Greater London - 10 May 2023

Loved working for Smart, only downfall was constant goverment cuts to the service. It put a strain on an already sml team and managing them became difficult. Theres is a culture in southwark if you cant fix it make it someones elses problem. Most importantly a service providing safety and independance belongs in Social Service.

Pros

Making a difference to vunrable adults]

Cons

Constant change

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Good colleagues

Project Manager (Former Employee) - London South East, Greater London - 4 May 2023

Good colleagues, lots of work but most people seem nice. communications with staff could be improved as well as systems and procedures. Overall had a good experience.

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Great place to work

Project Manager (Current Employee) - London Bridge Station, Greater London - 19 March 2023

Great place to work. Lovely office building. Friendly staff who care about your progression. Lots of interesting projects to work on. Highly recommend.

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Welcoming, busy, challenging

Housing Solutions Officer (Current Employee) - Peckham, Greater London - 13 March 2023

The best thing about Southwark is the people you will work with. Everyone is friendly and welcoming. However, the work load can be tough! There is always a lot to do.

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Okay

Children's Social Worker (Current Employee) - Southwark, Greater London - 4 January 2023

Pretty bog standard social work job - Southwark are pretty good with their caseloads though, neither me or any of colleagues had a ridiculous unmanageable caseload. Issue was the high staff turnover which left us without managers quite often and colleagues coming in and out, however I think this is similar for a lot of boroughs

Pros

Systemic borough, low caseloads, decent pay

Cons

High staff turnover

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Jobs at Southwark Council

See more jobs

Customer Service Officer

Library Development officer (Children & Young People)

London

2 days ago

Programme Support Officer Apprentice

London

20 days ago

Apprentice Finance Assistant

London

20 days ago

Nepotism is absolutely rife at this local authority

Office Administrator (Former Employee) - Tooley street - 22 June 2022

Serious issue with nepotism Inexperienced team leadersAbrasive and lazy middle management One person doing the job with 5 people watchingToo many temporary contracts limiting the external training opportunities management is willing to give you Taking away Wfh whilst we’re facing a recessionOverworked employees in understaffed departments Lack of structure and clear processes in some departments

Pros

Flexible working

Cons

Overworked and understaffed

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Warm and productive work team

Credit Controller (Former Employee) - London - 30 March 2022

The manager was a weirdo from day 1. Little to no interaction with new staff and very little with permanent members. I noticed she would only laugh and converse with only one permanent member of staff and ignore the others.

Pros

Lovely lunch area

Cons

Manager lacked communication skills, was always in a strop with her push up face, Not ideal to experience when new or when managing a team

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Very good and understanding towards staff management is polite help you out a lot

Customer Service Officer (Former Employee) - Home Based - 26 July 2021

Very good managers and team leaders enjoy working with my team all very helpful and treat you like there own family location is London very stressful time to time and busy

Pros

None

Cons

Long hours on weekends

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Happy and enjoyable place to work

PA to Director & Deputy Director, Health & Wellbeing (Former Employee) - London South East, Greater London - 30 March 2021

I worked with the Director and Assistant Director of Health & Well-being. at the council. I very much enjoyed my work with these 2 senior managers.Both managers were very supportive and helpful. Was sad to leave this role (agency staff).

Pros

A calm and enjoyable place to work

Cons

None

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Productive and fun workplace

TMI development officer (Former Employee) - Tooley Street, London SE1 - 21 February 2021

I enjoyed working at Southwark as a Tenant Management Initiatives officer. It was challenging and fast-paced, but my skills knowledge and experience meant that I could handle the job efficiently and effectively.

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A good experience

CCTV public spaces control room operator (Former Employee) - Southwark - 8 January 2021

Employed by an agency on a six month contract which was extended to nine months due to a transitional period from contract company to in house staff. Two of the existing staff had been promoted within to department manager and supervisor. The supervisor was unsuccessful on completion of the trial period and was reduced back to Operator which left no full time position being available. A good team but a little unorganised, management unprofessional at times.

Pros

Fixed shifts so you know what you are doing

Cons

Expected to stand in at short notice or remain for double duty without enhanced pay

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Varied environment and conditions

Project Manager (Former Employee) - Southwark, Greater London - 1 December 2020

A varied environment relying on current management structures to ensure a positive or negative workspace. Poor cross service interaction and much structural infighting due to irresponsible responses by managers and HRIt has potential to be highly effective but nepotism and infighting and lack of structural oversight are dragging it back.

Pros

Reasonable consistent pay and conditions

Cons

Lack of knowledge and foresight and too many self interested parties.

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Southwark Council is an equal opportunity organisation

Customer Service Representative/Assistant Housing Officer (Former Employee) - Camberwell, Harris Street and Bournemouth Road - 2 September 2020

Southwark Council is an organisation of class. It strives to upkeep it reputation by recruiting the best staff and has excellent customer service. It goes the extra mile to see that staffs and tenants are satisfied.

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Health & Safety Director fixed on Qualifications

Health and Safety Manager (Former Employee) - Building Services, Peckham - 3 August 2020

I was not allowed to attend an interview as the Director insisted on having a Diploma in Health & Safety, even though I had been doing the job as Health & Safety Manager for 18 months under contract and reduced the incident rate by 82% andchanged the culture withthe staffs attitude to Health & Safety with full Satisfaction to the overall Building Services Manager

Pros

Very enjoyable work

Cons

Non understanding by senior Directors on what was taki g place

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Excellent

Cleaner (Current Employee) - London - 23 June 2020

Brilliant place to work, lots of options and opportunities that allow you to progress further and plenty of overtime to be earned, pension scheme is amazing, the managers are all caring and try to get the best out of you

Pros

Over time, advancing to do more, lots of opportunities.

Cons

None

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Productive and good place to work

different roles - see CV (Former Employee) - London Bridge - 12 June 2020

It is a good experience working at Southwark, all the way through you get training and they develop you to your full potential. I have 15 years working experience working in the housing field.