St John Ambulance Employee Reviews
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Its hard work and can be stressful. But you are always part of a team,and on the whole nice people to work with.Management ok,only really get involved if there are problems.Money not great,but you do get sick pay.Most who have worked at SJA will move on to NWAS,as a Tec.
Pros
Plenty of breaks
Cons
Expected to work well past your finish time.
I was contracted via an agency to fulfill this role on a temp basis. It was probably one of the most enjoyable and rewarding roles I have every doneThe team were helpful, supportive, encouraging and always positive.I am continuing with SJA as a volunteer based on the experience I had with this contract.
Pros
Fantastic Support
Cons
Only a temp contract
Great place to work. I interviewed with no prior training experience, and got the job as a Trainee Trainer. They put me through a (free) level 3 in learning and development course, and paid for hotels and food/travel whenever we were required to go away on a group training weekend (lots of beer and lots of laughs). I spent about 6 months training with a fellow trainer who helped me learn the subject matter and also improve as a trainer. It was a very gentle ease into training as a solo trainer. Now I train on my own and it's great. Despite working for St John, you're pretty much your own boss. Really easy hours, and good pay if you work in greater London area. They are very supportive with any adjustments you need, and have bent over backwards to accommodate my disability. You also start with 25 days holiday and it goes up after the first year. You are also allowed to carry up to 5 days holiday over each year. You also can take paid days off for important appointments etc. Great atmosphere within the company, constant social events and team bonding things you can do if you want. Everyone knows everyone and it's like a big family.Couldn't recommend them more. I get stressed easily and have quit many jobs because of this, but this job seems to work for me. Would recommend to people who like talking/public speaking, meeting new people every day, and have a good sense of humour.
Pros
Holidays, good hours (8:30-4:30), good pay, good atmosphere, fun job, flexible working, free training, lots of upskilling available.
Cons
Have to wear a uniform (cargo pants and polo)
Poor management rubbish man management constantly paid short in wages disciplined when I was late once in four years due to accident on motorway overall a very very poor experience apart fro crew mates also management total liars I worked as e c a at stockport other bases also poorly managed
Pros
Crew mates
Cons
Poor management who dont know what day it is
Been volunteering for this company along time. Management not very supportive. Left to do your own thing. Face fits your treated like royalty and favouritism. Don’t fit you are treated like you don’t exist. Left to work on your own. Training really good. Favour new volunteers. Used to be a friendly company and part of community. Sadly now it is competitive volunteer and work place.
Pros
Good training
Cons
Cliquey culture.
The training was rushed through and actually the key parts were missed out all together. This leaves staff in a very vulnerable position especially during COVID-19! The key manager was away sick and there was no-one to step in and manage the place. Newly trained staff were expected to take an ambulance out alone after only one day of shadowing with an experienced colleague! This was never mentioned at the interview.
Pros
Excellent colleagues who were empathetic and supportive
Cons
Total lack of management at the Newark branch
My role allows me to work both autonomous and as part of a team. I am valued as is my team. I feel I am allowed to pursue new projects with support from senior management.
Pros
Lots of health and well being. Good pension
Cons
None as yet
A good job/ company with a lots of good people doing a hard job. High level of training and working alongside other medical professionals as part of a bigger team.
Pros
Working for a good cause
Cons
Long shifts
Unfortunately SJA have had to reduce its expenditure on its facilities . This is due to losing its revenue from loss of training and event revenues. The reason is due to the COVID pandemic.
Pros
Lovely people
Cons
Not good at career advancement
Good team morale and support. Every shift is different and always new people to meet. Training always available to improve and advance any current skills
Cons
None
The restructure brought about a lot of work. Trying to work with colleagues in other regions was sometimes tough and thereabouts unhelpful. Manager "appears" to be listening when cases are brought to their attention.
Pros
N/a
Cons
Limited staff for quite a lot of work and little pay.
The detatchment I was at was very clicky, run by different members of the same family. If your face didn't fit you knew it! not very supported within the role.When on duty, you could do a 12 hour shift, which they expected you to do regular, with just a sandwhich and bottle of water given, had to ask to go to the toilet, like a child. There was no give and take, just take
Pros
Good training, free uniform
Cons
Long hours unpaid
I worked for st john for 19 years and loved every second of it, it was the best job i have ever had, but unfortunately i was made redundant.
My day to day duties included day to day running of a busy reception.
Pros
good pension scheme
Lots of travel required, much more than mentioned in the interview. Constantly having to cover courses in different areas.
The role of trainer is very enjoyable, you just have to deal with stresses outside of the training room.
Pros
Meeting fantastic people on the courses
Cons
Atmosphere
St John Ambulance portrays itself as a charity but is really run as a business. Employees play second fiddle to volunteers. Any role that is not paid, but SJA can make money from is held in very high regard like volunteers staffing sporting and entertainment events (many are paid for by the organisers). If you are a ‘cap doffer’ you will fit a management role very well especially if you enjoy towing the party line.
Pros
My colleagues and team, enabling people to save a life
Cons
Poor organisation and senior management poor business organisation
Setting up venue and equipment
Greeting students
Electronic paper work
Teaching and assessing. Coaching individuals and gving feedback
Providing refreshments
Tidying up at end of day
Meeting lots of people - good.
Travelling long distances - not good
Pros
Cusomer facing
Cons
Long travelling
The morale among staff is lower than anywhere I've worked in my career.
Financial mismanagement, lack of respect for loyal and long-standing employees, and no corporate memory.
The arrival of the current CEO (Jan 2018) was like Year Zero, with no recognition of the excellent work done by management in the past.
A once great organisation now sadly struggling for survival.
Pros
A once great organisation with a great heritage
Cons
Low morale, Staff not respected (huge staff turnover), Money wasted on non-jobs at senior level, Top-down culture, No corporate memory, Megalomaniac CEO
Current role involves Developing CPD packages, Standardisation activity and conducting QA Audits. Internal quality assurance of training, learning and assessment.
Strong management structure, but limited career development opportunities.
Good family culture within departmental teams
Good office environment, if a little clique-y
Busy with emails and calls but no one is on your back about targets as they don't really exist, a long as you are pulling your weight,
Emergency ambulance work is different day every day, you must keep cool at all times and there is a lot of times where it's up to you how you complete the jobs.
Pros
Pension
Cons
Long Hours max of 16 a day
I worked for SJA as a manager for many years, seeing and being part od significant change. Always for the better and with quality in focuss things soon changes with the introduction of a COO. There was no recognition for the hard work of the leadership before the new structure, in fact it wiped out the organational memory! The culture bacame bulish and almost ignorant and arrogant. It wiped out the pride i had to say, I work for St John Ambulance..
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