The National Archives Employee Reviews

I truly loved my time at The National Archives - the team I worked with had some of the hardest workers and positive people that I have met in my time working. Unfortunately I felt I had to leave. This was due to my pay not reflecting the high-cost location of nearby London, nor a pay-rise for effectively being promoted. In addition, some of the ideas held by those who have been in the business for a long time have effectively stagnated, so it's particularly difficult to incite any change in the business. The good people did outweight this for me, but I recognise it isn't for everyone!

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Very nice people

ERP Consultant (Current Employee) - Kew - 10 June 2023

Very nice peopleFlexibleGood work and family balanceGood managementGood team workNice officeWould recommend to anyone looking for a good company to work with

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Loved my time at TNA

Manager (Former Employee) - London/remote - 7 November 2022

Amazing place to work. Wonderful, fascinating colleagues and meaningful and interesting work. Great work-life balance. It was a joy coming into the office - Kew is a beauties part of London. Highly recommend!

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Excellent location and colleagues

Archives Development Manager (Archivist) (Former Employee) - Surrey - 26 March 2022

Excellent location and colleagues. Interesting and challenging work a d opportunities to work with colleagues across archives, museums, libaries, arts and heritage. Excellent learning opportunities.

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first job in the heritage sector

Archive Supervisor and Assistant (Former Employee) - Kew, London - 31 May 2019

This was a full time position and my first in the heritage sector. This was a target of mine as it would give me more job satisfaction as I have a passion for history. however some of the staff were unfriendly and some weeks you worked six days in a row.

Pros

job satisfaction

Cons

unfriendly colleagues and long working week.

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It is a great place to work

Procurement & Contract Management Business Partner (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 20 March 2019

Have learnt a lot and been exposed to a variety of procurement exercises. The culture here is very friendly and I have learnt a lot in a short space of time. It is a cultural destination and I enjoy the work immensely

Pros

Flexible working

Cons

Pay could be better

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Love working here

Manager (Current Employee) - Richmond upon Thames, Greater London - 5 December 2018

Great atmosphere, nice colleagues, excellent facilities, including free museum and parking. Wellbeing is good and we hold an annual wellbeing day for staff every spring. Work areas are clean and clear of clutter and there are kitchens on every floor to make tea and lunch etc. As a relatively new manager, I feel things could be improved such as more joined up cross department working and better management of workloads within teams. In house recruitment guidance is very limited which is a sentiment expressed across the organisation. Cleaners don’t seem to clean desks etc as regularly as other offices I have worked in.

Pros

Location, salary, pension

Cons

seagulls and swans

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Lovely place to work

Senior Manager (Current Employee) - Management - 9 November 2018

I have been working here for over 5 years in a strategic and leadership position. I have found colleagues to be very friendly, highly qualified and very engaged in what they do. The archives are situated in a beautiful estate with lakes, swans and lots or horticulture. I feel very valued as a member of staff and the salaries and benefits are good too. Free parking and close proximity to London makes it even more appealing. Great free museum and bookshop onsite with a good coffee bar.

Pros

Location, pension, wellbeing events

Cons

Poorly led recruitment team, local traffic

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Interesting work place

Document Service Adviser (Current Employee) - London - 22 October 2018

There are a lot of different roles to fill in a variety of departments. There are events held all year round showcasing the most interesting documents.

Pros

Good HR Department

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Good

Document Services Operator (Former Employee) - Kew - 22 May 2018

Enjoyed working here. Worked in a small team, learnt the functionalities of an archive and basic preservation and research skills. Good workplace culture and benefits.

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Positive and interesting place to work

Records Advisor (Former Employee) - Kew - 9 February 2018

A friendly work environment with flexibility in start and end times for the working day. Working with the records is fascinating and the job itself provides variety and some opportunities to develop skills in records expertise and management and operational procedures and leadership.

Pros

Generous Annual Leave

Cons

Salary could aslot more competative

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great place to work

Documentation Assistant (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 25 January 2018

My typical day at work was 8:50am-5pm, and every 3rd week 11am-7pm two days a week. I learned a lot about how the company operates, as well as the history of the building and contents inside. Management was great in this job very friendly and a joy to be around. Hardest part of the job was probably lifting the heavy boxes and transporting the documents, Most enjoyable part would be the work environment and work colleagues.

Pros

3hrs worth of break to take throughout the day

Cons

sometimes can be draining

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Red tape

Security officer (Former Employee) - Kew - 16 October 2017

Great team of people who are friendly with strong work ethics but government red tape seems to prevent any sensible decisions from being made. Needs an HR overhaul

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Warehouse work with minimal chances to process.

Document Controller (Current Employee) - Kew Gardens Station - 14 September 2017

I have nothing nice to say. As it very unfair culture in department and therefore can not and will not express my feelings of job. Other than it's main role is similar to warehouse and time base work.

Pros

0 pros

Cons

Empty promises

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Fun

Photographers Assistant (Former Employee) - London - 17 August 2017

Amazing place to work, lovely people and never get bored there. there is always something new to work on every single day. Wasnt there for long but would suggest to work there.

Pros

beautiful area

Cons

hot in the rooms

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teams were great, not so much fun if you don't like history

Document Services Operator (Former Employee) - Kew - 6 January 2017

Spent a lot of time handling the documents in the repositories. My co-workers were very helpful when I got stuck. Management for the individual repositories was very good, however, general management I found to be disorganised and somewhat biased with their decisions in hiring and firing people, tending to favour family and friends over those who were "outsiders". The hardest part was the amount of work and the speed with which documents had be sent down to the reading rooms, but, I did enjoy getting a rare look at documents I might not have seen.

Pros

great team, interesting items

Cons

poor management, biased decisions

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Training Provider

Support Analyst (Former Employee) - Kew Richmond - 2 November 2016

This company is part of the civil service and is currently undergoing a reorganisation within many of its diverse departments, Training is avaailable for certain members of staff but not fotr everyone

Pros

Flexitime

Cons

Unpaid overtime

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Everyone was very help full and it is a very fun place too work

Document searcher (Former Employee) - London - 25 September 2016

Everyone who works there is very helpful and they are really friendly and it is such a welcoming place too work. And people there are always happy to help if you get stuck

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Security Manager

Security Manager (Former Employee) - Kew - 6 November 2015

Day to day running of a Security team and Control room, using personal skills to help improve the service to the customers and users of the Archive. Use of electronic systems to ensure the safety of all users and the protection of the building and it's contents. Manage a team of up to 30 offices 24/7, training programmes for new team members and working out rota's to ensure all duties were covered. Working with other departments and agencies to give advice on security measures and procedures. Liaise with our comers on focus groups to give a more customer friendly approach to security. Recruitment and progression manager or the Security team .

Pros

Good training and team working

Cons

Shift vwork

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lovely building, varied work, nice customers and a terrible manager.

General Assistant (Former Employee) - Kew, ENG - 30 October 2013

the manager changed in the short time i was there fro a really friendly, hard working, team player manager. who was respectful and understanding, the best manager i ever had to a rude, selfish, inconsiderate slave driver. the building is amazing and the customers were interesting and generally nice people.