thebigword Employee Reviews

Enormous workload with no guaranteed work contract. The communication between departments is non existent and not everyone is sure of the process and it takes forever for someone to respond to your queries.

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Chaotic and disorganised place

Linguist (Former Employee) - Leeds - 8 July 2023

Very high turnover, lot of inexperienced staff. Communication between departments is non existent and the quality control over the thousands of freelancers they use is basically non existent.

Pros

Working from home

Cons

Lack of communication and direction

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Insights into thebigword

Based on 12 survey responses

What people like

Time and location flexibility

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
Sense of belonging
Ability to learn new things

Not applicable, I don't meet others, if yes very rarely (others linguits).

French Linguist (Current Employee) - London - 7 December 2022

I am happy to continue working here. There is many desks, that I joined progressively. So more opportunities and experiences gained. I also received short trainings. eg : telephone interpreting.

Pros

No free lunch.

Cons

Some times we have long hours depending of tasks.

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Poor rates of pay and lack of respect for freelance workforce

Interpreter and Translator (Current Employee) - London West, Greater London - 6 December 2022

I've worked off and on for this company as a freelance "linguist" for many years. It has gone from bad to worse - rates offered are so low that the majority of offers simply aren't worth replying to. The Big Word does not value interpreters' qualifications and experience and does not care about the experience their clients or service users with limited English.

Pros

Plenty of offers of assignments in

Cons

Offers are not financially viable

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Avoid thebigword

Account Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 6 October 2022

Things keep getting worse for all the hard working employees at thebigword. Due to a big automation push as well as outsourcing to India they have made a lot of employees redundant (I was not one of them) the board of directors all seem to be very insensitive and selfish. I understand it is there job to drive the business in a commercial sense but it is also paramount to create a stable and inclusive work environment- this they do not do. There are currently changing employees contracts (again) so they are forced to work on bank holidays. This is the worst company I have ever worked for, they seem to give a job to just about anyone - this decreases productivity and means the hardworking employees have to pick up slack. The pay is terrible and you are looked down upon if you don’t do overtime. This company is so severely ethically and morally compromised I have no idea why some people choose to stay here. My advice is if you are a current employee - things are only going to get worse so leave. If you are a prospective employee, look elsewhere and do not consider working here. Most of the other reviews on here are negative hopefully that will give you a sense of what’s it’s like.

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review.We are a global business and pride ourselves on our collaborative global teams working together to achieve success. We ensure that our staff have development opportunities and many of our employees have gone on to complete apprenticeships with us alongside our dedicated apprentice positions. We would like to remind you that we have an open-door policy and encourage feedback from staff throughout the year and consistently strive for improvement. We understand that thebigword can be a face paced environment however, we do ensure that workloads are manageable and would encourage all staff who do not feel that this is the case to speak to their line manager. Please be assured that your feedback is important to us and will be passed on to the relevant department.Kind regards, Thebigword

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Needs Improvement... Fast

Project Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 22 August 2022

I worked here for over 5 years. To begin with it was a great fun place to work with great staff and loads of opportunities. Recently they changed structure and decided to move the majority of the work out of country. Due to this many staff members in the UK were made redundant. Due to this sudden change, standards dropped and morale couldn't be any lower. Those still left in the business have too big of a workload and no help from management because they simply don't have the time themselves. I'll stop here as i could probably go on for hours. But things do need to change.

Cons

Long hours, No support, Stressful working environment

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review. We have a successful apprenticeship program open to our employees to ensure that there are development opportunities for those who would like them. We are a global business and pride ourselves on our collaborative global teams working together to achieve success. We understand that thebigword can be a fast past environment but would always encourage employees with a high workload to speak to their line manager for further support. We are grateful for your feedback and would like to assure you that feedback is passed to the relevant departments. Kind regards, thebigword

Relaxed workplace with supportive managers and colleagues

Linguist coordinator (Former Employee) - Leeds - 27 July 2022

Working at the big word on weekends was calm and relaxed. It was pretty quite on weekends and you rarely get rang by interpreters. You are tasked to fulfill all you’re bookings which can sometimes be a little bit of a hassle due to interpreters been unable to attend, but that is no fault of the companies. Management is extremely supportive and do not look down on you like most other work places. You get plenty of breaks and free lunches. I felt like a person who was part of a team rather than just a number. Really nice place to work.

Pros

Free lunches, supportive management and colleagues. Relaxed, fun and supportive workplace

Cons

Long hours

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review. We are glad to hear that you enjoyed working for thebigword and thank you for your positive comments regarding our working environment and our supportive management. Thank you for your hard work and contribution to our business, we wish you continued success in the future.Kind regards, thebigword

Productive and relaxing

Client Account Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 1 April 2022

An okayish place to work, however the salary given is below the average salary band in the project management field.Managers and staff working here all get along well.

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review. All of our salaries are benchmarked in line with the market however, we are sorry to hear that you do not feel that this is the case. Please be assured that your feedback is important to us and will be passed on to the relevant department.Thank you for your comments regarding our collaborative working environment as this is something we pride ourselves in. Kind regards, Thebigword

AVOID if you are a linguist

Linguist (Former Employee) - England & Wales - 23 March 2022

a typical day means you spend disproportionate amount of time checking every single stage of a job - ringing in to ask whether the essential details are correct, every time double checking the forms are uploaded and being processed, moved from one stage of invoicing to another and enquiring about randomly assigned invoicing dates, ringing and emailing in every time they conveniently forget to invoice you a cancellation fee; emailing and ringing in every time your assignment might disappear from portals/app. An absolute disgrace. what I learnt is that if you are good at shifting responsibility you will get a job in TBW anytime anywhere, if you are not fluent in English you can work for helpdesk, and if you are absolutely desperate you can always work as TBW linguist. The management is unreachable, the workplace culture is non-existent, the hardest part of the job is the knowledge that you have to travel over 100 miles to a job to get paid an acceptable amount on travel still knowing you will get paid peanuts for the actual linguistic expertise you provide (interpreting time); not knowing what the job is about before you accept it (sometimes not even after you accept it) and the most enjoyable part of the job is the knowledge that there are plenty of logistics and driving jobs out there you can grab any time and earn a lot more without running your own car to the ground.

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review.We constantly review how we work with linguists and update our policies and procedures where necessary. We review our rates on a regular basis with other providers in our industry to ensure we are providing competitive prices for our competitors. We always welcome any feedback on how we can improve our relationship with our dedicated network of over 15,000 linguists around the world and would encourage people to raise issues with us through our specified channels.Please be assured that your feedback is important to us and will be passed on to the relevant department.Kind regards,thebigword

I was bullied there. The pay was terrible. Management didn't care about the people at all only the money.

Project Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds - 26 January 2022

A very stressful environment. Expected you to work long hours for a very low salary. I felt sorry for the translators as they tried to cut their rates. I was bullied but management seemed to encourage it rather than stop it from happening.

Pros

I enjoyed working with the translators Friendly team members but managers were awful

Cons

Long Hours Bad Management Low Pay Stressful Environment

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Official response from thebigword

28 November 2022

Thank you for your review. We are sorry to read your comments regarding management. We work hard to continuously improve our managerial strategies and provide a full leadership and line management course for all managers across the business to ensure they are properly equipped to support their teams. Bullying is not the culture we promote at thebigword. We would encourage you to contact hrenquiries@thebigword.com to provide us with further information regarding this to enable us to investigate further.We understand that thebigword can be a fast past environment but would always encourage employees with a high workload to speak to their line manager for further support. All of our salaries are benchmarked in line with the market as well as the skills and responsibilities in relation to their role. We must stress that overtime is optional and any overtime employees work is paid accordingly. Kind regards,thebigword

Jobs at thebigword

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Account Manager (Internal Applications Only)

Leeds

12 days ago

Global Payroll Manager

Lead Software Architect

Leeds

30+ days ago

Fluid balance of flexibility and good working environment plus professional rapport.

Community Interpreter (Current Employee) - Greater London - 31 December 2021

Love the flexibility with Thebigword. Transportation sometimes could be a bit tricky in London. And takes long time while on hold to let them know you gonna be late for work.Easyly recognise the traffic problems.You could cancel a gig if you have a serious reason and do it well in advance.They don't pay travel time though.Over the course of more than 12 years with Thebigword I received several options for upgrading my skills through their dedicated support channels.The company has grown and now is perhaps the biggest interpreting services provider in the UK.The very few problems in regards to invoicing issues had been dealt with in a prompt and a professional manner.Culturally, sometimes I have been facing some problems with clarification and misunderstanding (i.e. clients of mine refusing to comply with Thebigword strict confidentiality code). Hence disputes of those kinds could be lengthy.

Pros

Flexibility, professionalism, prompt response

Cons

Disputes could be lengthy

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Not cooperating and unwilling to help resolve issues.

Interpreter (Current Employee) - Own address - 28 December 2021

The staff is very slow at responding to complaints and queries. Very slow- paced working environment. Not very organised and hierarchy not very clear.

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Great business to place your career

Marketing Director (Current Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 1 September 2021

I started with thebigword in 2011 and since then I've had lots of progression opportunities. If you're looking for a fast-paced and exciting business to learn and grow, look no further.

Pros

Virtual working, career progression opportunities

Cons

Hectic but rewarding work

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Hired through agency taken on perm. Bad middle management

Resourcer (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 22 August 2021

promotion only given to candidates that were friendly with the boss/ senior team leaders. Blame culture and very disjointed work ethic. Lots of people in positions that they are not able to carry out and have no experience, therefore this is passed down to lower skilled staff. Wages are also very low compared to other companies.

Pros

Free parking

Cons

Low wage, bad management

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Awful company, no support at all!

Interpreter (Former Employee) - Cheshire - 9 July 2021

I have been with the big word for at least 12 years. It has gone from being a good company to work for to the most awful one. There is absolutely no support for the linguist. Emails or complaints get ignored on a daily basis. Any message you send off will never get responded to.Shocking attitude, the worst of the worst!

Pros

Nothing

Cons

everything

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Horrible place to work

Interpreter (Freelance) (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 5 May 2021

They treat linguist very badly , no protection whatsoever , pay below minimum wage, 5min break per hour which is to short to take that,s unbelievable, a lot of pressure, stress the lack of respect for your time, they don,t pay for making your invoices if you too late they not pay, if you are booking the work taking usually 30 min to book each Sunday and they don't pay for that time either.I did asked them many times to change it to a week day but they never listen!

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Stressful work, inflexible staff, unprofessional attitude

Interpreter (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 7 July 2020

I like my job as an interpreter and I have worked with this company for a while but it is getting worse with the time. The staff is very difficult to get in touch with and deal with. The operators on the phone (if they ever pick up the phone) are unprofessional and unhelpful; their aim is just to allocate the jobs and not to listen to interpreter's requirements. Dealing with them via email is equally difficult. It takes them a week to answer your request and most of the times it is urgent to be sorted out immediately. The portal where we accept the jobs is far from perfect. I have been trying to comment on some of the issues but they haven't been resolved at all. As a whole it is stressful to work with them because there is lack of coordination between the members of the staff and between thebigword and listing offices in court. As a result of this a lot of double bookings occur which is frustrating for the interpreters. Travel costs are not covered accordingly.

Pros

Flexible working hours for freelancers; payment on time

Cons

Unprofessional attitude, inflexible communication, lack of coordination, difficult communication via phone or email, unhelpful operators/administration

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Very friendly

Interpreting coordinator (Current Employee) - Leeds, LinkUp House - 6 June 2020

At thebigword you can meet very friendly and helpful teams. It's a great opportunity to gain your skills specially for a beginners in administrative role.

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Management is helpless and unprofessional

Project Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 25 March 2020

Management is the worst...they are fake ans show favoritism. HR is even worst...they do not really care about the employees. I had to get a therapist in order to cop.

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Review

Recruiter, Thebigword, Leeds (Former Employee) - Leeds - 23 March 2020

Amazing company to work for but pay Was not great, I believe it has increased since I’ve left the company. Apart from that no complaints with the company.

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Ridiculous

Recruitment Consultant (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 27 November 2019

Would never work for these again, HR doesn’t know how to pay your wages accordingly.(they pay you then take it off you without reason) The interpreters don’t get paid either Avoid at all costs, they are better jobs out there that pays a lot better

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