Mostly challenging customers. Some of the staff and managers are helpful and supportive although some not all are not at all. Communication is not great

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Interesting and manageable

Social Justice Administrator (Current Employee) - Livingston - 12 June 2022

Recommend working here.Would do it again.People are welcoming.Training will always be ongoing owing to nature of departments work.Trust is earnedProfessionalism is absolutePrivacy handling data

Pros

Cafe on site

Cons

Difficult to allow yourself to take half hour lunch

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Insights into West Lothian Council

Based on 16 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Time and location flexibility

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Support from manager
Feeling of personal appreciation

Good workplace

Street Cleansing Operative (Current Employee) - Blackburn, West Lothian - 24 May 2022

Good place to work, good enough guys to work with. Council isn’t getting any better with managers and supervisors taking everything you say in one ear and out the other as they’re not interested.

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Good employer

Catering Assistant (Former Employee) - West Lothian - 24 March 2022

I worked as a catering assistant in primary school for 19 years. West Lothian Council is a fair employer who pay above national minimum wage. I was dedicated, hard working, honest and reliable and rarely had time off sick. I left because the Scottish government introduced free school meals which in turn increased my hours so it was no longer suitable

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Let down by management and development opportunities

Gardener (Current Employee) - Bathgate, West Lothian - 14 March 2022

Decent enough bunch of guys to work with but let down by the attitude of managers and supervisors. Hardly any scope for development, if your face doesn’t fit you’ll get nowhere.

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Rewarding, engaging, intense, teamwork

Reablement Support Worker (Current Employee) - West Lothian community - 13 March 2022

My job involves reabling adults recovering from long/short term life altering conditions (strokes/ hip ops etc) engaging in practices which promote independence and autonomy. Involvement in feedback of assessment and using informed judgment to gauge progress and highlight where increased assistance is required.

Pros

Rewarding work, choice of shift pattern, shift allowance when antisocial hours, not stuck in one place.

Cons

Lots of driving, can cover all of west lothian area, out in all weather.

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The job has a lifespan.....

Local Government Officer (Current Employee) - Livingston - 11 March 2022

I have worked here for a long time and the first 5 years were great I was learning, training, and getting my teeth into the role I applied for. The management style is pretty bad, from micro management to non-existent. There is no development what so ever. Once you are in role. That's you. Its all fake and tick box exercises that have no merit or weight behind them. I have had one to ones with managers and expressed desires for training and development only to be in the same position 12 years later. If you're looking for a role where you come to work and then go home with no career prospects. This is the organisation for you.

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Great place to work

Administration Assistant (Current Employee) - Bathgate, West Lothian - 22 October 2021

Love working with the council, people are really nice easy commute, training is in depth and they care about your needs. Longer terms contracts for thosw would be great. Permanent jobs are hard to come by.

Pros

Training good environment

Cons

None

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Poor organisation

Clerical (Current Employee) - West Lothian - 23 August 2021

Very cliquey atmosphere among staff, not a nice atmosphere for new members of staff to experience when joining the team. Management don't even know the jobs we do so bottom level of staff have to fully train new members of staff with not even a thanks. Very b i t c h y and managers give their 'friends' the better jobs, better rotas, holidays etc. Some staff are incapable of even doing their job so they are allocated hardly any work whilst other members of staff are allocated way too much because they are capable. Staff are miserable and even if you try and go into work with a positive attitude, don't expect it to last. Expect to be treated like a leper if you're off sick for anything, absolutely no support from management, made to feel pressured into coming back into work when you're not ready to or face the stress and worry of potentially losing your job. Higher up management even worse, made to feel awful for being off and had to essentially beg to keep my job. Wonder why they have such a high turnover of staff! They do staff surveys and almost always poor feedback yet nothing ever seems to be done about it. Most cases of sick leave are due to stress but again, nothing ever done and no genuine support. If giving you a leaflet with a bunch of numbers to contact is their way of giving support then yeah, they're supportive. No opportunity to progress in the team either, started off doing decent jobs that would at least provide some sort of challenge and now the jobs are so mundane that I feel I'm losing brain cells just doing them, absolutely no challenge whatsoever. Never in -

Pros

Decent pay

Cons

Everything else

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Lack of prospects

HGV Class 2 Driver (Current Employee) - Blackburn, West Lothian - 8 September 2020

There is no forward planning or progression stragey within this company, therefor after 15 years with the organisation i need to expand my horizons and seeak new inspirations.

Pros

Competitive salary

Cons

No prospects

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Productive and fun work place

GIS Technician (Flood Risk Management) (Former Employee) - Bathgate, West Lothian Council, Scotland, UK - 17 June 2020

I have never got this kind of experience. The colleagues are very well organised and ready to help each other. I learnt to deal with difficult situation and how to handle pressure on work.

Pros

We had night outs and office lunch.

Cons

Flexible hours of work

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Productive and fun place to work

Driver chargehand (Former Employee) - Livingston and surrounding villages - 27 May 2020

OK place to work, left alone to get on with it,the only downside to it all was that the place was full of back stabbers and liars.good vans and equipment and safety.

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Awful

Practitioner (Former Employee) - Whitburn, West Lothian - 1 April 2020

Residents are lovely staff work hard to give them the best of care fully dedicated.1 Duty Manager has a wife who works there and they get same shifts,same days off same holidays also when bith on a backshift they sit in the office together

Pros

Residents

Cons

Manager and Duty Managers

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Easy going workplace

Clerical Assistant (Former Employee) - Livingston, West Lothian - 19 March 2020

Employed as admin support to social workers. Working on reception and meeting and greeting clients, visitors and suppliers. On-site learning. Management treated you as part of their team. Everybody helped each other. Hardest part was being unable to help upset clients. Most enjoyable was being thanked for the effort we all made and being part of a happy team. .

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Poor wages

Roofer (Former Employee) - Livingston, West Lothian - 9 March 2020

Poor wages, top heavy management. Slow paced work with no skill or organisation. No training or tools provided. Pay 40% less than the going rate for tradesmen.

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Good company to work for

Social Worker (Current Employee) - Livingston, West Lothian - 21 January 2020

I enjoy working with the local council. I have a good work live balance. I have found my colleagues to be supportive and helpful which has helped me settle in my new role.

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N/a

Employee (Former Employee) - Bathgate, West Lothian - 9 December 2019

Would not recommend working here many days spent doing nothing despite asking for work. Higher paid contract staff brought in when not needed to do the same amount of skiving. Absolute joke

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Time wasted

Grounds Maintenance Operative (Former Employee) - West Lothian - 29 November 2019

Not a great employer because of the climate. Government has kicked the life out of it with all the cuts. Managers that forget they were workers once and now have to justify their jobs.

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the clowncil

HGV Driver class 2 (Current Employee) - Blackburn, West Lothian - 21 November 2019

good to work with ur own crew,dont back chat your surperiors and management as they would put u on the worst jobs going. and the hardest part is the management dont want to help.friday was the best part of job as it was a short day

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it is a very fast paced work environment ,and can be very stressful at times ,but job satisfaction is high and it's giving back to society .

Chef /Cook 1 (Current Employee) - Livingston - 15 November 2019

day can begin at 7am and you hit the ground running ,breakfast is always a favourite mealtime .I've learned so much about mental health and illness relating to old age . the hardest part of the job is when our clients pass away ,we get to know them so well they become like family . The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that the clients enjoy the work I do .

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great council

School Teaching Assistant (Former Employee) - West Lothian - 18 October 2019

brilliant great colleagues fantastic buildings great pay good teaching assistants motivated staff polite and lovely staff working throughput the towns and villages

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