Friendly place to work - Anonymous employee Bat Conservation Trust Employee Review

I've never worked for any organisation that is so well-organised as the BCT. Office functions are very straightforward to carry out as previous and current staff have very thoughtfully created multiple document templates as well as a very effective index system to easily find those templates. Everyone who works there is very conscious of conservation issues (they are passionate about what they do), are friendly, and happy to help each other, and new comers. Staff often socialise by going on pub/park outings after work. BCT make a point of doing appraisals and take this aspect very seriously. They are very interested in getting staffs' honest feedback about their experiences of working there, and ensuring that staff are happy, and are developing in their roles,. The senior staff are very open-minded, caring, and are keen to make improvements where possible. I was there for three months (a seasonal post). However, I was able to apply for two new positions which opened up during that time.

None really. However, in autumn and winter, there aren't any interesting indoor places to visit in the local area during lunchtime (no museums, galleries etc). The office is located on the 3rd/4th floor of a small building near Vauxhall Station, central London. There are ample shops and cafes etc for buying food. During the hot season you can go to the local park, as well as visit a small city farm across the road from it.

Exceptional work culture - line managers, SMT, CEO and trustees value employees. Constant reminders to look after mental health and general well-being, lots of support and resources about this. Also appreciation that as a fairly small organisation the workload can be a bit much sometimes so weekly 1-1 catch ups with line managers are strongly encouraged and implemented. There is also a lot internal comms about workload management, staff are not expected to work extra time, encouraged not to book meetings during lunchtime, take time aside to review workload and plan. They do an awful lot of amazing work with fairly small capacity and resources. Allows flexi-time to start and finish times and to work from home.

The only con I would point out is regarding salary and job progression. The salary isn’t offensive but not quite the same as other similar size organisations in the same sector. There are lots of other benefits though, so it’s just a matter of weighing in what is more important to you. Staff retention is high so not a lot of opportunities to progress in your career. There are some, particularly when new projects pop-up but not a huge amount