Lovely people, poor pay and bad benefits - Assistant Ecologist FPCR Environment and Design Employee Review

If you’re a recent graduate or assistant wanting to gain some experience and get a foot in the door of consultancy, then this could be the place for you in the short-term. If you want to earn a good salary, have a good work / life balance and develop professionally whilst being well-supported then there are better opportunities elsewhere. - Plenty of hands-on experience for junior staff. - Willing to take graduates on with no / little experience. - Some great team members. - Good inclusivity / LGBT awareness. - Decent social activities.

- Seldom turn work down, regardless of how busy they are. - Senior Directors don’t do much, or effective, management. - Senior staff spread too thinly to provide meaningful support to junior staff. It’s very much sink or swim and you’re thrown in at the deep end. - Junior staff managing projects which are beyond their level of experience with little senior support (with the predictable results of poor-quality output and mistakes). - High levels of stress that is very poorly managed at an organisational level. - Line managers are often so over-worked that there is very little chance for them to effectively manage their teams. - Poor communication between the separate ecology teams which if improved could help in managing workloads, new work enquiries, knowledge sharing. - Negative attitudes from some senior staff which can be contagious. - Poor attitude to health and safety. - Arbitrary promotions and advancement. Many are promoted too quickly. This leads to senior staff doing roles they are not experienced enough to do, and there is little to no support or training. - Very much client focussed.

Overall the work is good, fairly repetitive, immediate line managers are excellent and supportive.

Senior leadership don’t seem to care and will not listen to their workforce.