Pros
I met some lovely colleagues and have stayed in touch with them.
Cons
Prior to working for Impact futures I spent over 12 happy years with another provider and consistently thrived. Since leaving Impact Futures I have spent 2 months now working with my new employer who are also another Apprenticeship Training Provider, where I feel happy, valued and respected. Therefore I am well placed to give a balanced view on the substantial negatives experienced while working for Impact Futures. The recruitment and onboarding process was good and at the beginning, masked what things were really like. I got the distinct impression that the HR and Recruitment part of the business genuinely want things to work out well for their new recruits, of which there is always a high number every month. However what I experienced once I started to work my line manager, who is at a 'Director of' level, was concerning, upsetting and damaging both to the people in the team and ultimately, in my view, to the reputation of the wider business as an employer. This person is a micromanager of the highest order who used fear, rumours, put downs and gaslighting behaviours to control the narrative, control the team members and control every last detail of what we did. said and thought. One moment you were made to feel like the best team member and the next, the behaviour would change for no reason you could fathom and you could do nothing right. We were kept at arms length from the rest of the business and worked in a complete silo from everyone else. If, god forbid, you met with anyone else outside of your own dept to resolve things, discuss ideas or take an initiative, this manager wanted to know why and would often discourage, preferring instead to take control themselves. We were also advised what we could and could not say during senior team meetings where Board members would be present. During interview this Director of promised career progression and opportunities. It was soon evident this was not the case as even our caseloads were poorly apportioned and did not provide a level playing field for all to thrive, let alone anything else. This was so blatantly obvious that it could not be denied by this manager, yet at the same time they would ask why the amount of business coming in was so low. We were all working with set portfolios that were less than half the size of what we were used to working with in prior ( and subsequent) roles. A self professed martyr to the business, and of course completely invaluable to everything and everyone, this 'Director of' would spy on calendar activity, (Ironic, given their own diary management was so appalling it was an inside joke) message in the early hours, at night and worst of all, during weekends and holidays to satisfy their own immediate needs. It was clear that this person was in a constant state of panic about things within their own role and very much cascaded this feeling down to the team, all of whom were/are professional people at the top of their role in terms of aptitude and experience. I know this behaviour is still continuing. As a result, energy and focus in this team was not primarily geared toward the client, instead the majority of the working week was wrenched away in favour of the copious minutiae of last minute tasks, reports, meetings, calls, messages, directives and personal fixations, most of which were in place for their benefit and not that of the client. It was chaos and we were all operating as busy fools instead of being given the trust and freedom to operate as the professional people we are. Unsurprisingly, staff turnover in this team is high and consistent. This means the team never really settles and as a result neither do the clients who depend on it's support. I write this review as I know that the Board is aware of this situation yet allows it to continue. This means they are complicit. This confirms that no matter how much this employer professes to care about the wellbeing of it's staff, it's continued inaction in this highly important and integral area of the business speaks for itself.
