Pros
Great staff - I can’t say enough good things about them. They are talented, and go above and beyond –giving blood, sweat and tears every day. The benefits are ok and on par with other charity jobs for support staff (FYI PDSA: benefits = pay, sick leave, maternity leave etc. Not free tea and milk or being able to wear jeans in the office). Flexible working - both location and hours. Pre-pandemic this was non-existent for support staff, if you didn’t work 9-5 in the office you didn’t have a job.
Cons
Make yourself a cup of tea and sit down – this is going to take a while…. Let’s start at the top. Constant changing priorities and direction. Money wasted on vanity projects because the 'leaders' wants to do them – despite them not delivering any key objectives and losing the charity money. Constant restructures. It some areas (Marketing) it’s a 12-18 month cycle. This usually coincides with someone’s face no longer fitting or upsetting one of the 'leaders' by being ‘critical’ (also known as not being a yes-man). A team will barely be established and working towards the current plan when everything changes. Cue more uncertainty and projects being paused. Charity money spent on redundancies. The people (un)lucky enough to be left behind end up with a bigger workload to cover for the roles that were 'no longer needed'. With these restructures comes new Directors - again Marketing is the key problem here. Average of 1 new Marketing Director every year I was there, They're brought in because of their expertise, then not allowed to use them (much like the staff). But, you can't expect much else from a charity which publicly states she doesn't believe in investing in this area. A truly toxic culture. Staff who are scared to speak out or have given up because they aren’t listened too. Micromanaging, gaslighting and a general distain for staff mental health/ wellbeing. Ultimately as long the end goal is met, they don’t care what happens to staff along the way as they limp, battered and bruised, across the finish line. Finally, income: Viewing the people they help as an income stream – squeezing every last penny out of them. During a cost of living crisis! No long-term investment in brand growth or marketing. Not understanding that sometimes you have to spend money to make money – every year it costs more just to stand still. No new fundraising activity, or investment growing new income streams. Seeing spending less on charitable activity (eg helping pets) as a positive – because it makes the bottom line look healthier. Sitting on millions in reserves while passing cost increases on to pet owners.