-Biggest for me, undervalued staff.
Members of the team are paid well below market value for the skillsets they possess and there's basically zero chance to have this negotiated, as the company employs a blanket policy in regards to raises. If you haven't been singled out for a raise, tough luck.
- Management is reactionary and doesn't seem to plan properly.
They see something they think is cool, instantly declare to clients that "we do it better" then expect their teams to produce something that would take any other company months to get looking amazing in a matter of weeks; sometimes days, often with scattered feedback from upper management and last minute, major changes. That's if it gets through the seemingly dozens of sign offs it needs first, of course.
-A lot of carrot on a stick tactics when it comes to progressing in your career.
I've been here for over two years, and in that time have seen little if any opportunity to progress beyond a Junior position. And any time it's brought up, the answer I get tends to dance round the issue, with vague promises of "looking into it" or "feeling you're not quite ready".
It feels like a rather cheap, dirty tactic, with comments often seeming to be personal rather professional. I was told in one meeting that a reason keeping me from progressing was "I sometimes come in looking like I don't want to be there."
- Can't decide what image the business wants to project
This one is definitely a little more subjective and probably unique to the department I work in but there seems to be some serious confusion in how they want to present themselves as a business. In some areas, they go for a sleek, no nonsense, up market look, in the style of John Lewis for example. In others, they do the complete opposite; portraying themselves as a fun, "off the wall" startup (think Innocent Smoothie)
While neither are bad things per se, they should stick to one and really push it. As it is right now, neither works as well it could for the business as a whole.
Sick pay -
Sick pay is only awarded if you're off for three days or more and have a note from your GP. So even if you have a GP's note, if you're off for less than 3 days, bad luck, no sick pay for you. I had tonsillitis earlier this year, but was hesitant to take time off because my already meagre salary meant I'd be very stretched in my next pay packet.
In the end, I took two days off, got a note from my GP and still lost out on pay. Not ideal.
And if anything this might encourage people to take MORE time off, defeating the purpose of making sure people are off as little as possible.
