University of Leeds Reviews

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds

Pros – Great team that supports you if you make an effort.

Cons – Sometimes you have to constantly rework your schedule.

Former Employee – worked at University of Leeds full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good environment, Informal, Academic, Nice place to work

Cons – Not much prospects of career development

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good holidays
Good atmosphere on campus
Some very nice scenery and interesting buildings
Interest in the environment, ethical practices (Student Union)

Cons – Very hierarchical
Support staff not given opportunity to develop or progress
Bullying and unfair treatment quite rife

Advice to Senior Management – We are all cogs that make this wheel work. Treat people on all levels with equal respect and dignity

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds

Pros – Very flexible re. work balance. Lectures are not really expected to be there at their offices other than when teaching. If they can find some conference or research project, then they can actually live hundreds of miles away and show up once a month.

Cons – Clogged by paperwork. This is not an innovative or creative place. This is a bureaucracy. Everything done in here is about making sure the Uni is not sued. Staff are afraid of students and students show little interest in staff. Research is about publications, not about knowledge.

Advice to Senior Management – Get a vision that is inspirational. More publications, more students and survival is not a vision. It is a cop out.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds

Pros – Great company pension contribution and work is limited to EU time constraints (although, personally I favour project management which gets the job done and not partially done within the time constraints).

Cons – Bosses are pushed towards publications meaning work can be highly pressured (but that is how I work best) and performance is rated on attainment and not attempts, so to be successful one has to not only work hard but work accurately.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more pro-active on training the people who can be leaders in their current field but also in other opportunities that may come their way. Better training in different applied skills would be greatly appreciated.

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds

Pros – Good facilities, good location, large body of experience to draw from, good social life, good range of professional development courses

Cons – Long hours, limited opportunities to advance, lots of cut backs at the moment resulting in poor job security, poor car parking

Advice to Senior Management – Discuss changes with people on the ground rather than making changes that make no sense to the everyday running of the company

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at University of Leeds

Pros – A good amount of flexibility of hours and working practices can be found. It varies from department to department, however there is a definite emphasis on trying to get work life balance right, if not always communicated that well.

Cons – Slow to make decisions, just because you are an academic doesn't make you a good manager or good at setting strategy for running a large organisation.

Did I mention slow?

Politics.....and ego's, may be not that different from corporates after all!

Advice to Senior Management – Get out there and work in industry and bring your experience back, or at least stop hiding from it.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Flexible work hours in a youthful working culture with very long holidays. Exciting cutting edge research institution and a real feeling of doing work of international value

Cons – Poor support structures (finance, computing). Support staff are excellent but the structures have not been designed to assist/benefit the staff.
Lack of foresight in interdisciplinary activity.

Advice to Senior Management – Think about how different fields can better interact

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at University of Leeds part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Friendly colleagues and there were some good benefit such as eating free

Cons – The university rules and management area,

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at University of Leeds

Pros – Friendly and helpful administration, nice facilities, close to the city center.

Cons – Literally impossible to get a permament position. Not so much research money. Relatively few spin-off companies.

Advice to Senior Management – University is not only about making money.