Cotswold Company Culture FAQ

Pros

Great opportunities to be exposed to all aspects of a successful business Senior Management believe in the goals of the business Good level of transparency of business performance and aims Colleagues and management care about their staff, good culture High level of communication from Exec team

Cons

Like most e-commerce businesses in the current climate there is a lot of change and the pace of the business can be tough at times

Advice to Management

Finally get round to dealing with some of the trickier bits of feedback from the survey

Pros

The office looks swish, but (something about polishing a - ?) The ‘perks’ of fruit, pastries, or a bottle of bud if you want it on a Friday ^This could be considered no different to throwing a handful of corn to caged hens. The input doesn’t quite equate to the output being given. But if the workers have blinkers on its fine. Its fine. This is a perk, right?

Cons

Cons The new CEO Ralph Tucker writing a 5* review titled “Great Company”? This is indicative of the mentality of this level of Management, manipulating the bias. I trust readers see through this. Favouritism Low pay No thank yous __ I invested over two years here and I am glad I took the leap to leave. There is literally nothing for loyalty here. (pay reviews, promotions, professional development support). I’ve just got time consumed by this company on my CV, nothing of added value. There’s a worrying rise in frequency of bullying by management. A nasty band of managers across various departments – all backing themselves up. You cannot complain to HR (sorry, People Team) they are no better and bully within their own team. …If you don’t have a HR Department who are guided by ethics and have good morals, who are approachable and empathetic, who are supportive – I’m not sure what the point is. There’s always the legal stuff like employment contracts – but since mine had an error (granted in my favour), I’d suggest you check over your contract thoroughly. There has got to be something they’re good at, but I did not see what it was during my time there. As a potential employee, the first department you will deal with will be the People Team, so remember that. _ In your daily working life you can expect to see decisions being made by directors that have very little thought about the implications of the extra work being created to those at ground level. It will be continual firefighting for you as a result of those decisions, rather than a controlled exercise. You’ll end up feeling like you’re juggling your workload – just helping your team to keep afloat for the next ‘all hands on deck’ emergency. The frequency of those is all too often considering recruitment is low, there’s too much work per person across most departments. You will feel exceptionally underappreciated and underpaid for all the work being bandied about unnecessarily. If you can handle that, awesome. Don't forget to leave your job satisfaction at the door too, remember there’s no career progression for the likes of you here. The company is trying to grow fast, but cutting corners in doing so - to the detriment of its staff. Meanwhile the ringleaders are all patting each other on the back for the same. Staff morale could not be lower. The wages are not in line with national average, particularly if remote working. (pay rises are not good enough.) Staff turnover could not be higher. It’s a toxic work environment. But then its not my circus.

Advice to Management

Learn some employee names. Carry out Exit Interviews, understand and learn from them.