Defence Science and Technology Laboratory reviews about "opportunity"

Any role in a civil service organisation operates within significant constraints, like austerity and constant change, and these things sometimes negatively impact how it feels to work there.

Woeful leadership - c-suite don't agree on comms or strategy Management are rubbish, I'm not sure what they actually do Staff promoted too early through weird internal promotion process to stay competitive with other government department salaries. Limited training opportunities compared with elsewhere in government

Terrible environment. Poor leadership. The need to reduce headcount by 1000 people is stressful and depressing. Pay is rubbish compared to private sector, and dstl pays the worse in the whole of the MOD civil service!

Ridged pay scale structure based on level within the organisation with little to no room for negotiation. Promotion process is equally ridged and can be dependent on whim of one or two gate-keepers.

Opportunities can be limited but it's a good place to start

Opportunities to progress are being limited

Slow moving, frustrating when you work in tech High pay compared to government, but very low for industry standards Often puts process Infront of progress Ineffective leadership Lack of accountability and ownership Management heavy Old school mentality Some rotten apples

Low salary Some teams are very poor Team leader holds a lot of power in career position

If you enjoy being told pointless words instead of actual direction and dont care about career progression, then this is the place for you. To be able to progress, you have to wait for someone to leave, die or complain enough about someone to take their job. There is no set career progression, people leave to allow for "reduction in staff", but then accept more work than the current employees can handle. A recruitment freeze for over 2 years means we dont have new people joining us, which means we lose young bright minds. Backwards views on staff treatment. No real pay rise in forever. 4.8% during a cost of living crisis when the salary is already below standard is not good enough. Car parking is a joke - there's a need to drive to site, but there isn't enough parking for all employees. Don't expect people to work on site, when there are no parking spaces or desk space to do so. Extortionate coffee - costa is all well and good, but at £3.65 for a medium latte, thats extreme when we get paid civil service salary but expected to pay retail price for coffee. Beige food - claims to be healthy and then serves huel from a fridge. Poor work life balance - an expectation to work the level above you for a year (with no additional incentive) to then be told you cant have the position above you with no real feedback. Working disgustingly long hours for little reward, but no choice because theres not enough staff and the cycle continues.