Toxic culture and environment. - Engineer Barker Associates Employee Review

Leaving is the best thing.

Barker Associates is a masterclass in corporate hypocrisy. They peddle values like “respect” and “support,” but it’s all smoke and mirrors. Behind the scenes, this place is a festering swamp of bullying, discrimination, and shameless backroom politics. The HR department is the most toxic I’ve encountered in my career—rife with constant backstabbing, archaic views and pathetic playground gossip. These are the people responsible for employee wellbeing, yet they actively mock, belittle, and isolate staff. If you’re not part of their little clique, prepare to be psychologically worn down until you leave or break. Management doesn’t care. Bullies are protected, toxic behaviour is rewarded and anyone who speaks up is swiftly punished or pushed out. There’s no loyalty, no integrity and absolutely no accountability. This isn’t just a bad company—it’s a dangerous one for your mental health. DO NOT believe the ethos of this company, it’s all a lie to get you in!

Flexibile working hours Management are understanding of home life commitments and appointments Nice people Training is encouraged. Seems to be a lot of juniors being helped through their studies whilst working.

Team structure is poor. Standards seem to vary drastically. Yearly targets are based on hourly rates you can't possibly charge out and win work, so you end up doing far more work in a year to make up the difference. So you're overworked consistently. Because of the workload there's little time available for training, if you're not junior. The company seems to have high overheads and it seems any profit shares you're entitled to will only be "good" if every department has a good year.