Pros
The group members are very diverse, show genuine appreciation and are generally lovely to work with. Many consultants are nice people who will welcome you on board.
Cons
Self employed contracts are basically an elaborate tax avoidance scheme, with all the protections put on the company who then pay little regard to an individual's profitability or circumstances. Consultants and Team Developers receive none of the benefits or protections of employment, yet suffer every disadvantage of being self employed. For instance, there is no sick or holiday pay and operatives have to arrange and pay for another trained person to cover their absence, yet are not allowed to take indefinite leave to recover from illness (as an example) even when they are prepared to do so at their own expense. A basic benefit of being self employed is that you can take as much or little time off as you please, and pay a third party to cover the service. This isn't the case at Slimming World. This is just one instances of the ways in which operatives aren't really self employed, despite what is said on the tin, and my advice to anyone considering one of these positions is to get someone with knowledge of employment law to check over the contract with you to make sure all your needs are actually being met. Slimming World will promise you the Earth in all the ways you hope for, but only do so in order to manipulate you without ever making good. For example, they promise that all groups can have upwards of seventy members and forecast your earnings on that basis at the consultant recruitment event, yet fail to disclose that the average group comes nowhere close to this size. This also extends to career aspirations. Recruitment events at all levels explicitly mention the bountiful opportunities to progress into more senior roles with (slightly) better working conditions such as the security of true employment, creating a false impression that the company widely support career progression. This is however totally without merit. You could have the best results in the company, with several senior vacancies in your area, but will only actually progress if your face fits the mould. Be particularly wary of committing to any role offered by the company on the basis of promised career progression. What's worse is how the company specifically promise, both often and loudly, that their number one priority is to care about you as a person rather than just a self employed franchisee or member of staff. This is a complete and utter falsehood. The company will put in place every effort to make it look as though they truly care about you as a person, especially in your early days on board. In doing so, they aim to foster your evangelical faith so that you go on to blindly follow their every instruction. For many operatives (myself included, for a long time) this really does make you loyal. But when you actually need them to care about you as a person, for instance when suffering a long term health condition that requires you to take more than a week or two away, they offer only sympathy but are resolute in their demands on your time. This is exacerbated by the company's most senior manager, who are preoccupied only with their quarterly bonuses, not their actual task of supporting every member of staff and franchisee in their care. You will be a number to them, nothing more.
