University of Warwick Employee Reviews about "senior management"

Pros

Flexible time, getting to work with new technology and work on things that I myself find interesting even if those higher up haven't heard of them. Very good relationship with customers (staff and students at the University) and nominated for a number of awards for use of new media. A happy and friendly community with great people.

Cons

Sometimes expected to work outside of work hours to firefight without any real support or appreciation from non-direct senior management (i.e. senior management that doesn't include my team leader or line manager). General bad impression of the IT department as a whole within the University (although a favourable impression of the web development team)

Pros

Community spirit amongst staff and vibrant environment.

Cons

Senior management prioritise business of employee welfare. Supprisingly inefficient in numerous processes.

Pros

Good salary Stable working environment Reputable brand

Cons

Lack of diversity in senior management

Pros

Friendly environment, nice people Not stressful Beautiful campus and good facilities Lots on offer to do during breaks and after work Good work/life balance

Cons

Lack of direction and leadership from senior management makes getting things done impossible. Lack of development opportunities and career progression.

Pros

Colleagues great Students great Good salary Good working environment.

Cons

Deep seated culture of bullying Ivory tower senior management Only financially motivated. Fear culture and very Stressful place to work. Exploite the staff, then replace them after a few years with staff on a much lower salary.

Pros

Prestigious. Relaxed working atmosphere. Nice campus. Fantastic facilities.

Cons

Location - it's in the middle of nowhere. Expected to work overtime for no pay. Constant building work on campus. Continuous senior management pay rises.

Pros

Good holiday allowance, salaries increase year-on-year, access to some great minds and free public lectures. Reasonable rates for on-site gym and learning vouchers are available cover a variety of subjects (languages, exercise classes)

Cons

The University is heavily decentralised, as such there's very little in the way of leadership or clarity from the central teams or senior management. For some areas this isn't much of a problem (Warwick Business School has made it an opportunity) but for communications and marketing it's an ongoing issue. There is also a general sense of malaise within the University and the outputs are mediocre at best. This may be the result of continually restricted budgets/moving targets as restructures and department reshuffles impact morale (I experienced three in under two years). Middle managers are fairly well-established and like to play it safe. As such, there's little room for creativity or career advancement within a department. Turn over, as you would expect, is quite high in certain teams and a lot of institutional knowledge is lost in the process. There are also some cultural issues within Warwick. It's very white, male dominated and if you fall into any minority group, it may be an uncomfortable place to work.