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      VSO

      Engaged employer

      VSO Reviews

      3.4

      67% would recommend to a friend

      (187 total reviews)
      avatar

      Donne Cameron and Kathryn Gordon

      54% approve of CEO

      50% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.0

      Diversity and inclusion

      3.9

      Work/Life balance

      3.6

      Culture and values

      3.2

      Compensation and benefits

      3.2

      Career opportunities

      3.1

      Senior management

      VSO has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 187 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The VSO employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      187 reviews
      2.0
      8 Dec 2020

      Chaos and no accountability

      Fundraiser
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      For some time it had a good social life culture which inspired staff to stay and work hard. That isn't there as much anymore. Some lovely people.

      Cons

      It's chaos. It takes an age for any decision to be made. There is very little accountability and a big fear of change despite a lot of rhetoric and money spent/wasted trying to make much needed changes by some. Not a good place for a fundraiser as it isn't valued within the org so you are made to feel like a nuisance by the rest of the org.

      1.0
      28 Feb 2024

      Culture of fear and disorder

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      The country office programs and the staff are wonderful people. The concepts they regarding localisation and giving power to the programs are positive and well intentioned.

      Cons

      There is a prevailing culture of bullying, poor management, and lack of long-term vision on how to resolve these issues. Systems policies processes to enable in effective working are missing. There are aspects of gender-based discrimination and poor mental health support within the working environment. Limited options for promotion or training. Very low staff morale.

      avatar
      VSO Response
      2y
      Thanks for your feedback. We are pleased to hear that you enjoyed working with colleagues in our programme teams and appreciate VSO's approach of volunteering for development, working with the communities, and demonstrating the localisation agenda. We are very sorry to hear you felt there was a culture of bullying behaviour. We take all allegations around bullying extremely seriously and investigate these allegations in line with our Harassment, Bullying and Intimidation Prevention policy. We also have several channels for reporting these incidents to ensure we quickly respond and address these issues. We continue to support managers through a range of coaching, mentoring and more formalised training. We take wellbeing and mental health support very seriously and have a range of support systems in place, from our in-house medical team to an assistance programme for our staff and volunteers.
      3.0
      17 May 2024

      Short sighted decisions from senior management

      Communications specialist
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      VSO has interesting projects. Colleagues are generally supportive. Pay is probably average across the sector. Good holidays.

      Cons

      The senior management made huge cuts during Covid. Some of the cuts were necessary, but there didn't seem to be much rhyme nor reason to some of the decisions. We were all told that we should be doing 1.5 jobs rather than the jobs we were contracted to do, but with no extra renumeration nor TOIL. I was asked to take on huge amounts of extra responsibility but received very little thanks, and wasn't given a better job title despite the extra responsibility. By the end it just felt like I was constantly swimming upstream, so I decided to leave. They are also looking to actively hire outside the UK, so if you want to hire anyone in the UK you have to provide justification for doing so. They also have a very stringent environmental policy, including trying to cut flights by 90%, which is not really feasible for an international NGO. The policy of asking for 3 quotes for any outside contractors is totally unwieldy and means that everything takes three times as long.

      avatar
      VSO Response
      2y
      Thanks very much for your feedback. It is great to hear you felt the VSO environment was supportive. We had to shift and adapt during the COVID pandemic, given that some projects ended abruptly; we also furloughed roles where work had diminished during the pandemic to adjust to an ever-evolving situation. We design roles that are fulfilling but not overloaded and that employees can discuss their workloads with their managers to ensure they are manageable. As a global organisation, we aim to ensure roles are globally dispersed, where possible, closer to where the work is taking place and where we can find the skills for this role. We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint but also recognise there will always be a need for international travel, ensuring that it is purposeful and well-planned. We are committed to following our procurement policy to ensure fair and transparent processes for engaging contractors, so we are accountable.
      Viewing 1 - 3 of 187 Reviews
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      ReviewsVSO reviews

      Glassdoor has 257 VSO reviews submitted anonymously by VSO employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if VSO is right for you.