Pros
Without a doubt a lifesaving, life altering, game changing product. Many amazing people working in the cleanroom and support functions who truly believe in the product they are making and take much pride in what they do. Work/life balance is good. Leeds Quality Director who tries their best in the face of adversity.
Cons
Deep seated fear culture in Leeds with coercive, controlling, and gaslighting behaviours created by the Operations Director. The environment is one where there is open bullying of managers and there are threats issued towards technicians in manager meetings. These behaviours of course change when VPs are visiting from the US. HR cannot be trusted as retaliation and dismissal by Director’s is supported by HR at the most senior level in the US when complaints are made. Probation period is two years as the Operations Director frequently uses the lack of protection under the Employment Act to dismiss people before they reach this milestone. Operations and Quality are constantly at odds due to behaviours of the Operations Director who has fuelled bad relationships due to ill treatment of Quality department personnel. The Finance Director has random angry outbursts with employees which go completely unchecked. The fact there is no overall site leadership allows the Director’s to behave in any way they want with no accountability. New processes involving dangerous chemicals are rushed into production without the proper risk assessments being conducted and required safety measures in place. Complaints to the Operations Director are met with resistance until enough people voice their concerns and the issues cannot be ignored. As the business tries to grow there is no experience at Leeds to know how this should be done. The Operations Director just calculates how many more people need to be crammed into the small site with no understanding of how to scale up manufacturing and the legal need for adequate facilities as more people are added. The VPs in the US are either oblivious to all the issues in Leeds, or they choose to ignore them and allow the toxic environment to become worse over time. Parking is an issue as only enough parking for 50% of employees. The rest must park in an overflow car park at the other side of the estate or find a space on overcrowded streets full of double yellow lines. Director’s turn up whenever it suits them but have set the rules to always allow themselves to park on-site. When first starting with the company employees are asked to leave positive feedback on websites before they have even got to know the company because of all the negative feedback being posted. After every negative review there follows a couple of fake positive reviews to try and boost the scores.