Pros
- Lovely people, including a select few at director level who come across caring, supportive and friendly, especially to those who are in lower-level roles. This definitely doesn't go for everyone at Ocado, but it's refreshing to see a work environment where directors and SLT are very involved and supportive - often knowing you by name and recognising hard work. - Great to have covid testing on-site for people who felt comfortable enough to come into the office during the pandemic. - Some hugely talented people to work alongside which can be quite motivating. Some great people have come through the doors, but unfortunately many have left too as they aren't given an opportunity to excel at ORL. - Brilliant discount on Ocado and M&S, it really does help to have a benefit like this available to employees.
Cons
- A lot of processes are very messy, dated and unnecessarily long. There isn't an awful lot of trust in those at lower levels so huge sign off processes take place on even the smallest of tasks, often causing delays and increased workloads. - Teams are run to the ground with workload - I've worked in high pressure environments before but this is by far and away the worst I've ever experienced first hand. So many teams are under-resourced! There seem to be a lot of vacancies and new starters every week but not in the teams that need it the most. - Very little is done to protect employee mental health during times of high workload, resulting in a high turnover of staff and people in non-management roles being signed off work. Ocado have a lot of work to do to recognise the impact that the stressful workload has on employees' lives both in and outside of work. - Work life balance is non-existent and mental and physical health isn't a focus, just a box-ticking exercise. - Systems are incredibly out dated and no longer fit for purpose. They lengthen processes by days for tasks that would take minutes in other companies. Ocado are supposedly a "tech" company but I haven't seen any evidence of this in the systems that are available to employees. - Little to no desire to allow flexible working. Far too much pressure on employees to return to the office pre-vaccines when many still weren't comfortable. - Rather depressing office and office location, with a truly awful staff canteen. For an office just outside of London, there's really nothing to draw people in from London as there are far better offices and amenities available in the city. - Little to no performance reviews. There don't seem to be any clear career development objectives and no training available to build and improve skills either. Managers don't seem to have a clue about how to help you progress, often having very little direction themselves.
