leadership development program

mechanical engineer

project manager

system engineer

electronics engineer

Babcock-International

I worked at Babcock for over 14 years across several roles, so I’ve seen both the positives and the negatives. On the positive side, it’s a large, established organisation with interesting projects in defence and engineering, and it can offer stability in some areas.

However, there are serious issues. Management often feels disconnected from staff, communication is poor, and processes are outdated. IT and technical roles don’t feel valued, and career development is limited. The management structure itself is confusing - because of internal rules about how many levels you can be below the CEO, my “official” manager wasn’t the person actually managing me day to day. Instead, I was informally managed by someone else, which blurred responsibilities and made escalation difficult.

Babcock also runs annual staff surveys, but the results don’t lead to meaningful change. Smaller or more complex issues are pushed aside, while only simple fixes get implemented. It feels more about appearances than genuine improvement.

Mental health is a particular concern. The company promotes its Employee Assistance Programme and presents itself as supportive, but in reality it often felt like a plaster or a way of deflecting responsibility back onto employees. Despite all the wellbeing messaging, when I became unwell I was put on report and ultimately let go as a result of my condition. This showed me that employees with mental health challenges are not given the understanding or flexibility they need. 

Overall, Babcock may suit someone looking for job security within a large organisation. But if you value clear management, genuine support, and a workplace that truly prioritises employee wellbeing, you may find it a frustrating and ultimately disappointing place to work.

I have spent 17.5 years as the Workshop Manager and the last six months as the site Quality Assurance Manager. Babcock took over the contract from Vosper Thornycroft in October 2010. It has been an interesting 18 years having been involved in many aspects of the business including Business Development for UK and Overseas contracts, budgetary/financial projects (also for the MoD Client), creating and influencing KPI's and listented to. You become a valued member of the management team if you make the effort. Babcock ensure that leadership and H&S skills are topped up regularly, as a Level 4 Risk environment the Workshop receives a monthly Senior Management Team safety inspection, four of those inspections will be Divisional/Executive managers. Working with an almost 50/50 split of ex military/civilian staff was a great education. The training of the civilian staff was a difficult process but I implemented an apprenticeship scheme using a local college (we won three apprentice of the year awards 2010, 11 and 12) and now we have an excellent cross set of shopfloor skillsets. Didn't find the job hard as long as you stayed proactive. If I had to pick one thing it would be the six monthly appraisal/PDR reporting for 32 staff. Recently I have been modifying, updating and creating Quality System Management process aligned to ISO9000/2008 standard. My very good MS Excel and Visio skills and good MS Word skills made the transition into the work easy.

Babcock as a general day to day job is an ok place to work and the team I work with is made up of some great team players. 

However...

Most teams are massively silo'd more than any other company I have known, I've never known a server group so split up and unwilling to work together. This expands past that to other teams such as Networks who literally couldn't be more obstructive when it comes to service delivery.

Sadly the higher management have no interest in rewarding loyal employees and would much rather employee new people at higher salaries which leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those who've been loyal and have gathered a massive amount of key knowledge it would take newcomers years to gain. I would like to add I've not suffered this as I've only been here a year but seen it happen to many who've been here 5 years or more.

I don't see Babcock lasting far past the next decade if they continue to operate like it's still 1990. They need to start valuing the loyal employees and respecting the deep knowledge they hold of the environment.

The ethos here is deliver the projects cheap and then spend twice the original amount botching it up afterwards. Needless to say I'm already looking elsewhere.

I wouldn't recommend a job in the IT departments here unless you're really strapped for cash...

Babcock is a huge company with 4 main pillars, under those are multiple large contracts, within that there is scope to move and advance - but may have to relocate out of the contract/sector/location you are in.
In some contracts there can be a very 'old school' mentality and approach which HR and some managers are working to try to get rid of the old ways. 
Some employees have very long service and are set in their ways, are negative about everything and can impact on their team with a moany attitude and laziness - it seems they are just waiting to retire and get their company pension and want to make everyone else miserable until they leave (as to them 'it's not what it used to be' - they don't realise the world and workplaces have had to change in the last 30 years!). 
For some there is a 'that's not my job/in my job description' mentality, rather than pulling together.
In contrast I have seen some senior managers also clean, sort out flooded toilets, paint walls etc as they wanted them usable for their staff. 
The majority of those i directly worked with were great - friendly and helpful. 
HR are friendly and helpful, but are very busy, covering many contracts and sites, and there is not enough of them to cover everywhere they need to.

Accounts office/HR function now relocating to Portsmouth....17 months after moving from Nottingham to Birmingham.  In total will be re-located 6 times!! Management don't care and are happy to make people redundant after asking to seriously consider re-locating to Portsmouth.  What happens next year when they feel like moving again.  Have made sure you can TUPE over at lower salary than those will be employed at.  In general house prices lower in the Midlands so will be out of pocket again. 

Most of the senior Managers are located in Portsmouth and surrounding areas so seems to be over indulging to make sure it's all moved to them with no real reason other than that.  Management are not giving any real information to the staff so people are finding jobs and now leaving so great talent being allowed to go due to no real information being given.  All very odd in how it's all been handled and reasons for moving not being given other than being told it is not a cost cutting action. New staff not yet in place and staff expected to work in terrible conditions with not knowing what is going on and no further information being given. A complete waste of shareholders money.

Take the job for what it is and don't expect any respect from Management as when it suits will uproot and move away at a moments notice.

I love my job and have enjoyed working in a workshop with some good people on the shop floor. the hours are good to work around and a half day on wed or fri is great. The facilities are not great but have worked in worse. Higher management tend to listen to staff when they have issues and will try to assist as much as they can they strive to be as diverse and as open as possible to all, which is good as its not too PC culture.

However there is a tendency for some lower level management to hide things under the carpet and keep information from staff. Any accident will result in a investigation like you have murdered someone. Rather than identify the cause they would rather prevent the outcome (PPE first before anything else) Nothing will get fixed as the company line is no money and its down to another contractor to repair. Some departments have an us and them attitude and you can feel the tension between work areas. Work place heating is a constant issue but they do try to solve it....only for it to break again and again.

Dont expect to progress anywhere as courses are like rocking horse poo and you may get told to read the manual to know how to fix something you have never touched. 

Morale is dropping at the same rate as people leaving......rapidly.

i would check my dairy, check what i had to do that day, make telephone calls, check emails, check learners progress, plan the time spent with each learner to make sure it was productive for the learner and myself. 
I have learnt that how to manage time, organise my  outlook calendar, how to use E-Track system, invigilation, apprenticeship, diploma, functional skills, and planned learning.

I work autonomously and would regularly contact my line manager every day either through email or telephone. and my line manager would try to come out with me a few times a month and spend the day with me, so support was excellent.   

I kept in touch with co-workers, through email, messenger, telephone, meetings and every now and then i might bump into a co-worker on site visits. 

I think having to learn so much information fast to do my job and
driving long distances to each learner. Time was also my biggest problem. 

Meeting learners and supporting them through there technical certificate, diploma, functional skills and seeing the learner's face when they have achieved their qualification at the end of their program. A typical week would fly by because your always thinking what to do next with a learner.

I have never worked for a company so bad and demoralising in all my life.

They have no processes in place and cut corners wherever possible. 
The culture is full of blame and toxicity. 

Everytime I proposed an idea for the better, I got shutdown - everytime.

It was a very reactive culture also - no planning, everything was last minute.com.

No one accepted responsibility for any issues a rose.

Communication was atrocious on all levels of the site.

No one actually worked to their job description due to the poor management and structure.

Most members of the leadership team lacked leadership. They treated most their staff like dirt (unless they liked you)

Training is inadequate/doesn't exist - you had to rely on current employees to navigate.

There is no recognition for the hardworking employees.

Babcock as a whole take pride and promote awareness in mental health. I knew at least 4 workers on my site that went on sick leave due to mental health with the site being the root cause.

The only positive I can declare is the staff in my team. They were incredible, hardworking and I wish them all the best.

I do not see a bright future at this site. So, my advise is to stay away if you really care about your mental health.



The salary was good but that was the only good thing. 
Management are bullies and have no consideration for employees, this was proved when they were moved into an asbestos building without being notified. 
It is not about making money or servicing the customers needs, it is all about painted floors and not having any idea or inclination of the job in hand. 

Persecute the people who try and explain how the industry works, Health and Safety is not existent and the so called SHEQ advisor is not capable of tying her own shoes. 

Never have I ever been ashamed of a company I worked for but I now have a 5 year gap in my CV as I will not associate myself with this brand. 

Glad I moved on and I will never look back to these jokers for anything. 

If you are useless at what you do then feel free to apply and you could get to the top as head of operations or even ops director. On the other hand if you are highly qualified and motivated then go get a job where someone will appreciate you. 

HR is not existent and never will be as they all live in one another’s pockets. 

In short Babcock will train you to run a marathon but they don’t tell you until the start line they are tying your legs together- best analogy of an abismal organisation.

I have recently become redundant from work. Working within the Airport Baggage Maintenance Department of Babcock I had to take calls from clients who's equipment were faulty. This was done via phone and using logs. I had to register a fault and relay them the corresponding Service record then contact the Technician and raise a fault for him/her to respond to. Often these faults where either closed by myself , with details of nature/rectification/parts used/labour times etc. Routine maintenance scheduling was also actioned by myself. Asset input and creation of reports also administered. This was all done with the use of Maximo. I have experience of Microsoft Office and Outlook too. 
I feel my skills(outlined in the corresponding CV) would add value to your team.
This role was undertaken on a shift pattern which from 05:00am to 10:30pm daily throughout the year. I worked within a small team but was often working unsupervised. The job was often very busy and multitasking was essential , along with decision making and prioritizing jobs.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Leadership development program 1 salary reported	£35,000 per year
Mechanical engineer 22 salaries reported	£33,976 per year
Project manager 18 salaries reported	£40,807 per year
System engineer 7 salaries reported	£32,047 per year
Electronics engineer 1 salary reported	£32,500 per year

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