customer service representative

analyst

assistant vice president

vice president

software engineer

Barclays

Very long review but I want to make it clear to people who are about the make the same mistake as I did.
As somebody who has never worked in a call centre before, this job was the most mentally draining position I have ever faced.

You are sat at a computer for 6 hours a day with a headset on taking calls, and you are tracked from the minute your shift starts until the minute it ends. They want you taking calls constantly. Your after call work is monitored and you are expected to be in it for around 20 seconds, so tough luck if you didn’t get all your notes completed on the call or if you need to raise something for a customer once the call has finished. If you are in it after call work for any longer, your team leader will physically change your status back to ready. Your average call handling time is monitored and you will be nagged for it, despite management knowing every call is different. Even checking your own stats is monitored.

The customers are what really ruin this job. You will speak to some really nasty people every single day. Demanding things that cannot be done, arguing with you, guilt tripping you, trying to make you feel bad for them, and speaking to you however they want. You just have to sit there and take it. You cannot end the call either, you have to wait for them to end it. So a lot of the time you will be stuck on calls for 20+ minutes repeating the same information until they finally decide to give up.

The bank doesn’t help as they have a lot of silly processes and some of the decisions they make make the job so much harder, and these decisions are made by people who have most likely never worked on the phones in their life and will never have to face any customers their decisions affect. The biggest example of this is how they close all the branches, which makes it very difficult when dealing with elderly or vulnerable customers. Sometimes the only way an issue can be resolved is by the customer needing to visit a branch, but when they can’t and there is no other option, you are STILL expected to ask them what other support they need to help with their banking, when they are already complaining the support they receive is not good enough from us. You have to force yourself through the conversation and it’s honestly embarrassing, but if you don’t discuss it, QA will fail your call and you will be in the wrong for “not providing the customer a good experience,” without any understanding of how hard the situation actually is.

If you need support from a manager, it can take 15–20 minutes to get a response. By that time your customer is frustrated, your call time has gone up, and then later management are questioning your stats. It’s so frustrating. Every call is different and the stats system is ridiculous. When calls are back to back every day, you are not even allowed a couple of minutes to yourself.

It is such a mentally demanding place to work and I would never recommend it to anyone unless you have worked in these environments before, know exactly what you are getting yourself into, and can actually handle it.

You are given shifts months in advance, which they brag about in recruitment, but it means nothing because they constantly change them. You still can’t plan your time around them. They will add weekends to your rota just because they can, and because it’s stated in your contract they can change shifts whenever they want.

When you apply you start on everyday banking phone lines and are told you will stay in that department, where shifts are mainly Monday to Friday with maybe 1 or 2 weekends a month. You WILL eventually be moved to the Premier phone lines. Management makes it out like this is a promotion, but it isn’t. You do more work for no extra pay, weekends change to a 1 on 1 off basis, and shifts can run as late as 9pm–11pm. There is a big increase in rotation and it basically becomes shift work. They do not tell you this in the interview and wait until your training is finished, when it’s too late to quit without something else lined up.

If you want to book holidays, Good luck! Busy periods such as Christmas, half term, Fridays, Mondays etc get booked up straight away. If you want a bank holiday off you have to book it months in advance otherwise they’re won’t be enough space for you to do it. 

Holiday availability goes off of everybody that works in the same department as you and not just in your team. 
If you want a full week off maybe for a holiday, if one of the days in the week is fully booked, you won’t be able to have the full week off. 

At one point there was no availability for a Friday, Saturday or Monday off for at least 6 weeks in advance.  

If you have any important holidays or know you want to take time off in December and January over Christmas or new years, make sure you put the dates down as pre existing holidays (even if they aren’t and you have nothing planned)  on your first day otherwise they will never be approved and you will be made to work Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. 

The only good thing I can say about this job is the benefits.

If you get a good team leader who understands how mind numbing it is being on the phones, they will try to schedule you time off them for an hour just so you can decompress, but most of the time this gets declined by their management.

The pension scheme is one of the best, 12% contribution with no requirement from you. Private healthcare, sick pay as well as SSP, and good discounts outside of work. These are some of the best benefits I’ve ever had, but honestly it feels like they have to offer these to make up for how draining the job actually is. Once you start seeing what really goes on, you realise none of it is worth it

Barclays sell the job to you as amazing, that they care so much about their employees and that it is a very stress free environment/culture. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I lasted a year in this company, and it was the worst year of my life, making me contemplate suicide every morning before I started work. It was that bad.

It was a telephony based role. Training was woeful, rather than training you about the ins and outs of the company, how to use their systems and how to deal with different queries and complaints, they instead spend weeks drilling nonsense and what should be common sense to most people into your head. There was bare minimum training on how to do the job itself, and what they don’t tell you is that you need to know pretty much everything because managers are useless and other colleagues are unwilling to help and often times refused to take over the customer from you. Training is so bad that one member of staff will do/say one thing, and another member will believe something completely different to be the correct way. The truth is, absolutely nobody knows what they are talking about.

Nice customers are few and far between, and I don’t blame the customers because Barclays as a bank are shocking and unwilling to help. There was many times I could have done something to help but my manager simply refused that I take my own initiative which really is what companies should be looking for. Be prepared to be screamed at multiple times a day for something which is out of your hands, and receive absolutely no help from your managers who are clueless anyway, or other departments in the company. This applies to every area of the company and again I believe this to be a training fault. 

You are timed and tracked every minute of the day. Taking a comfort break of 3+ minutes is frowned upon, the managers obviously do not think that their inferiors are human who need more than a second to relieve themselves. Everything you do and say is recorded which is a given in a bank.

Work life balance was awful. Not much to say about it, full time job but felt like a 24/7 job because of the stress and constant worrying about going into work the next day.

Managers are all unqualified a*se lickers who have absolutely no people skills and therefore should not be anywhere near thst position. They make you feel like less of a person for being off sick or needing a carers day/compassionate leave. I had time off for mental health and had messages from my manager every 2 days asking when I’d be back. Return to work meetings happen even after one day off and ask ridiculous questions like “what can you do to stop this happening again” in regards to being sick. I’m a human. I can’t stop myself from getting sick. It’s like a school and you’re made out to be the naughty kid. 

The ONLY semi good thing I can say about this company is the salary, but in my opinion you are not paid enough for the grief from customers and stress you endure every single day. Benefits are decent but only really if you’re there long term to utilise them

Over all I would not recommend Barclays to my worst enemy and can’t stress enough how much research you must do into this company before you accept a job here. If you have pre existing mental health issues it will only make them worse

My job itself has never given me cause to be unhappy in itself, it has been extremely rewarding, however the office on the whole hampers itself by advancing the wrong people to the wrong positions.

I have never looked beyond my own current role for advancement as I feel my strengths are best used where I am and I do not feel my skills would be best utilised at higher levels.

We are looked after by the company, renumeration is a hot topic in any company, being in a company where you are paid below the national average for your particular role means it is no different here, but we are treated to special events, such as a staff barbecue, once a year, where we are allowed extra time outside our structured breaks to enjoy catering outside which is arranged and paid for by the company. The company also offers a sharesave system which is extremely generous.

One of the reasons I have enjoyed this role for so long is that I have tremendous respect for the people I work with on a peer level, the job is engaging and mentally stimulating, however its work-life balance is virtually non-existant, we operate 7 days a week and the only day our department closes is Christmas Day, we operate from 8am until 10pm and teams are split on a varying rota to cover the various shifts, currently we can only see 4 weeks ahead making it difficult to make family arrangements, middle managment and some team leaders do not have to make the same commitment to a similar pattern, there is also no shift allowance.

The culture is one of the weak points of the role, I and others have been involved in large scale projects that have delivered quantifiable results only for them to be overlooked and taken for granted only to see more praise and reward given to people who have done less but been more vocal about it, I have began to believe that real capability and ingenuity is actually seen as a threat to middle managements privileged position, it would appear that rewarding the lesser capable but more "malleable" members of staff is preferential, true talent evidenced by many in the company seems irrelevant...unless you have the ear of a manager and show that you are not above acting as their voice, even against better judgement.

The role itself is something I have no issues with, I have always enjoyed what I do but the amount of politics in the office holds back its own success, management finds it easier to look at how the office performs by numbers alone and seem to lack the ability or desire to look beyond those numbers to see what each individual actually delivers to the company itself. I fully understand that these numbers are a guideline to how productive the department is (when the numbers are realistic, not falsely inflated which is often the case unfortunately) but the fact that nothing else is taken into account is saddening.

I worked at the call centre in Liverpool in the mortgage department as an agent. My primary role is to service existing mortgages for customers as well as help customers who are interested in applying for a mortgage with Barclays. The job itself is actually quite interesting as you talk to a wide variety of people from all walks of life however you are expected to keep up to date with an incredible amount of information. As mortgages are so highly regulated, staff have it drummed into them that if you were to give incorrect information to a customer by accident, there would be severe repercussions so there's a lot of pressure straight away. The training received, in my experience, was okay however because it was done over the December period, the existing staff were mainly on their holidays so getting experience on the phone lines was near impossible so you get thrown in at the deep end. 

The goal posts are constantly moved by management. Stats on your calls are constantly looked at - so how long you're on the phone, putting people on hold etc. They have unrealistic expectations as to how to handle calls which is held to different standards by different managers. Call centres based in other countries have closed down so our call traffic is through the roof but extra training is never given. 

Some staff, including myself, have been sent to work from home over the pandemic without being given the necessary equipment to make the job easier. I've only had a laptop and the headset - no desk, chair or second screen (which is definitely needed). If your internet provider is slow or has issues, then YOU are expected to make the time up despite it not being your fault. 

Trying to take/book holidays or toil is basically impossible. The support system used for staff with other colleagues has essentially been taken away and then we're told to ask our supervisors, some of whom then go and ask the same people we would initially ask anyway. This then leads to awkward conversations with customers or call backs. 

The salary is not terrible but it's nowhere near what it should be for the amount of work, time and dedication you put in, despite it not being sold that way to you during interview and training.

The positive side of working there is that you do get sick pay and the staff are friendly. The canteen has nice food but is expensive and during normal circumstances, there are vendors who come in to sell things in the call centre market like perfumes, make up and clothes. Charity and citizenship is also a high priority which is good for a large company to give back to.

Overall, I'd say that the management in this particular department makes the job so much harder and more stressful than it needs to be and it's unfortunately coloured my view negatively so I wouldn't recommend.

People get rewarded and promoted for their personal relationships rather than their capabilities.

I worked for around 3 years at the Barclays Contact Center in Liverpool. When I was first hired I thought it was great! 3/4 weeks paid class room training to ensure you had sufficient knowledge to successfully do your new role. A company that really seemed to care about their employee's and their future career within the company.

After a while it becomes apparent that regardless of how knowledgeable you are in your role favouritism is always given to those who have personal relationships with management. For example although it is supposed to be against policy there are multiple on going relationships that cause unwarranted drama in a working environment, multiple managers are dating each other, managers being in the same department as their partners, there have even been instances of people having affairs! It is honestly a very toxic environment for those who just want to do their job and progress due to merit and hard work.

The pay and benefits is pretty good for what the concept of the role is outlined to be. However with consistently changing business models and services level expectations the role becomes rather stressful quite quickly, it can seem like management & team leaders purpose is to advise that they are supporting staff whilst doing nothing but dictate and tear down performance if you don't ask a customer if they want a loan. The whole we do not 'sell' we 'educate' our customers is a ton of BS, it is still all target related they just use wording like 'relevant conversations' instead of sales.

Your lunches and breaks are allocated to you you have to go during that time, if you are even 1 minute late from your break you will more than likely been questioned by your Team Leader. This would be the same TL who has no clue about the role that you are doing and got the role through personal relationship who also comes in 40 minutes in to their shift and goes on multiple 30 minute breaks but heaven forbid you be 60 seconds late off of your break. Also your toilet breaks are questioned if you go too many times and you are even asked to explain why, although I am pretty sure it could only be for a few reasons.

Mainly due to the reasons above there is a large turnover of staff and a bunch of staff who go off for long periods of time due to stress and depression. 

Overall it is not the worst place if you know that it is, just a job to get you through until you can get a better suited role. As long as you stay out of the drama and don't expect your hard work to pay off.  From the outside looking in it looks amazing but honestly don't believe the hype.

Change Coordinator – Barclays Bank PLC                                                                          			         
  Oct 2012 - Present

•	Maintaining records management, working and coordinating with Stakeholders ensuring that they are updated with meetings, taking minutes, booking appointments, performing daily MI reports, having the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines. 
•	Collecting data analysis and ensuring that all records are maintained and looked in to effectively in order to ensure that the business has the relevant information that is required. 
•	Obtaining information from all parts of the business in order to plan for the future with statistics recorded. 
•	Completing complex admin tasks which involve various advanced excel skills such as – running reports against spreadsheets and locating missing information via reports and managing this data specifically and analysing key changes within the trends set. Implement procedures and processes maintain and distribute accordingly. Deal with any problematic solutions within a timely manner and remain focused. 
•	Whilst considering financial changes to implement, I will always ensure that I am focusing on improvement to prevent AML and legal structures which may impact the operation.
•	One of my recent projects involved coordinating a 200-page operational instruction proposal: I proofed and edited the narratives provided by the division head, formatted spreadsheets, and generally made sure every line was letter-perfect and that the entire finished product conformed to the specific guidelines of the FCA. 

Complaints Manager - Barclays Bank  PLC                                                   
    
•	Managed a portfolio of complex complaints relating to Payment Protection Insurance. 
•	Focused on resolving customer issues and maximising their experience whilst balancing the financial realities and strategic goals of Barclays.
•	Invested time into research, helping achieve industry expert status, with a good understanding of clients, competitors and the broader market. 
•	Developed an in-depth knowledge of Service Management methodologies and Retail Banking in order to act as a reference point for colleagues and the Financial Ombudsmen Service. 
•	Appointed as my team’s quality champion as I consistently achieve 100% in quality assurance checks. 
•	Provided comprehensive support, including delivering timely, accurate and effective responses to the Financial Ombudsmen Service, solicitors and Claims Management Companies. 
•	Articulately communicated complex and intricate information with tact and diplomacy to stakeholders and worked closely with them to develop alternate resolution propositions. 
•	Offered advice, coaching and support to new colleagues in order to embed best practice.


Many jobs today demand more than they compensate, but few exemplify this imbalance as clearly as roles in customer support, healthcare, retail, and IT service management. These positions often require long hours, immense mental and emotional effort, and the ability to juggle multiple responsibilities, all while offering salaries that barely reflect the workload.

Workload: Beyond Reasonable Expectations

Overworked employees frequently find themselves covering tasks meant for multiple people. In industries like IT service management, for example, professionals are expected to maintain critical systems, manage stakeholder expectations, and ensure seamless service delivery—all with limited resources and tight deadlines. Similarly, nurses and retail workers endure exhausting shifts, often staying beyond their scheduled hours without overtime pay.

Compensation: A Disappointing Reality

Despite the demanding nature of these jobs, the financial rewards rarely match the effort. Many companies set salary caps that do not align with inflation, the rising cost of living, or the specialized skills required for the role. Bonuses and raises, if offered, are minimal, and in some cases, employees are expected to take on additional responsibilities without extra pay.

Work-Life Balance: Nonexistent

One of the biggest drawbacks of overworked and underpaid jobs is the lack of work-life balance. Employees are constantly on call, forced to work weekends, or pressured to meet unrealistic deadlines. The stress of the job often spills into personal life, leading to burnout, mental health struggles, and a declining quality of life.

Lack of Recognition and Career Growth

Another frustrating aspect is the lack of appreciation from employers. Hard work is often met with more responsibilities rather than rewards or promotions. Many employees find themselves stuck in a cycle of endless work with no clear career progression.

Conclusion: A Broken System

Overworked and underpaid jobs create an unsustainable work environment. While passion and dedication keep employees going, financial security and fair treatment are essential for long-term satisfaction. Companies must recognize that investing in their workforce—both financially and emotionally—leads to better productivity, lower turnover rates, and a healthier work culture. Until that happens, employees in these roles will continue to struggle, making these jobs some of the most frustrating and unrewarding in the workforce.



Worked here from April 2019- November 2019. 

They say that they endorse mental health and have a few modules on the topic, but treat it as a one size fits all. 

They say they can accommodate any appointments or any health issues but very rarely back it up. A few decent management and training staff there to be fair but other team leaders and managers wouldn't feel comfortable speaking to never mind asking them for help. 

Don't want you to pass customers through to different departments which I understand a bit however when you need to ask someone for help they ask you all sorts of questions and basically tell you its this way or complaints line, which just stresses you out more and probably stresses the customer out more and that's providing you find a team leader that hasn't just gone on a walk somewhere or off on their lunch

The pay is decent, but I guess it just depends on what your previous jobs were really. The site itself is great and most of the staff are friendly and welcoming but the training that you do at the start is a bit pointless. 

As I said I was struggling with anxiety and depression at the time and was making a few mistakes because of these and didn't really feel that was taken into consideration when a few mistakes were made. Resulted in my dismissal after they kept moving back my meeting dates which in turn led to further work mistakes due to possibility of dismissal hanging over me.

Certain team leaders do what they want and bring unqualified colleagues into meetings with you and expect you not to question it.

One plus however is that if it seems like you are on a long shift like a 10-7 for example, you're only really on the phones for like 1 hour/ 1 hour and a half at any time before you'd have a 15 minute break so after a while it's not as bad as long as you can keep focused or motivated or genuinely love the job.

If I had my chance to go back I would of called them out on it however was the first time I was in this situation.

Overall, it is a nice place to work as long as you're one of these people who grasp things quite quickly, self confident, motivation to do the same things over and over again day after day, don't really ask for help, and don't have any health issues (both seen and unseen)

As I said there are a few decent managers and team leaders but also a few absolute idiots who shouldn't be team leaders and just look busy

You are expected to be in ten or so minutes before you start your shift to log in and open your systems. You should know what you are doing that day, unless something has changed recently (this happens a lot), and you should immediately open your case queue and begin working through customer claims. You need to start with the oldest cases and work from there. Written guidance is available but it is not very easy to use or written in an easy to understand way. Your team will have a Subject Matter Expert who doubles as your Deputy Team Leader. The Deputy Team Leader will often be the most hands-on with the team, whilst the Team Leader serves as more of a middleman between higher management and yourselves. It depends on the approach of each individual TL and team.
The systems tend to be slow at the best of times and often a whole system will have a bug or not be working at all. You will regularly use more than seven applications at once on a case and you have one, albeit largish, screen to use.
The general philosophy is to do what is best for the customer but sometimes decisions are made in which "the risk has been accepted" and you may feel pressured to put productivity over the quality of your work. Your case work is checked regularly by Quality Control agents and you are given support to improve your work. You may be put on an improvement plan if your work falls below a certain level and you may lose out on bonuses.
The permanent benefits are good but I would say the salary is a little under what you are due considering the core and extra responsibility you are expected to handle each day.
The office is generally relaxed with office banter and a smart-casual dress code. Your experience really depends upon which TL you have though. In past years they have held Christmas parties which are funded by the sale of the tickets to staff, there is not a budget for this.
I have tried to lay out the facts without too much emotive language but my personal experience was that is a bureaucratic and hypocritical company. I often felt that I had to compromise my morals in order to be seen as meeting my job role expectations. The pay, benefits, and absence procedures altogether are better than most places. If you believe in the saying "at the end of the day, it's a business" then you'd do well at Barclays.

What is the best part of working at the company?
A health food type of staff restaurant at the top of a big building where only Barclays staff were employed.  View was lovely and the food varied and quality.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I think the layout was a little stressful, with an open floor plan.  The floors were nearly all similar and a tour of this building revealed an entire design boring and uninspiring and of course only in the companies colour scheme with lots of security.  As headquarters of a main call centre, it was acceptable, and normal, but the setup did not really make mentally pleasant conditions for working.  It did have a spacious indoor and outdoor shopping area nearby (the Poole Dolphin Shopping Centre) which made my time at Barclays agreable enough, I suppose.  I think this place has now been shut or sold since!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not the best.  Several members of the same families worked here, in senior management, everyone knew everyone, it felt a bit selective and stale.  My trainer(s) were getting aggressive, as if that could improve my learning and relations with others.  Intolerant of those who were not perceived as desirable and obedient customer service helpline people, like they were supposed to be, they did not like any individual style.  I have had a few of these more repetitive jobs and was finding it hard to impersonate the unrealistic person they were expecting for the job, even if they were the employers and also had a job to do.  They made me leave, but I could see how abusive of my good time and personal life it was going to be in such a job, and I was glad to escape the unpleasant environment and introverted characters there.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Have the computer on and the screens up.  Wait for the calls of PPI claims.  Go through procedures for each query and give standardized reply.  Feel stressed because of trainers nearly on top of me and instructing, feeling miserable because of other trainees being limiting and competitive and bothersome and, as I said, only certain types of people being accepted by employers and as a consequence by most of the staff wanting to be seen as good.

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