support worker

disability support worker

social worker

business administrator

project manager

East-Sussex-County-Council

A typical day would involve being a point of contact for school bursars and managers for the administration related to school staff. Working within quite a large team of Personnel Assistants, each of whom was allocated a set number of schools after training. Support was from other team members and a buddy, as well as the Assistant Personnel Officer, the immediate line manager for the team. It was quite hierarchical and there were several bands of seniority within the department. Each day the work would consist of providing administrative, telephone and email support, general office duties such as photocopying, faxing and filing, producing vacancies and setting them up on the company website by a set time each week.
It could be quite demanding work, both mentally and physically, but flexitime was available and the work-life balance was good. Training was excellent and took place away from the office. All Personnel Assistants received 3 months training before being allocated work within their role. It ensured that they were confident to carry out the tasks they were expected to do. Regular reviews took place between the Personnel Assistants and their line manager. The role involved being meticulous with detail and being extremely well organised. The buddy scheme ensured that any difficulties encountered were quickly highlighted and extra training given if necessary. Office attire was expected Monday to Thursday, with a Dress Down Friday each week. Sometimes visits to schools were arranged, and were an especially enjoyable part of the role. Creating vacancies was another enjoyable part of the role. The hardest part was getting all the information correct the first time and delivering a first class administrative service to the allocated schools and passing complaints to the next level of seniority within set time frames. There was plenty of scope for progression for the right person, and this was encouraged.

My time working for ESCC was mixed. I worked in Personnel & Training and later in ICT Service Desk. 

For the most part my colleagues were great, but the latter department had a habbit of hiring poor agency workers (at a higher cost than recruiting quality staff) which had long term negative impacts.

There is rarely any opportunity for advancement (within these departments) and ESCC does not seem to care about providing training opportunities to their staff in order to have better quality employees. 

The moral in both departments was very poor. Middle management were stuck between demoralised staff and upper management that did not give them the tools to support their staff.

I suffer from both depression & anxiety which was exacerbated by workplace stress, and the Attendance Management system was not equipped to allow for this. During my time I even found myself in need of the Union (as had my colleagues).

Myself and colleagues were expected to take on more work with no pay increases or incentives.

One of the pros is that Local Government jobs are still "jobs for life" and unless there are heavy redundancies due to cost cutting, it is very hard for anyone to lose their jobs. 

Unfortunately this also means there are sub-par staff that remain there for years as ESCC very rarely performance reviews people efficiently - 2 of my 4 years there I I didn't even see my appraisal. 

ESCC is fine to work at as a stop gap, but I would not advise working there long term as I have known many people (myself included) that have undergone work related stress absences and/or quit for their health.

East Sussex County Council is conservative in both political and behavioural senses of the word. There are a few left-field thinkers and, on a personal level, I have a great deal of time for my immediate colleagues and many individuals in my department who are hard-working, conscientious and ethical people. However, I need more than this in my working life.

There appear to be two significant types of employees in the public sector: there are those who have plenty of drive, ambition and ability but who, as a result of these attributes, move on to the next employer very quickly; and there are those who are happy to plod in the same job for 30 or 40 years, resisting all types of change.

Couple this with the belief that public sector workers work short hours (not true- "standard" hours are longer than private sector and many work extra time for no extra pay), have generous salaries (not true- average salaries are artificially skewed by the fact that low-paid jobs such as cleaning and security are sub-contracted out to the private sector) have generous holidays (not true- non-managerial grades start at just 20 days per year) and have generous pensions (not true- they are based on salaries that are much lower than private sector, coupled with slower career progression) and you have the recipe for one very frustrating experience.

There are a precious few jobs within this organisation that are genuinely very rewarding and whose incumbents genuinely love doing. But, for anyone else, if you want to move on, you must move out.

Management of 3 teams - Property administrators ensuring smooth running of the Property team and backoffice systems/processes; PA team of 4 PAs providing high level of support to Director of Resources, Assistant Directors and Members; Energy Accounts Team of 6, managing energy and water on behalf of ESCC and external partners. 

Energy management required high level of customer care, excellent project management, negotiating skills and robust strategies and processes embedded to maximise opportunities for realising efficiencies and savings. 

Management of £10m spend on utilities and contract management of all utility contracts and frameworks, negotiating contract renewals, managing performance effectively.

I enjoy people management - ensuring team members are motivated, have skills and training to excel in a continuously changing environment. Being target driven and an excellent communicator with all levels, I am experienced at performance management of utility suppliers, staff performance engendering trust, clarity of expectations and career development/reward.

I think laterally "outside the box", proactive and very good at multi-tasking; last but not least I have a great sense of humour - work well on my own but also very much a team player. I am competent at prioritising my own and others workloads.

​I am deeply committed to my role and consistently strive to provide the best possible service for the people we serve. The work we do is incredibly important, and I take great pride in making a positive impact on their lives. However, I have found it increasingly difficult to focus on my responsibilities due to a toxic and hostile work environment. The culture here allows some colleagues to actively avoid speaking with service users on the phone, preferring less personal channels of communication. This reluctance often extends to their language, where they refer to the people we serve as case numbers or cases rather than as individuals. This dehumanizing behavior creates a significant disconnect, fostering a transactional approach where the focus is on closing a case, not on the individual's well-being. This impersonal attitude, combined with a dynamic that feels less like a professional team and more like a playground dominated by a particularly aggressive conure, has created a space where it's impossible to feel secure or supported. The constant, petty bullying and criticism have had a significant impact on my morale and my ability to perform at my best, as so much of my energy is spent navigating the negativity rather than focusing on the crucial work at hand.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Very good people, very knowledgeable, very helpful.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The management (especially the middle management) are dreadful. Some are retiring and uninterested and need to be gotten rid of by senior management...they have airs and graces about them that amount to an unwillingness to speak to anyone lower down the chain...thus engineers and those who actually do the work are isolated in separate meetings about the same subject speaking only to their peers and separate meetings are had by mid-management. Adds a huge overhead and the left hand is unaware of what the right hand is doing.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
separation between those who do the work and mid-management...not across all departments...very frustrating. You haver to massage their egos or suffer a put down by these heads of departments and take it on the chin realising nothing will get done in an aligned and integrated manner. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Excellent when dealing with "operatives" but a never ending tale of minutes, presentations for mid-management all of which is unnecessary if they could come down off their high horses and attend a single meeting.

After being diagnosed with anxiety and depression, I had a period of sickness. Upon returning, had to have an occupational health review which I have no issue with.

However, after the results were returned, I was called into a meeting and basically given a choice of handing in my notice (which they had already written for me!) or face disciplinary action due to the report saying there were no underlying health issues.

Feeling like I have no real choice, I took the resignation. I was then stripped of my entry card, refused entry to my floor to collect my things or say goodbye to my colleagues and escorted from the building.

The irony is that afterwards, I received the report that clearly states my anxiety and depression.

This was only one team though, I'm sure that there are many other teams where things like this would be considered as horrific as they turned out to be.

A typical day  includes welcoming children ,making them feel comfortable and safe whilst teaching various subjects including maths and english each day.Some days include playground duties and assembly rotas . I have learnt that teaching needs alot of enthusiasm and effort but also gives alot of rewards back. It has been sociable in getting to meet new friends working as a team . The hardest part of the job is the marking each day of 35 books in various subjects and trying to make the marking comments  effective aswell as making sure each child progresses.
The management were friendly and worked hard and were supportive in most circumstances.
The most enjoyable part of the job was using my interests planning the class Christmas plays and songs and involving all the children in singing and drama.

What is the best part of working at the company?
 Nice people I worked with at the office.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Consistently moving the goal posts, no recognition for achievements , Outstanding Ofsted was not appreciated or recognised by management , who were rated good but were not transparent and so weren't good. 


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Didn't feel safe to  speak out about anything .  Toxic culture and lots of people who couldn't see it. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Meet clients write it up, write write ,write ,write , type, type, type .  Hearing from staff who were constantly overworked, who were indeed overworked and crying out for support which only came from each other

Do not apply for a role as a library assistant if you expect it to  be a relaxing, slow job. As long as you expect a fast paced role, you'll fit right in as a library assistant and find the work decently fulfilling. Overall a fun job, but management culture is very gossipy and cliquey. It can be hard to get straight answers from management until it has gone through ~3 levels of approval, a process that can and will take months, even on urgent or time-sensitive things. Despite this, taking initiative to solve problems is looked down upon and punished if not approved by management...

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Support worker 2 salaries reported	£27,039 per year
Disability support worker 7 salaries reported	£22,168 per year
Social worker 1 salary reported	£29,000 per year
Business administrator 3 salaries reported	£24,000 per year
Project manager 6 salaries reported	£44,022 per year

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