senior care assistant

registered nurse

care assistant

housekeeper

sous chef

Hallmark Care Homes

Hallmark professes to want to be the best provider of relationship centred care by 2020. The ideologu is great but the directors (who serve up the ideology) have no idea, all they want is to look good and promote themselves. They use the term relationship centred care because it is the new buzz word. The terminology that is used is all cliche. Empowerment days are like cult meetings and there is a degree of brain washing going on
Working for Hallmark was an interesting experience, it has a massive bullying culture which starts at senior management and works it's way down. Attitudes and work ethics are archaic. It is like morphing back to the 50s, where discrimination is rife.
Yes, the training is excellent but it is a waste of time as the expectations are so high and the homes are so busy, you cant put it to good use.
I worked for them for quite a while, the last 6 months i was there I used to go gome crying from constant bullying and put downs. I went from quite a strong individual to a quivering wreck. 
Concerns regarding bad nursing practice was ignored by the manager and brushed under the carpet. The manager had a very good way of twisting things that you said to make you look an idiot, so in the end it was a waste of time. Half of the nurses there shouldn't be allowed to practice.
The care the care staff offer is excellent, they are over worked and under paid. They don't stop, if they dare sit down for 5 minutes someone is shouting at them to do some work. I wonder when the last time any of the management actually went on to the floor and actually worked.?
I wouldn't recommend Happmark to anyone, it's all about how it looks not about care for residents or staff

Up until recently I loved my job with hallmark, the team were lovely and I built great working relationships with them. The managing directors of the company and their families are the loveliest people I’ve met and we’re chatty and interacted with all team members when they visited.  The residents are well looked after and cared for and everyone supports each other. When the manager left and a new manager started things went downhill straight away. There was no longer an open door policy, there was no support for team members and just genuinely rude to the team. Team members gave up reporting their issues as they were just brushed under the carpet and never dealt with. I watched team members who had worked with the company for over 5 years leave as well as long standing team members who had been with the company for more than 15 years. I watched team members fall apart and break down in tears through lack of support and working under intense pressure. I made the decision to leave as I didn’t feel the issues raised were taken seriously and the impact on my mental health and well-being was huge. I lost all confidence in myself and my abilities which is a shame as I loved my job and had the new manager treated myself and other team members with respect and supported us the way a manager should then I would still be there doing the job I love and I know others who have left would still be there too. 

I have been employed at hallmark for over 4 years, and have enjoyed all 4 of them. yes I would be lying if I said there wasn't some tough times involved, but wherever you work is this not the same? but its how you approach those tough situations and deal with them that lead to a happy work/life balance. sure people are going to have there gripes and moans, but on a whole hallmark is a fantastic company to work for. I have been given opportunities with them that I perhaps wouldn't have elsewhere and that is because as a company they believed in me and supported me and pushed me to better myself, because I believe they saw potential in me that maybe others wouldn't have. It makes me laugh when I read some of the reviews, as you don't go into care work and expect it to be an easy ride, its not. and if that is what you want then your going into the wrong line of work. Since day one I have found management approachable and understanding, and have always been given the opportunity to express myself without the fear of backlash, which has made the whole time working for them that bit more relaxed and enjoyable. The care team are hard working, passionate and empathic and go above and beyond to make sure the residents are well looked after at all times. I enjoy coming to work, its something I have the passion for and its true what they say, find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. highly recommended as a company to work for

I was offered a position at hallmark care homes upon calling and calling for nearly a whole month I was told my references was all good, just awaiting my dbs form (of which I was almost persuaded into paying for)

Nevertheless I called a day before my dbs was due to come through and wanted to check in and make sure all was still good as I was so eager to start, the lady I spoke to who was head of hr for the company unit told me all was fine and to “pop in as soon as I had my dbs”
(Bearing in mind I had already spent £35 in travel to run necessary documents back and forth,the next day came dbs cane through and I called to say I was coming in only to be told “actually we have changed our minds the references, were....how can we put this in the nicest possible way....unhelpful” 

So it had seemed in the space of less than 24 hours that they had changed their minds, either that or a previous company have used defamation against my name, when questioned on who had said something bad about me, i was sternly told I was not allowed to know! Which is actually wrong as defamation of character is punishable by law! 

The company kept me on a string for borderline 29 days before telling me no....

unprovoked.....underqualified....unprofessional.

This needs to be seen, for anyone like myself that almost ended up in serious debt due to bill payments etc avoid them unless you have a backup plan!

The experience at Bucklesham Grange was not as great as I was hoping, I started there feeling hopeful as they promote their awards and the home as a family friendly environment. As soon as you get into the door and working on the community I felt under pressure and not supported by the managers. There is way too much stressful work to do and not enough staff on shift, it works on ratio rather than needs of the residents and for me I find this very upsetting, the residents are wonderful and the care team are amazing, but they do not always get their needs met and the staff are made to feel guilty. They are 12 hour shifts, but the days feel short because of the amount you have to do and by the end of the day you will find yourself very tired, mentally and physically drained. The managers do not care about wellbeing, work loads of hours but as soon as you have a sick day they make you feel bad about it, there is no praise or appreciation, also try not to be friends with anyone or the managers will pick up on this and seperate the people you work well with, this makes you feel like you are in the wrong even know you go in to work giving your 100% effort. Management really let me down here and made me fall out of love with my job. Just do not be fooled by the induction because once you are past that you are just a number to them. 

I worked here for almost 2 years and unfortunately this is a prime example of when residents' days are fitted around staff schedules. Often under-staffed and expected to do the job of two/three people, whilst being paid minimum wage. Management were poor at staffing adequately, punishing those who didn't come in for shifts and it was often those who were reliable and conscientious that paid the price for this. 

Residents were incredible to look after, and this was a real privilege, but the environment to work in was poor. Lots of bitchiness amongst staff that wasn't dealt with by management, senior management constantly expecting more from staff who were already going above and beyond, and care assistants were left to face unhappy families often when we were not at fault. 

The company would be far better placed investing better in staff training (a real lack of dementia care understanding!) and adequately staffing their homes - 2 people to look after 20 residents with complex physical, psychological and emotional needs is not good enough. Minimum should be at least 5, or 6, allowing us time to spend quality time with residents, not 'task oriented' days.

Building and facilities looks nice, i will give them that, and that has always been their selling point, but ignore that. Management is the WORST I've ever worked under since 10 years of been in this industry. Understaffed and treated like rubbish by the management, total disregard to the staffs. No bridge between management and carers, lack of communication, No support from management to carers, rota was always messed up, people were always moved around, forced to work where they already agreed with management they will not work on, and we never got the equipment we needed. 

Always recruiting new staffs as they cant keep hold of staffs for too long due to VERY POOR management. Ask anyone that works or worked there, they will tell you same thing. Management does what they like without caring about the staffs, in other words you are been paid for the job, therefore you do as you are told and do not have the right to complain.. just like dictatorship. They will show you the nice buildings during your inductions, and tell you how nice it is to work there, trust me, once you sign that contract and join, you will then start regretting almost immediately.

AVOID! AVOID!! AVOID!!!
 
And yes i am a formal staffs, and worked for over 4 years, so im talking from experience.

The amount that the residents pay to be here is an absolute joke. The company have just refurbished the home with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of designer furniture and ornaments yet we have hardly any staff to look after residents with complex needs. Residents are sat in chairs all day and there’s not enough staff on duty to take them to the toilet or assist them with a bath if they need it. I’ve seen 3 people have a bath in the whole time I’ve been here. Bullying culture is rife in the home, from management to seniors to other care workers. Every week someone else is the target of gossip or shunning so you never know where you stand. Be prepared to do 12 hour shifts and weekend work. On the plus side, the majority of the staff genuinely care about the residents and do all they can to help them. You get a free meal at lunch and dinner (once residents have eaten) and the pay is above minimum wage (just about). The thing that really makes the job worth bearing is the residents as you build such strong relationships with them. But be prepared to deal with a lot of stress and anxiety in return.

Never worked in a care home before so was all new to me. Cracks began to show when managers were talking about other members of staff and it wasn’t the friendly place I originally thought it was. Numerous times I was told by the kitchen staff my manager wasn’t happy with me and he was going to ‘pull me’ I was a nervous wreck I couldn’t understand it as I hadn’t done anything wrong and he never did say anything to me. I tried to put this out of my head and tried my hardest, working on my days off, doing activities with residents, driving the minibus, shopping for kitchen and managers personal items, donating poppies even learning the Last Post on the trumpet for Remembrance Day lol.The list is endless. I was told in my 6 month probation that I was too caring for a care home and I help the carers too much, I needed to concentrate on my job and learn to say no! This went against everything I was taught in training.  I was told that I needed to improve. I left because it wasn’t the sort of care home I thought it was. 
It’s not a nice place to work or live. Would not recommend working or putting a loved one in hutton view. 

Awful place to work bullying environment constantly changing and moving goal posts to suit management if your face fits you will get on well …. Management are so unprofessional including central management teams they will expect all staff to go over and above job expectations for no extra pay or recognition but will never pitch in and help out when short staffed which is most of the time they will make sure they finish on time …no rewards at all just expectations which are unrealistic … staff don’t stay and they are constantly recruiting they say on the adverts no experience when they expect a min if level 2 nvq …. If you want no life constantly have phone calls to cover shifts on your days off because sickness is at a all time high no recognition or promotion unless ure face fits  with pizza as a reward every now and again. this is the place for you …. Hallmark have a charter ask anyone who works there what it is no one will know so how can they abide by it I never saw that happen Ever ….

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Senior care assistant 75 salaries reported	£15.40 per hour
Registered nurse 40 salaries reported	£22.28 per hour
Care assistant 227 salaries reported	£13.37 per hour
Housekeeper 116 salaries reported	£13.04 per hour
Sous chef 30 salaries reported	£16.42 per hour

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