research interviewer

market researcher

field interviewer

research manager

associate director

Ipsos MORI

What should be a pretty straight forward call centre job ideal for students who need flexible working is ruined by a group of so-called "supervisors" and "Managers" who treat people like dirt. 

The Pros are that the people on the floor are varied and nice some of the supervisors are lovely too as a single mum i met many friends by attending the office. You can fit work around your own life, which was great as balancing a baby and a postgraduate degree is no easy task to fit around work... The issue is you can only do this if you can keep your head down and avoid the cons...which are like a time bomb you're going to run into them eventually ..If anyone in higher management is reading this and wondering about the employee turn over rates, pay close attention as follows:

Management attitude is toxic and it bleeds into the whole call centre creating a weird tribal culture. Because of this there is a 'wild west' attitude about the place and no one to talk to if you are treated unfairly because nine times out of ten the office management are the ones conducting the hurt and if they're not they'll support those conducting it because it is a self serving clique that protects itself. This is one of the very few work places where if something goes horribly wrong there is no professional to talk to, to help resolve it, it's a small in house crowd of ruthless people who are all rubbing each others back. In my time with Ipsos MORI I have been shouted at by management when asking for advice or told to look for someone else if a supervisor is not my pal. Hit on multiple times by men were are my superior. Watched older men and women be ridiculed for not being as savvy with IT. Overheard horrible racial and verbal language from management about employees. Heard bragging about having a low attendance rate but still being a star interviewer. You often see young woman having to deal with male supervisors talking to them in an inappropriate manner, such as commenting on their looks or asking them out on a date. But the creme de la creme are the office managers, if you say you are struggling with any of this you will stop being offer shifts instantly and kept on a short leash. Horrible for me as a single mum I worked for Ipsos MORI three months or so ago and they just muted my work when I spoke up after a very steady flow and told me I had attitude problems. To address the problem of these constant complaints about management there's an array of absurd bingo's and seasonal events... Which only the same clique enjoy.

Office management over all is a lost cause, I am sure there's one or two people who are down to earth in there but the structure and culture is foul... The management pick favourites with those who can participate best in 'banter' which results in a strange unprofessional alpha male ring gang picking and choosing who they like based on whatever they choose.

HR are based in London are of no help either, in fact I got the impression they were "aware" of the issues in the Edinburgh office, but didn't want to deal with it. 

Trust me I had excellent attendance, strike rate and monitored feedback (QCs) compared to many in the office.

You might see all the shiny aspects of the company such as the exit polls they do for the election night with the CEO on the BBC waxing lyrically about his workers, unfortunately the same workers he praises are treated like utter dirt in the Edinburgh, Leith office.

Believe me when I say that you want to avoid this place like the plague!

I worked here for 1 year part time while doing my masters course. I can say that I was grateful for the work, but at the same time. It was not a great environment to work in, especially for the full-time workers.

The job itself is pretty straight forward. You phone people and attempt to get them to take part in a survey over the phone. You get the odd rude person that swears or slams the phone down on you, but generally most people on the other end of the phone are nice. 

Some projects you work on are easier to get surveys than others. Most of the supervisors are decent folk who are on the same boat as you i.e. non-contracted casual workers (zero hours in all but name) which was great for me as I only needed part time hours. Not great if you work full-time as the level work does fluctuate throughout the year.

The computer equipment you work on can be over 10 years old and painfully slow to use. A lot of the machines are vandalised. I once worked on a computer which had "BISEXUAL GIRLS ROCK!" written with a permanent maker pen! 

The toilets could be really disgusting at times too. 

So the work itself is fine, if not mind-numbing at times, however the working conditions and conduct of some of the so called "supervisors" and "managers" is unbelievable at times. The managers in the office are very unfriendly and unapproachable. I once went in to query my pay and got told: "I'm busy" when I asked when would be a better time to come back, they replied "I don't know" then walked away from me. 

One day a "supervisor" got everyone off the phones and asked everyone to gather around his desk where they proceeded to stand on top of it and start mumbling a load of incoherent instructions. It was a pretty bizarre but not isolated incident. Hearing supervisors swear and scream loudly is not uncommon. Most of them were moaning about the managers in the office, rather than at my fellow telephone interviewers. 

The most disgusting incident I witnessed was at the work Christmas party. I saw quite a few senior managers acting extremely inappropriately around the younger female interviewers. Some of them were young enough to be their daughters! As shocking as that was, thankfully a lot of interviewers and the decent fellow interviewers stepped in to "rescue" these potential victims. 

These incidents were just the tip of the iceberg as to how dysfunctional the call centre was run. As I said, I was grateful for the hours, but I wouldn't recommend working here unless you're really desperate for the cash.

This is truly one of the most depressing jobs I've ever had the misfortune of doing. 

You randomly call members of the public trying to convince them to take part in a survey. Most folk you speak to are fine, but you do have to deal with a lot of angry and aggressive people that swear or threaten you with violence from time to time.

The job is easy enough. However the working conditions (or rather the lack of them!) are something else! 

I remember walking into the break room on my training day to find that someone had written in huge letters: "PLEASE REMEMBER TO FLUSH THE TOILET!" on the blackboard wall. This really should have alarm bells ringing. The whole interviewing process was so easy, you are literally trained on how to pass the training assessment, rather than going through a standard job interview process. This is probably why so many unprofessional folk end up working in the Edinburgh call centre. 

You are constantly monitored for quality control purposes, but there is a lack of consistency from the supervisors and you constantly get conflicting advice from them. Some supervisors are more relaxed than others. For example, some would allow you to read while waiting in-between calls, while others would threaten to send you home! 

It really isn't a work place that provides encouragement or development. One of the worst things I witnessed was a Supervisor having a real go at an interviewer (a young student) sat beside me and told them if they didn't get a survey in the next hour they would send them home! The worst thing was, they didn't even coach the person or offer any advice to help them. Even though it wasn't my job, I tried to give this poor person some tips on their intro. but didn't get any surveys. It probably didn't help that they (understandably) sounded stressed out while talking. Sadly, this person got sent home! I was so angered by the whole incident that I spoke to the supervisor, and was promptly told to mind my business or I'd be sent home! When I spoke to one of the managers in the office, they said they would "look into it" but I never saw that poor interviewer come back and seemingly nothing happened to Supervisor responsible.

The only positive thing I can say about the place is that you do meet a lot of really nice people from all sorts of different walks of life and that's about it.

Take my advice and avoid this place if you value your sanity.

I really have no problem with the company or any of my former superiors, most were very friendly and kind even when they had every right not to be.  I always felt like I could get in contact with someone with any problems or questions.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the work I was doing was market research rather than public opinion or polling.  I found this seriously soul-destroying.  The people who agree to let you interview them usually do it out of kindness or charity and to thank them for this you're forced to ask them the most boring questions, like "which of the following is owned by someone in the household" and then a long, boring list of consumer electronics - which you then might have to ask how often they use them, every day, 2-3 times a week, you get the picture.  Like those very dull surveys you occasionally do, except you are the living breathing survey.  They can't read them, they can only listen to you read them.  I hated it.

Occasionally there was a very short section on politics or similar and if that were the job I'd still be doing it, it was fascinating and felt meaningful.  But market research made up over 95% of the questions and that was truly depressing.  Exploiting the kind and sympathetic to feed their information (anonymously, admittedly) to massive companies.  I didn't last very long.

In practical terms you need a car, and be willing to walk lots and deal with whatever weather comes at you.  This wasn't a problem for me.

I really like that you can choose how and when to get the job done, just as long as you get it done.  But I strongly suspect that to make real money you have to be quite pushy, as most people simply don't want to spend half an hour doing something as boring as this with no benefit to them.  You have to learn to make people let you in when they don't want to.  That was never going to be me, so I quit after a couple of months.  I made some cash and gained some experience, I don't regret it, but you have to be a certain type of person to stick something like this out.

This is a very strange work place. Its so easy to get a job here, you literally just need to pass a phone "test" which consists of a few basic questions about your skills and you come in for a "training day" session which consists of you being taught how to use the systems and company procedures then you get thrown onto the phones! No test to confirm if you've been listening or following what you've learn during the training day. It makes me wonder how these guys have ISO accreditation, which they kept boasting about all day! 

While the job of phoning people and try and get them to answer surveys isn't exactly rocket science, the way the place is run is incredible. The office managers come across that they care about your well being, but they only care about getting the projects finished and have little to no regard for your well being. 

Pros:

* Easy to get the job.
* Flexible working.
* Pay *can* be good for what you're doing.
* A job where you can turn up, work, and leave it all behind.

Cons:

* Management keep secret lists that can help or ruin your chances of getting work.
* If you don't make "friends" with the right people then you could be stuck with the worst shifts.
* Young females get chatted up by sleazy male supervisors and managers turn a blind eye to this behaviour. Not great in the #MeToo era.
* Older female office managers also aren't very friendly with young females.
* You are just a number - Nobody cares about you.
* They hire close to 1000 new staff every year, for a call centre that's got around 120 phones.
* Crackly headphones and slow and old computers.
* Sometimes your desk can be left in a filthy state by the last person sat there.
* They refuse to say how you go up and down the pay grades.
* They mostly treat their staff like children.
* The targets or "strike rate" change throughout the day and you can never know if you've done a good or bad day's work until management release statistics 3 days later.
* Shifts can be cancelled at very short notice.
* Toilets are disgusting 
* You get people who occasionally steal your lunch from the fridge, or even worse, will take a bite out of your sandwich and put it back in your lunch box. 

Recommendation: 

Avoid the place unless you desperately need money.

Pros
Flexible
good for extra money (as long as shifts are available)
Some supervisors were lovely and were the only thing giving me motivation to stay positive 
Easy work (if you can put up with members of the public treating you like dirt) 

Cons
You are expendable 
Minimum wage 
Not extras or perks which is unusual for call centre (except one job you get money for every complete survey)
Management quite rude and don't care about staff
The call centre is dirty, seats and microphones falling apart, I had constant colds working here
I saw one supervisor belittle an older woman for talking when he was about to go over what a new project was about (he hadn't started yet and she wasn't the only one talking) I saw him call her out numerous times for nothing
The same supervisor stood over me behind my back while I wrote some notes after a call and loudly gave me a row for 'drawing pictures'. I think he was one of those people that power trip over being a supervisor and liked to humiliate people
The same supervisor also bragged about having a 20-something year old gf while he was well Into his 50s or approaching retirement - he was a complete sexist pig and talked about other women he had been with in graphic detail

Worked there for a year and a half, initially loved the flexibility and when there were plenty of shifts available I got full time hours. For a few months it was really quiet so barely got any work maybe 2-3 4 hour shifts a month. You are supposed to book 3 shifts per week, one week only one shift was available to me. I got an email from the administrator saying everyone must book 3 shifts per week (this was sent to everyone not just me) I emailed back to ask for more shifts or if more would become available,  she then just cancelled my only shift which seemed unfair because if I hadn't emailed her to ask for more then it wouldn't have been cancelled! I queried this and was ignored, I never booked another shift after that. I had also had plenty of other weeks with only one or two shifts booked in with no problem

Most boring job in the world 

Make you wander round outside when it is bucketing down with rain; or you loose your job if you dont; or dont get the required number of surveys

Bad working hours; dont allow you to start until 2pm- working until 8 or 9 pm in the evening

No Databases system of houses visited

Have to have worked there for years to progress from basic survey person 

 Manager is hard to get through to 

Made to walk excessive distances to get to houses on AMP surveys

Cant find out how data is managed or used to help

Not enough variation in surveys

Incomplete surveys dont count

Some surveys take forever to complete- between 30-40 minutes

A lot of very forward, personal questions on sensitive issues 

Work all day by yourself

Almost got viciously attacked on at least 3 occasions after opening b dogs


No consideration for amount of physical exertion before key sporting events for myself- 

made to do a survey of 24 houses (having to go back to such 24 houses every day to try to get those specific 24 houses to do a Newspaper survey (arrange an appointment to do a survey that can take over an hour) ) over a huge area of Bracknell and Crowthorne
The week before the October 2017 half marathon

Some WELSHMAN was brought in to do one of the two  surveys of 24 houses (the other one in a much more condensed housing estate area of Bracknell)   

And of  COURSE

Took the one where all the houses were close together

Leaving me with the one where the houses were spread out from Broadmoor Road in Crowthorne to Ringwood in Bracknell

The week before the October 2017 CARDIFF HALF MARATHON ( ran in 85 minute (1 hour 25) as a result of being forced to take ridiculously strong medication) 



Have to walk into strangers houses not knowing whom they are   

Or dont get enough surveys and 
LOOSE THE JOB

You sit in front of a computer, wait for someone to answer the phone, convince them to take part in a survey and repeat. The work is monotonous, but the job is easy and you do work on different surveys and most of the time you get sat beside cool and interesting people.

Unfortunately, what could be a really cool work place is ruined by lack of empathy or respect shown to the interviewers by some Supervisors who should't be in the position they are in as they act like total bullies, incompetent at their job or in some cases, both! The management in the office are no better either sadly. Complaints were swept under the carpet when I worked there and those seen as "trouble makers" suddenly found that "no shifts" were available for them to book.

Young females got it the worst, they had to deal with jealous older female supervisors who gave them a hard time for no reason or creepy male supervisors drooling over them and making them feel extremely uncomfortable. In fairness, 75% of the supervisors were decent people. 

You're also not guaranteed work as the work is very seasonal. Sometimes there would be no work for a couple of weeks, then all of a sudden you can work all the hours you want. 

The break room was the only sanctuary to re-energise yourself. Sadly, even there, there were faults. You had to bring in your own mug or glass for water, as management stopped supplying plastic cups to workers. On so many occasions (especially at the weekend) the tea and coffee machines would be broken. 

I only lasted 3 months before finding a job where I am treated with more respect by my managers.

I've worked at Ipsos for a while now and while it's not a career path I'd have chosen when I first started, as telephone centre's go it's one of the better ones. 

like most of the centres I've been in, work is casual so you can work here or anywhere else at the same time. It's not guaranteed work so some times you don't get as many shifts as you'd like (explained to me when I started) and sometimes you can work loads, but If you want job security you should look elsewhere. Shifts are given to you based on how good your surveys are and how many you get in a shift. Pay is ok for what you do, but if rates were higher they might not need to train as many people.

The work itself can be varied, sometimes it's great (when elections come along) and some times its really dull, but in my experience that's standard for most jobs.

Over the past few years the managers have done lots to make it a better place to work. The centre is nice and colourful and there's been lots of effort to improve peoples mental and physical health. We have sports weeks, halloween events, christmas events etc. Standing desks are there if you want one, exercise bikes also and there's exercises highlighted you can do to keep active while dialling like stretching. 

Most of the people I work with make it a really fun place to work, loads of people from all different backgrounds work there but there are some cliques that can bring the atmosphere down despite the best efforts from the supervisors. In an environment like this I think it's to be expected.

The only good thing about working in the Ipsos MORI call centre in Edinburgh is that there are plenty of interesting people working there. A lot of students, artists and musicians work there because the work is flexible. 

However, it's very monotonous work, and can feel quite soul crushing. I worked there for a year, but only about 12 hours per week on average. Full time hours on minimum wage would have been just too much. The good thing about shift work is that when you clock off, it's over. You go straight home and forget about it. 

Sadly the management treat the workforce as completely expendable, as everyone is on zero hour contracts. There is a real lack of professionalism, which would explain the constant revolving door of staff recruitment. 

If you have a thin skin you will find it stressful - most people don't like being phoned up at home and asked to do surveys. And they will tell you. And you will make hundreds of calls in every four hour shift. On top of that you have Supervisors who conduct themselves very inappropriately, which in the #MeToo era shouldn't be allowed at a company with the suposed reputation of Ipsos MORI. The icing on the cake is the workplace literally falling apart at the seams. Everything from broken chairs, broken vending machines and toilets constantly leaking.

Best avoid the place unless you desperately need money.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Research interviewer 409 salaries reported	£14.04 per hour
Market researcher 49 salaries reported	£60.46 per day
Field interviewer 230 salaries reported	£46.24 per hour
Research manager 19 salaries reported	£41,416 per year
Associate director 16 salaries reported	£54,523 per year

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