customer service representative

project manager

process engineer

field technician

planner

Yorkshire-Water

Working in the call centre department receiving incoming calls. Was afforded some choice in the hours/days I would like to work. Worked from hot desks with strict log in times and overall monitoring. Plenty of training and support available before working independently. Very keen on health and safety within the work place with comprehensive training on whats expected of you. However hot desk areas were always dirty with thick dust etc. The company would not provide cleaning equipment for the pc's, desks and peripherals and the cleaners would never clean them. You were allowed however to wipe clean surfaces yourself. I think it being a water company they had a policy not to use chemicals where possible. One to one assessments carried out regularly with honest open discussion of expectations and personal goals. Seemed to be plenty of opportunities for further training and transfer to other departments once probationary periods etc satisfied. Always plenty of trained staff to report to, to air any grievances or report any issues.  So if f you don't mind having to clean your work area before you start your shift I would highly recommend this employer.

Excited to start, had been told the company really wanted to embrace new ways of working and challenge itself to do things differently.  Discovered shortly after starting that there were a few problems with that description: it did want all of those things, but it wanted them while not really wanting to change anything about its internal processes, intra-organisational divisions, accounting practices, or software development methods.

So many failures, but they all sprang from a resistance to changing how projects were funded.  This then cascaded down into requiring all spending to be tracked , which meant time had to be tracked, and cross-charged, which means individuals have to be tracked -- all of which makes being agile, in any sense, impossible.

More employees left the company or announced their imminent departure, in my first week/month, than had been in my onboarding cohort.  Rats leaving a sinking ship -- or just sensible people who recognised that battering one's head against a wall just leaves one with a lot of bruising and a still-standing wall.

Still, at least it's not Thames Water, right?

Kelda and YW are fine companies, it's the contact centre under Loop Customer Management where the problems are. Their culture is toxic, dishonest and childish. I worked several different positions within the company and as I worked my way into management I realised exactly who I was working for.

When you're new, they put on an amazing facade. They'll make you feel like you great and they're so grateful to have you. Best not cause a disagreement anywhere because once you've got on a manager's bad books, they'll effectively do everything they can to get rid of you. 

Doing "enough" isn't good either. You'll miss out on your bonuses if you're consistent year on year, even if that is meeting the targets they set as you're not progressing.

On my team I managed a handful of 'difficult' staff. My senior managers would routinely ask me how I planned to "manage them out", adding pressure to me to add pressure on them.

Other than this, the pay is decent, anyone not in upper management are generally really nice and... they have a fish tank? 

I worked as a  jetting technician. The company is a great company to work for and the work life balance is great too because you’re not working excessive hours and the rota is very decent company to others. There’s no massive pressure on you and health and safety is a huge focus so if you don’t feel safe doing a job you don’t do it. Sometimes jobs can be challenging and difficult but it’s rewarding when you solve it. The only problem I had working there was the salary was too low, especially when you needed a class 2 licence for the role and can make a considerable amount more elsewhere for a smaller skill set. You got paid by 5 different levels but each level would be signed off and take ages to receive the upgraded payment and even at the too end the pay is considerably less than other roles. I would not of left if it wasn’t for this though because I couldn’t fault anything else 

People here are really nice. Problem is there is no drive or ambition to improve anything. Too many Programme and project managers who deliver very little benefits or change. The company waste money by not managing project effectively.  The senior leadership team have no strategy, fire fight and it is very much a boys club. They need to clear our the senior management team who have been there too long and can't see the wood from the trees. Fresh management from operations management level is required. A failing company that waste shareholders money and not focusing on the right things. Bonuses are poor and not even worth striving for either. If you want an easy job with no accountability with very little to deliver this is the place to work

Im in the trades dept so repaires etc to sites etc,jobs great, everything there for you to do your job..the I T  side is poor, changing things for no reason, orderingetc is complicated,long winded and wastefull, scheduling is similar,often wasting hours or days on a job as its not been plannedin right..managers are good but their hands are often tied by paperwork etc..too much focus in the offices on open days ,minoritys, good/ bad press,that they forget the real reason we are there, to supply water,, i like my job but it annoys me that they are so wastefull,unorganised and often have the wrong systems in place,,theres a massive void between the workers and management/ offices...and it makes our jobs harder,,,,but most like their jobs in generall,and i would not swap now

Start from home with van from 08.00-16.30 a 1in4 standby 247 callout rota  typical day at work lifting sewage pumps clearing blockages reporting faults to management raising follow on work mechanical & Electrical for craft making sure site's did not cause Environmental issues work place culture was Toxic due to People climbing over each other to get the next pay grade management did not listen to your problems hardest part about the job was having to manage your own holidays'time off raising follow on work only for it to be Re-Prioritised by some one who did not do the job  most enjoyable part was the comeradary between work mates you could trust main issue to many managers that micro manage staff.

Working as part of Yorkshire Water wasn't what I was expecting at all, very tense atmosphere every shift and the managers were very patronising. Though I did meet some good friends and it was a shame to leave but I had to do it in order to find a job that I can enjoy which would then let me show off my skills. On a daily basis I answered all sorts of calls, from general change of address to complaints to customers advising me of leaks in the house or road. I learned even more about customer service, this time on the phones rather than face to face which will help me in the future. The hardest part of the job was been made to feel like your useless by the managers and doing the same thing for 8 hours. The most enjoyable part of the job was my co-workers which made it a more bearable place to work.

On a typical day I would be given jobs to be done on different priorities (reactive and planned maintenance) and would work through them on my own or with a fitter. I was also on a standby rota once every 5 weeks for emergency work out of normal working hours. We would look after treatment works and a incinerator in Huddersfield and Halifax working on motors, different types of pumps, gear boxes, conveyors which would be controlled by different starters and control systems such as sensors, proximity switches, pressure switches etc. If you ever had any problems all the craft in the area were always willing to help which made it a good environment to work.

A typical day was to try and resolve any kind of problems from pollution to environment to internal flooding to customers properties.
I learnt a lot about the environment itself to how many things can go wrong with our sewerage system.
  I had a great relationship with all my colleagues and also quite a few different managers as well, which was quite frustrating as I had 12 managers in my 18 years at YW.
  The hardest part of the job was that it gradually got more office based than doing the actual work out on site. The most enjoyable was working with great colleagues out and about in some very odd and peculiar places.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 18 salaries reported	£28,809 per year
Project manager 26 salaries reported	£49,406 per year
Process engineer 25 salaries reported	£32,329 per year
Field technician 3 salaries reported	£35,178 per year
Planner 16 salaries reported	£46,943 per year

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