production operator

factory worker

line lead

night watch staff

associate

Bakkavor

The management is very poor. There's a lack of training, a lack of instruction, a lack of communication and often a lack of respect.

Out of all the jobs I've had this is the most stressful. 

As a packer on the production line, the job is very fast. Each product has a standard pace of packs per minute but it usually runs at around 150% or faster to get as much as possible out of the staff without a care for the exhaustion and stress of the staff while a manager stands staring at everyone.

I've seen some packs of product going through to dispatch with ingredients missing because it's too fast for some people on the line to keep up.

New staff get criticised for not being fast enough to keep up with the line.

Rather than offer guidance and instructions, charge-hands and managers often shout at staff who are unsure what to do - especially during cleaning, for which no training is given. Some charge-hands and managers are quite pleasant but they too offer no guidance.

There are no set break times and we're often required to work in very cold conditions for over four hours without a break. This often results in numb toes and an aching back.

Occasionally when going on break, a manager will shout into the changing room to say precisely what time everyone must be back on the line or face disciplinary action.

Issues raised to managers about problems with wages etc get ignored again and again.

We have to wear shared wellies. At the Bridgeness site it's easy to find a pair of wellies that fit but in the Carriden site you could spend at least five minutes hunting for a pair because most of them are padlocked together with people's names on them. Often when you remove your feet from the wellies your sock will be discoloured from old food stuck inside the wellies.

They don't give us any public holidays except for Christmas day.

It's not a very pleasant place to work. That's why people keep leaving and the company has a constant recruitment campaign.

The worst thing about the job is the speed at which we are forced to work. It is something I've never experienced in any factory production job I've had.

I will be leaving as soon as I find an alternative permanent job.

Typical day at work would involve filling yum yums with caramel, packing it in boxes and putting boxes on the line where it gets plastic packaging by machine. You get two half an hour breaks about mid morning and mid day, including changing footwear, walking to canteen, toilets and back. It has to be 30 minutes exactly as you clock in and out using screen. Can't leave the line to go have a sip of water as line doesn't stop and I personally didn't even try as worried about need for toilet later. You have to move extremely fast on the line otherwise product would just simply end up on the floor. You do about couple of moves per second for eleven hours, non stop apart from those two breaks. In the end of the shift my back, shoulders and legs hurt like I've been run over. Lovely team though, bless them. They always came to rescue me when I couldn't catch up with the speed. You could do any job for minimum wage without moving with the speed of light every second. You also have yourself only to talk to in your mind as your team (lovely people though) would speak their own language which you can't really blame them for. But communication is not so much the case. It still wouldn't make much difference to how physically hard this job is. I truly believe it needs to be done by machinery. Its not normal for humans to move as fast as robots. We rotated filling, packing and putting boxes on the line jobs, half an hour each time, but its still the same. You will see same product for eleven hours every day, doing same job. After the shift anywhere I looked was moving to the right (just like the line). Next day called absence line as I couldn't walk, lift my arms, even lay flat as my back hurt. I admire guys in our team who been there for years. I always thought before I was a hardworking individual but nothing compared to them.   

Dear friends,

Typical night shift starts from preparation & set up. It takes approximately 30 minutes to start up the electrical motors :) -(depositors) & to prepare the lines. Sometimes it's quick or even to quick or normal and slow. It depends on the order, & if a demand is great. Management seem to be smart and friendly, easy talkers. It's their's part of work. Especially for the higher grade.
Huge requirement is for a  health and safety policy. To be safe at workplace  & keep others safe and out of danger. 
PPE requirements are: MANDATORY on ear defenders, on situation: eye goggles, kevlar gloves. For food safety as you can guess: hair net, disposable gloves & overall.

The hardest part of work is where you need to do a lot of changeovers by yourself on a thing where you have basic knowledge for the thing which is not simple.
To simplify it requires: time, preparation, some adjustable-workable actions, support of others & their knowledge.

Everywhere requirement is to work no matter wherever you work at.
Environment is a fast place, where expectations are high. If things are simple & supportive  it's not only improves speed, reduces utility but as well improves peoples mood.  Am i right?

Company has adopted training, where new beginners like me can support others. So training is alright.

Funniest part of all is to smile when something force majeure happens. Unexpected, unseen, unplanned event where it can change rapidly.  For example: some settings could jump, or to catch the order ('sometimes), if something breaks. Or to do the changeover where it requires some diligence and the pressure is big.

Anyway is a good enough & decent workplace where you could generate some income.

I would like to say its an exaggeration but its not. This place is and awful place to work at. For a start, you are payed basically the minimum possible wage that they can get away with paying you, the only reason the money is fair is because the Union is constantly on their backs and because they know the wages are the only thing keeping anyone there.

Ask anyone they will tell you how bad it is. Unless you are friends with the higher ups you will have a bad time. 

Furthermore, organisation is awful for a business on this scale. Lines are always down and no one will tell you why and the amount of food waste is abhorrent, and the way they fix this issue is placing laminated bits of paper around saying "don't make waste!" To keep the auditors happy when they come around but as soon as they are gone the team leaders couldn't care less.

One positive thing I will say is how multicultural it is there, and the other production operatives are a great bunch of people to get along with. But as soon as someone gets up to line leader they become monsters driven by numbers devoid of empathy. Though you can't really blame them when you have intimidating team leaders breathing down their necks because their line isn't matching predicted statistics made by some pen pushing accountant who's never been on the production floor.

Overall. Bakkavor, at least in the Tilmanstone branch, is the embodiment of a dystopian corporate machine. They will make it look great on your induction days but make sure to keep you separate from actual employees who will happily tell you how bad it is to work there. 

But hey, if you need some cash its got that at least. Just don't expect to enjoy it at all. 

a typical day would start at 21.30 and I would do a hand over from the back shift team leader as what has happened during the day and what needs completing during the night I would also contact other departments to see what there is for them to complete before my team can start cleaning the factory, I would then make sure all my staff were there and ready to start work, tell the team of any area that has a late or early start in cleaning any problems, check there is enough chemicals and equipment to complete the cleaning, help out in any area that is having difficulty i.e.; the bin wash were large bins that are used to mix dips in are cleaned and is over run with bins, sort out the rota including holidays and sick leave and order any agency to cover, input all information onto the computer and on paper for the next shift to read, fill in any accident report forms if there is an accident arrange any in house training for the operatives, fill in wage discrepancy forms if need to and hand out pay slips on Fridays, and at the end of the shift (06.30 to07.00) do another hand over with day shift team leader.
I learned to be self confident, problem solving, it skills, work in a team as well as on my own 
management was good 
my co workers were hard working 
hardest part was when we were busy and having trained staff off and trying to do the same job with untrained agency 
the most enjoyable part of the job was at the end of the week when we had all worked hard all week and looking forward to the weekend off.

48 hours isn’t too much of a hassle to do per week but it was the sheer fact that it was 12 per day and sometimes a few days in a row. I had to cut it down to 36 for me just because I had no way of getting home, have a meal and shower in time before needing to sleep for the shift the next day. My shifts were either from 5:30am-5:30pm or 6am-6pm, making me leave my house a hour before that making me have to drive in the dark on a Moped, it wasn’t the safest or ideal way of transport but it was all I had.

I only had the job for a couple months before getting let off by a mistake of the agent who told me I needed to do this test assignment at Peterborough which it wasn’t in Peterborough. I was annoyed but at that point, I was kind of happy that I was free from it all.

It wasn’t the best place honestly. No place to put my belongings, hours were too much, felt super disconnected from the rest of the crew as they all spoke in their language and most of the time I wasn’t needed at times so I was just let off early. Comparing this job to my previous one and the one I have now, this was a nightmare.

Bakkavor is an interesting place to work, there is plenty of work to do, you will be challenged and there is a lot to learn from the immense factory. There are good opportunities for you progress and depending on your job role everyday can be very different. 

A standard day for me would involve working on/supporting production lines, covering breaks for operatives, attending meetings and working on projects. 

While my time was brief at Bakkavor, I did learn a lot about the manufacturing environment, how to compose myself, providing a greater insight into business.

Management within Bakkavor have an incredible task to fulfil, the workplace is very fast paced with a lot of pressure to get the job done and get it right, which is not always an easy task, in my opinion however this in turn can create a very toxic culture of pushing others around, scapegoating and finger pointing. These situations made it very hard to speak up in certain situations and prompted me to stay behind after work or continue work on my days off as I was not prepared to determent other people work.

What I honestly found most enjoyable about the company was that people I worked with, there was many fantastic and interesting people  who are passionate about their work.

Worked for bakkavor for a few years, made some good friends for life. Job was mundane, if you was lucky enough to land a cushy job the manager would do everything to take you off it to put their favourite member of staff on it, no matter how good at it you are. There are horrible managers, ignorant managers, sly managers, you name it you have it. They don’t care about the staff, they just care about production running. There are only 2 decent managers there, the rest are shocking…. No communication what so ever across the board… be careful who you speak to in there because once you tell one person you think you can trust something personal the whole factory knows about it within minutes. Rumours are started if they see you talking and being friendly with someone, it is surreal!! You are pressured into doing overtime even if you have kids, if you can’t do it you’re threatened with your job or your grade, if you’re caught talking on line you’re shouted at, it literally is like being in school! line leaders are under too much pressure…would never return…… they mess your wages up and then ignore you when you ask them about it, even payroll doesn’t have a clue what day it is! Everyone is pushed to the limit and you never get any gratitude.

What is the best part of working at the company?
You learn more about food processing,hygiene and the need for following standards.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Organisational culture is very poor, there very little respect among colleagues.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
From my understanding, I am bound by official secrecy therefore can not divulge much on that.The company can do better irregardless of my not speaking out.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Upon entry into factory we wash and sanitise hands twice then put on PPE. While inside first task is checking on  racks and dry mixes for first product production.Depending on area of operation feeding dough(billets) on a line or be involved in picking and placing of products into trays for baking.As soon as they are done we clean up the line and send machines for thorough cleaning at hygiene area.We repeat the process for the next products until we get to 9-10pm when first break is due.After 30minutes break we get back put on PPE and start the process again until second break between 2-3am of which by 5:30am we clean up for final time and exit the factory at 6am.

The work is very tiring and draining.  The factory is chilled to not far above zero, the work involves standing by a conveyor belt for sometimes 6 hours at a time, doing the same repetitive tasks all day.  The pay is minimum wage and you do not get paid for the breaks.  The breaks are officially 30 minutes but this includes walking time and taking PPE on and off, so once you have got to the break room you only have about 15 minutes to eat.

The culture is quite poor in my opinion.  The management go easy on you the first week but after there is a lot more shouting and general unpleasantness.  Some of the team leaders and line leaders are much more compassionate and understand its a difficult job and try and support you in just getting the work done, others do not however.  There are some genuinely interesting people working there and there are many people from different countries, however there is no real time to form any kind of bond with your colleagues.  

Overall it really is not pleasant and I would only suggest it if like me you are very desperate for work and only until you can find another job. 


Top Job Titles	Average salary
Production operator 10 salaries reported	£14.77 per hour
Factory worker 54 salaries reported	£14.86 per hour
Line lead 6 salaries reported	£15.68 per hour
Night watch staff 11 salaries reported	£17.37 per hour
Associate 8 salaries reported	£14.77 per hour

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