electrical engineer

gas engineer

customer service representative

cleaner

site supervisor

Interserve

A typical day at work - 

What should've just been a normal security guard job is turned into being a full on lackey for management moving benches and other heavy materials / equipment that have nothing to do with your job has a security guard if you refuse you would be disciplined under the premise that "you failed to carry out a reasonable managerial request" even though you've pulled your back out lifting then you'd be then threatened by the operations manager with disciplinary action over that too. (I know that sounds unbelievably ridiculous but this actually happened to a fellow employee when i worked for this site / company). 
  
What i learned - 

Absolutely nothing in terms of security to what i already knew but in terms of what humans will do to get to where they want to be in management i would say I learnt how vile, greedy and darn right disgusting these troglodytes can be. 

Management - 

Deluded, Arrogant, Ignorant, neglectful they also have this ill gotten God complex. 

Hardest part of the job - 

Its difficult to pinpoint just one bad thing whilst i worked at that company / workplace since i started on the opening date of that site which was in 2013 as they had been so many bad things happen there over the course of 6 years but i will outline the worse ones now; 

There was an instance when the Security Manager on that site turned up drunk on site out of shift hours and walked into the CCTV control room shouting abuse at his employees and even threw an iPad at one of the members of staff as if that wasn't bad enough the operations manager was fully aware of what happened and just swept it all under the rug threatening the employees who where abused by the drunken oaf security manager with there jobs he even moved the poor mistreated employee who had the iPad launched at him onto the cleaning team thus the drunken oaf security manager some how thanks to the operations manager kept his job as if this isn't bad enough the same drunken oaf security manager that some how kept his job does not actually care about how good a security guard candidate is when recruiting and only cares about them covering as many hours as possible as this is linked to his bonus. You will be offered a relive position then used like a well programmed dehumanised droid who will do any hours going which basically means unsociable hours barely any days off if any at all and when you start turning shifts down because you want to have a rest he will just throw you in the trash and go back to the production line to find another clueless droid (Candidate). If by some sort of miracle he employs someone who is actually decent at the job these people eventually leave after about 3 - 6 months after realising they are just being used and their best interests and well being just don't come into the security managers mind at all, I worked there for 6 years and when the security manager started in 2016 I saw this sort of thing happen countless times with no concern for the new employee on the security managers part at all. Unless you like being dehumanised and like not having any form of family/social life at all i would advise you to AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. 

The Operations Manager on this site acts like an over grown baby when things don't go his way or when he has to do any form of work and is quite possibly the most ignorant, arrogant, dismissive, hypercritical, facetious and patronising "human" i've ever met. Countless times me and my counterparts have suggested ideas most of which would've bettered the workplace, site and workers as a whole increasing team morale in the process only for the idea to be dismissed immediately and then when we would ask why we wouldn't be able too go along with a particular idea we just receive an answer of "I don't need to justify myself to you people" thus bringing the entire team moral down even further creating an atmosphere where no one wants to suggest anything anymore no matter how good the idea. 

If this isn't bad enough on top of all of this you have to make sure that the one thing that you would expect to be correct all the time is correct and that is your WAGE at the end of the month, yes they would even mess this up. The accounts team was utterly terrible countless time me and other employees had for some reason been moved onto wrong tax codes and been over taxed to the point where employees wouldn't have been able to pay monthly bills with some instances employees would have had to wait till the next month to be able to get there money back outrageous right? 

On this site in particular there was an initiative called "Everyday wonder" this is basically an award scheme where employees would get gift cards for so many good stories they put on a board in a corridor where all the visitors pass to make it look like it is such an amazing place to work. What the visitor doesn't realise though is that this initiative is rammed so far down employees throats that if at every morning meeting you didn't have an everyday wonder story to share with the rest of the team you simply would be frowned upon by management thus employees would just make any story up to appease the deluded managers on site. 

Also on that site they is a room called the "Gold Room" this is basically a room where all the employees who have basically lied about there Everyday Wonder stories get rewarded after having 100 stories made up about them by having access to this room where theirs a little buffet  (sausage rolls, fruit, picnic eggs etc basically cheap stuff from Tesco) a Xbox, TV, noise cancelling ear phones. This is designed to be a reward but in actually fact it segregates half the team from the other. The other half of the team who aren't deemed to be "Gold members" are doomed to sit in a small seating area (They called it a canteen its not) where the drinking water is dirty and they are fly's and cockroaches everywhere (that isn't an exaggeration honestly i would never eat my food in there). 

As you can only imagine the actual decent employees the decent human beings who are quite clearly depressed who have to work at that poisonous cesspool of a workplace / company are only there because they've been passively indoctrinated by there superiors into believing that they is nothing else out there as if that workplace / company is the best for them. When i was leaving i was told by a superior that "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" to that i say, No you are wrong and i will never look back at that horrible, hideous, degrading, poisonous utterly depressing workplace / company / managers again i've moved onto bigger and better things and i am a lot happier for doing so and i urge that other employees and you the possible next applicant (droid) do the same don't waste your time i guarantee you will regret it.

general duties in the fab shop included working with pipe fitters to find and clean carbon/stainless sheet metal/galvanised steel by using drawings, then check over for defects in welds, then send for NDT testing and X-ray,bombing, then if needed to be cut up and sent to welders for re-prep then re-welding, once cleared by welding inspectors and all pipe etched up, and clean inside and out using a formula - by-matting or acetone, then bagged and shipped out via trailer using overhead gantry crane,slinging then logged off via data base, also 2 days of the week i would do site inspection for audit purposes, i.e, fire marshaling, fire extinguisher and exit clearance, fist aid box checks, PPE, check all machinery has PAT testing labels on and in date. signage for mandatory safety implied within the workshop, check slings are colour coded and checked for damage, if damaged to be cut/logged off data base and re ordered and replaced, and scrapped, also toolbox talks would be administered two times a fortnight.

I learned that working with certain parts of shop floor supervisors, safety was not of importance, and when i approached senior management i was told its a carbon shop, or its the way some people do it and once the audit was over things went back to how it was, employees taking risks using damaged slings, not using plate grabs or the right tools for the job, i was promised an IOSH safety management course due to completion and it never materialized, so i learned never to put myself forward for such a position again unless it was on documented paper, and to do my job efficiently, effectively, and in a safe manner, conscious of the mistakes others are making and be prepared to take appropriate measures if needed.

90% of my co-workers where old school,nice, polite, and thorough about there job, and nice to work with,the other 10% were like old women, obnoxious,arrogant, and unsafe to workaround, i had certain issues with these people in regards to getting them to sign paperwork about toolbox talks and legal required documentation to say they had done the training for forklifts/gantry cranes/slings etc. this also came across from a senior charge-hand who was in charge of this particular 10%. which covers the hardest part of my job, it just became a harder task to deal with, but i did maintain my duty and pursue these matters by logging it in an incident report, and taking it to senior management, it did incur certain penalties and i missed out on overtime due to the senior charge-hands attitude towards me trying to do my job.

The most enjoyable part of mt job was being asked to undertake the role of shop floor safety officer to deal with all these issues fore mentioned and implying all the safety aspects of the job and going home knowing i had done my job role and all other colleagues had also gone home safe and uninjured to there families.

For anyone reading, this is a completely honest review. I would only recommend working in the Finance Operations Centre (FOC) if you have little experience in Finance and need to get some experience on CV, but it is not a place for a long-term career. 

Summary of pros:
•	Certain line managers are very good; however the decisions they make are undermined from the senior management team
•	Nice modern offices
•	Would recommend working for the Business Units but not within the Finance Operation Centre as they offer higher salaries and benefits such as flexible working
•	If you are a Finance Transformation Director, you will be paid crazy sums of money

Summary of Cons:
•	Lower than benchmark salaries
•	Poor leadership from the very top
•	Loyalty to the company is not rewarded at all
•	Staff Turnover, especially with more experienced staff leaving
•	Currently undergoing a Finance Transformation which has removed internal progression and flexible working hours
•	Senior Management from the very top is unprofessional and does not display any morals or ethics
•	The 'need' for change is undermining employees opinions. An example of this was where over 20% of employees voted that flexible working was important to them. As a result of this survey, flexible working hours were removed with immediate effect (makes no sense at all).
•	Finance transformation has neglected many areas leading to low staff morale.



The Finance Operation Centre comprises of Accounts Payable (AP), Credit Control, Accounts Receivable (AR), Billing, General Ledger (GL) and Financial Reporting (Financial Control and Compliance). 

There is a Finance Transformation process being carried out which initially was welcomed as it made out to listen to employees’ opinions and promised to make changes accordingly. This transformation has not been successful as the most loyal employees who have stuck with Interserve through the toughest of times and those with the most experience and knowledge have left the company at an alarming rate. Around about 10-15% of employees that currently remain have been with the company over 1 year (this says it all). The finance transformation has halted internal progression and scrapped the graduate scheme to ‘stabilise’ teams but has in fact forced people to leave the company.

The leader of the Finance Transformation program states that stability has been restored and manipulates figures to suggest that there has been less people leaving the company. This is not true as this is based on only one team (Accounts Payable) which was basically a department of temps that were made permanent. This statement does not incorporate other teams within the Finance Operating Centre.

If you have more than one year finance experience, please question why you would want to work here.

My typical day will start early at about 6:00am as I was managing a large number of teams and buildings. I would meet with the cleaning team and carrying out a daily inspection of the buildings with the cleaning supervisors, this would take about an hour.
10 mins meeting and give instructions to supervisors for jobs to be carried out during the day.
back to the office meet with the reporgraphics team and find out what jobs we had for the day, speak to the team and let them know that we should be delivering all jobs on time, make sure if we had enough materials if not, raise a PO and order materials from our provider, 10 mins chat with the team and make sure we are all fine and ready to start the day, meet with the post room operatives make sure the team is ready for the day, make sure that all machinery is working if not get the technician to come and fix it, meeting with security team security manager will inform me of any security issues around the buildings, meet with portering team supervisor will update me in the progress of all the jobs me have to compleate.

10 mis cup of tea

back to the office repply e-mails, get in to Maximo our IT system check jobs that have come trough, print jobs and deliver to the diferent teams, close jobs in the system if they have been compleated, check complience sheet make sure we are complient, in all aspects arrange for contractors to come and sort any mecanical or fabric issues if there were any.
attending clients meetings, dealing with daily issues, updating client reports, delivering reports, liaising with my line manager delivering documents, collecting waged sheets from the diferent teams.

Carrying out daily health and safety inspections reporting any findings, raising a report, dealing with staff issues. meeting subcontractors, explaining the contractors jobs that I had for them,
by the end of the day I made sure that we had delivered each job to the agreed Service level agreement so that me meet our KPI's.

Managing and updating the waste and recycling report on a daily basis. etc
meeting up with the restorant manager, he will update me of any issues, or any difficult issue he had with his team.

late afternoon meeting up with the late shif of the cleaning team and giving instructions of the jobs to be carried out that evening.
short meeting with the supervisory team. and time to go home 6:00pm

The hardes part of the job was dealing with people that did not want to cooperate and be part of the team. also it was hard for me to see people leave after they have been made redundant. specially if they were good workers and team players.
the most enjoyable part of the job was heping people when they were facing a difficult task, helping them to achive or compleate the task gave great satisfaction.

My work place is roaster for day (7am - 7pm) & night 7pm - 7am) 24hrs on service. When I took over I would at 1st tidying up my table I would then do the camera patrol i.e to see if any camera is malfunc- tioning. It would allow me to see position and the focus of the camera
so that I can adjust it to normal position and any malfunction one can be reported to the help desk for repair. Monitoring the system would then commence and in between I would be taken phone messages from staff and people from outside. Also are frequent emergency bleeps and panic alarm from medical staff seeking for security officer assistance when their patients are kicking (aggressive). Fire alarm may also be caused by visitors or patient smoking in the toilet where fire brigade attention has to go through cctc control room.Assisting Police on checking footage of certain incident about patient missing, theft, assaulted, vandalise, etc. also common here here 24hrs.
Working as security officer at UCLH is one of an experience one can't be forgotten. It is a place where security officers meeting with challenges of different characters daily. It is a place to gain advance knowledge in coping with people in any customer orientated organisation.
Unfortunately we don't have a good management in this department.
We were deprived of facilities other department in the company are getting. No annual increase on wages, No London weight, No benefit of any kinds. As more permanent staff are leaving so they are using agency staff to cover.
My co-workers are good people, we are trying to understand ourselves and coping with additional daily workload.
The hardest part of the job here is when security is dealing with junkies, drunkards, aggressive patient and violent visitor. Couple of days ago a panic alarm came up on the monitor, I delegated a patrol officer to check with the nurse. As the s.officer was getting there the patient was so violent that he 1st spat at the officer then cursing him on racist motive, then head butted the s.officer in the nose while cleaning up his face. More 2 s.officers was sent to joined and over-powered this patient. To make the matter worse it took another 4hrs
in the same hospital before doctor attended to this s.officer. The officer was given 3 days off duty which the management may not pay.
There has never been a good enjoyable time at this workplace since
Interserve took over. We were short staff, the pay is poor, Condition of service is bad, not encouraging. I have just heard that application to another department some of us forwarded through the line manager did not go i.e the line manager did not send them.

No support within care packages or when personal life knocks you down. I wasnt allowed any leave after loosing a very close family member. I ended up on the sick and then when i came back to work a verbal warning about my sickness.....REALLY........

For a so called care company they offer so little support and are not interested aslong as those shifts get covered. There is little interest for the service user and even less with staff. Theres a definate feel that when the chips are down your on your own, unless your face fits. 

Worked with the company being advantage care before being taken over by interserve. Although they have rebranded again. No packages and staff constantly fighting for shifts and way to much bickering going on from both team and office staff. Office staff leave the packages to the staff in each package. No communication or confidencality what so ever. Honestly im glad im out of there. 7 years of way too many hours and overtime. What do you get for that dedication and loyalty? Not so much as a goodbye, never mind any thanks or anything. Yet im still getting bloody news letters etc! 🤔🤔🤔

They will promise you as many hours as you want, but they have very few packages now after having a 6month ban from taking any new packages on. This was a result of not being able to provide enough staff to cover rotas. Which in turn made it a safe guarding issue! Dont go through interview with rose tinted glasses because when you take them off again you will be left very disappointed. The grass isnt alway greener springs to mind.

If you like your life to be made a complete disaster this the place for you. Otherwise i suggest to start running like theres a zombie appocalipse after you........ no jokes!

I would go into the store about 6am and check our cleaning cupboard to make sure everything that we need is there. I then begin my shift by brushing the store floor and stairs. Once I finished brushing the floor, I give the brushes a quick clean so that they aren't dirty for the next day.

I then fill the floor cleaning machine with fresh water and the appropriate chemical. I then begin going over the front aisles and around the till area with the machine to give the floor a good scrub removing dust and dirt.

When I have finished with the machine I take it back into the cupboard and empty the dirty water. Once it has drained I wipe off the rubber so that there is no more rubbish and dirt on it. I then place it on charge while I go up to the lighting area and brush that floor, then I empty the bin that is also up there and then go down to the paint desk and empty those bins and take it all back to the cupboard.

After that I take the machine back out onto the shop floor and do the back aisles. I would then give the machine another clean and place it on charge ready for the next day. I then prepare a mop and bucket so that I can go and mop the edges around the aisles.

When those main tasks have been completed, I would look to see what time was left and plan what other tasks can be done. They can include checking each aisle for any rubbish that may have been dropped, scraping labels that have become stuck to the floor, cleaning the hand rails along the stairs and wiping over the fire extinguishers being careful not to drop or damage them.

Once those tasks have been done I would have a look at the time and sign out if it is finishing time.

A typical day at work would vary depending on our current work load. If the sales team at the Exterion Media LTD has done particularly well and we have a large amount of advertising campaigns for the current ad cycle, the office will become like a modern team based battleground. 

  I would constantly keep one eye on any incoming emails, while prioritising tasks as they come. Any incidents and faults from our London Underground and London Bus teams are to be reported and logged into the system ASAP. 
  Second in line comes the distribution and division of the ad campaigns by sub contractors/sectors. I will answer any calls within 2-3 rings and then prioritise them by the urgency of the matter discussed. I will schedule various staff meetings via MS Outlook.
  I will also keep an eye on our workforce management app (Kronos) and check for any discrepancies in our employees' time sheets, for example if they have logged out from the same tube station that they logged in when they started work or not etc.
  Any pay queries from our Underground and Bus teams, I would resolve swiftly while giving my full attention to the person making the query, understanding their view and calming them down if aggravated.

  I have learned a great amount since I have started working as an Office Administration Assitant at Interserve Plc.
  My organizational skills have improved a huge margin as well as my ability to empathize with any disgruntled company employee or customer. My computer skills have always been a strong point and have become even more so since.

A typical day at work would be spent visiting clients and staff in some of the many locations that my area covered, ensuring that the levels of service delivery were meeting the clients' and the company's expectations. This would include meeting with the client and the on-site manager or supervisor to assess any needs, resolve any issues, monitor the use of resources, and validate the training of all staff on an ongoing basis. 
I would also address any Health and Safety concerns with the supprt of my Operations manager. I worked with a very good team of capable and mostly well motivated staff. 
The hardest part of the job was the distances between the contracts I was expected to service on a regular basis. As they were very diverse in type, getting around to all of them presented a considerable challenge as their locations ranged from Norwich, Leicester, Coventry, and  Southend among others. As this area was increasing, it became more of a challenge to deliver the same level of service within the diminishing budget and time constraints.
My time at Interserve was challenging but enjoyable. I worked with a team of well motivated staff and managers and enjoyed recognition for my contributions.
I also benefitted from the training program that Interserve had in place, recieving training in HR practices and principles, IOSH Health and safety, and PAT Test training.

While worked there I become to point where I understand that I come to work at Interserve through the wrong door, and have signed that devils contract with an agency.
As a new PLC company, I do not know jet have to open other doors, who would allow me to demonstrate my confidence, knowledge an ability of workload I can take.   I had more to offer but there is no need for that, cause system  is well set for years and working smoothly for them, they needed only 360 excavator operator, who more likely will be required to spend around 2 years  working through an agency to gain possibility of any growth, pay raise, more realistic contract, or overtime hours simply any kind of shortcut pass devils contract to both sides.
One thing for sure you will be positively motivated to gain your ability skills tickets, knowledge and I'm sure that you will be given a chance to use that all in practice, whats great I do not mind, I like that,
But I don't think that anyone will be really happy to do things who not included in your contract agreement with an agency, or not covered by your insurance policy. 
As more likely your insurance will be based on the jobs agreed in your contract agreement.
Just won't add, that it is a great chance to become at this conclusion on most of the construction companies, that's only from my point of view.
The only reason why I'm writing is that while I was working there I really felt that I belong with the team working on this improvement project.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Electrical engineer 3 salaries reported	£29,164 per year
Gas engineer 3 salaries reported	£33,000 per year
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	£17,100 per year
Cleaner 3 salaries reported	£14.20 per hour
Site supervisor 2 salaries reported	£21,750 per year

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