cleaner

area manager

store manager

area supervisor

cleaning technician

NIC Services Group

Pros: Regional manager is very friendly, supportive and easy to communicate with. Nice to be able to work independently and to just get on with the job. 4.5 hour shifts early shifts starting 6am so have the rest of the day to do another job/personal things. Could start immediately. Flexibility to work additional shifts.

Cons: Training was very minimal, only induction videos and 1 shift with another member of staff. Cleaning equipment is old and dirty. There is not enough cleaning materials provided, such as chemicals, spray bottles, cloths, mops etc so hard to get the job done well. Pay is minimum wage. Pay is every 4-6 weeks. Mops are disposable which is very wasteful. There is no facility for washing and drying cleaning cloths, so even though they are reusable they end up being thrown away too. Colour coding is not followed so cross contamination occurs, e.g. staff using same cloths for toilets as used in kitchen etc. Supermarket doesn't recycle plastic, cans, glass or dispose of waste correctly e.g. dumping waste water and cleaning chemicals into the street. PPE is not provided (e.g. gloves, shoes, uniform) so I have to supply my own. Store manager is grumpy and rude. Only enough time to get the essentials done on shift (bins, floors, toilets, staff room), no time to do additional tasks that are required. For such a big company with many contracts I was surprised how unorganised and incoherent everything is.

Advice to management: Reduce costs by providing facilities for washing/drying supplies and equipment like mops and cloths so they can be reused and sanitised. Provide staff with proper PPE like gloves, uniform, shoes, aprons. Increase wages to at least living wage. Pay staff more frequently e.g. every 1-2 weeks. Encourage businesses and employees to recycle and dispose of waste correctly in ways that are environmentally friendly. Standardise processes and procedures across the company and issue communications to staff about best practice.

I left another job I enjoyed to work here, as was offered more hours. I was offered 40 hours, this was reduced daily by an hour every day until I was told I could have 15 hours a week( half of what I was doing before). When I told them I was contracted 40 hours and I was not happy with this, the manager then became difficult towards me and then I felt pushed out and because of the difficult working environment I was forced to leave. I had booked in annual leave and this was approved, and the day previously to my annual leave I was told I hadn’t booked in anything, but they would let it slide on this occasion if I did extra shifts to make up for it. When I said no, as I had already booked in my leave and it had been accepted, again I had attitude from the manager. They also used a clock in/clock out system using a mobile phone, and if I clocked in 1 minute early, it would then deduct 15 minutes pay from me which I wasn’t told about until months later, and when I asked if this could be looked into and paid back to me as I had been clocking in a few minutes early and not late which would be understandable, I was told no. I left to work elsewhere after the constant reduction in hours and the attitude of management, but whenever I go into the store now (years later) to do shopping I still get attitude and stares from the previous manager, even barging into me while I was heavily pregnant and not even apologising. 

Manager was terrible, they offer you hours they cannot even give you just to get you to work there, and filled with false promises. 

I worked for this company for over a year and to start with it was fine.

However two month in I noticed things going wrong and the reasons I got for this was just a mad.

I also travelled for the company and you get promised the earth then get non of what they tell you.

I had one very polite lady come to me saying she had not been paid her last wage, Seven months down the line with me each month reminding the company they paid her and just to be clear I sent the information the same day I found out to the head office as I did each month till the person got paid.

Head office is a joke and blame is just passed around or made to go under the carpet.

A senior manager, that if you challenge the wrong doings will tell you she will just bin you out the door.

The wage never right and they lower the pay without warning or legal adjustable time frames being given same with hours.

If you drop a scanning machine which by the way is easy to fall off your arm, you are to pay nearly £ 500 out your wages accident or not

basically if they can find a reason not to pay you they will

You will fit in when needed and binned when don't

Plans your told to put in place your moaned at for putting in place.

A rule book your told to stick to gets over turned by an area manager who promises the stores the world because when walks out door it's back on your head, then your told off for doing what was agreed by the area manager including getting written warning.

ACAS know this company only to well and not for good reasons

I have worked for the company for a few years now and surrounded by colleagues that have been in their roles for years. Many in to 20 or 30 years of service.
In the current economy and social climate there  few companies without fault and NIC are no exception. However, the improvements they are making to managerial training and accessibility for staff support from HR are really promising.
Yes, you do need to work hard and a high standard is sought after to achieve the requirements of the clients especially through Covid when cleanliness is so important, but flexibility around home life is fantastic if you are prepared to give and take. 
 Do not work here and expect promotions and flexibility if you spend your shifts sitting in the canteen or smoking area because the dole office made you get a job. The pay is basic at the bottom but gets better with promotion. Overtime is always available across the county and once you regularly work around 30hours there is a pension scheme in place. 
These reviews reflect the thoughts of staff that have left and do not recognise the amount of staff that have made this a lifetime career. My area manager is great, available at any hour for any query, as are the cleaning managers within working hours. Store managers and staff are currently a little stressed. Anyone working as a key worker through this pandemic has had a horrific 18 months covering isolations, difficult recruitment and a heavier work load. 

job started out okay. I never missed a day and worked for over a year, until I had a bike accident on the way to work and had to take a week of due to injury.They gave me this as holiday. After this a new supervisor got in touch and told me things would be different from now on and seemed to have a bad attitude towards myself like I'd done something wrong. (I don't think he believed I'd had a bad bike accident)
When i started working again I received a call telling me that he was investigating if id been into work or not and using border line bully tactics. This was hard for me to understand as id have to lock the building and turn of the lights every night so you would easily be able to tell if id be in or not (plus the actual mess that i had cleaned up!) i had more missed calls from him the next day so i rang him back to find out what he wanted, this is when he told me id not gone in and that my standards were poor and I was "Finished". No sorry, no warning just a "you're finished!" and very rudely hung up on me when i asked him for his reason. I then rang him back and he had the audacity to ask me "Do you know who i am?" this made me even more angry and have to admit i lost my temper over the phone and asked him how would he like to be treated in this way which he replied "i cant get sacked from my position"!?  
never have i spoke to such an unprofessional and rude supervisor. I'm upset by this whole ordeal.
I will be fighting for my rights on this one as it feels very unjustified.

NIC took over the cleaning contract in Febuary of 2019, I had worked for a different company at the same store for 7 yrs and never had any problems until NIC came along and what a joke , no support ,left to just get on with it , was doing the work of 4 others in my allocated hours with not even a thank you .9 people left the job in the space of 5 months , mostly due to the reviews the company had [ I know every work place has bad reviews but that's a joke, loved my job , never failed an audit in all the years I was there ,got on with the store managers and even they were disappointed that I left but they understand why , was even asked to come back by them ,but unless things change then I wont , all I wanted was the right cleaning equipment and some support then I would of stayed and just got on with it, like I did for the last 7 years.

went into store as I was local and I could of died with how bad the store was looking , dirty toilets , the place looked dirty and was looking bad. The staff that have come from another store should be ashamed of them selves if that's what they call cleaning then good luck to them as they need it , and its why I believe the company as a bad name for itself due to there staff as in they clean how they think they should instead of how its supposed to be done.

unless supervised they just seem to do what they like and Id go as far to say that some are there just to clock up the hours for more money

NIC (Or Not Incredibly Competent) is a company that doesn't seem to have a clue how it's supposed to work. Whether it's threatening to punish the entire staff with a disciplinary for so called gossip, changing shift patterns around constantly for no real reason or being left on your own for entire shifts without a single explanation, NIC certainly goes out of it's way to be a nightmare employer.

Upper management are nothing short of arrogant. Although barely present in the store, they seem to assume they know absolute every little detail and that their opinion should be the only opinion. A complete lack of respect for the people that works for them and who get the job done, you're essentially nothing more than a number, something to discard the moment you express an ounce of individuality. 

With equipment that's falling apart, you'd frankly be better getting on your hands and knee's and scrubbing the entire building like it's the 1920's. Whether it's brushes with broken handles, machines with faulty water systems or litter pickers with snapped handles, you better be ready to fight for a replacement!

At the end of the day though, any problem you ever have will be summed up in three simple words. 'It's just business.' A popular mantra, expect this answer frequently, it's their Holy Grail. 

Simply put. Run away. 
Run away and never return.

a typical day at work,
turn up, clean store, deal with really bad store manager who really shouldn't be in that job

what you believe you learned,
people are 2 faced liars, NIC are liars, promising you everything but screwing you over to suit them

management,
non existent, zero support from them, never deal with issues raised when needed and will just send you angry letters rather than talk to you and sort the issue. will tell you one thing and do the other behind your back. Will get rid of you for the stupidest of reasons

workplace culture,
my team were good, we worked well and things were organized

the hardest part of the job,
dealing with NIC management and the store manager both of which are unapproachable.
Trying to do the job without the needed supplies. You would request supplies and end up with stuff you didn't even need rather than what you did need.
Dealing with phone calls and trying to sort cover late at night and on my rest days, none of which they would pay you for

the most enjoyable part of the job
nothing, it got to the point I hated going in. nothing was ever good enough despite the fact the store was looking the best it had in a very long time.

What is the best part of working at the company?
We get no support for our hard work from management no well done only ears chewed if something is quite up to scratch even by a little bit .
Has an attitude problem , manager has no people skills and is rude to not only his staff but some of shop floor workers as well.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
No matter how much effort and how you work the manager is never satisfied, you can never win , always on a losing streak he inspects 200% for a job not even worth 80% . 
   He blames you for something that he's not even mentioned to ask you to do . And is always on your back to extra hours extra shifts for no thanks only criticism.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The job itself isn't to bad, the shop staff are nice friendly as are the shop management. Just sometimes there are times it's a bit why am I doing this job as it seems your always chasing your tail . trying to get things done with not much time to spare.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Nic cleaning services well not the company it's the area manager can be there and he's always pushing harder , harder , especially when your up against the clock and where you have to clean is more filthy than usual.

Day to day is cleaning the same site over and over again. During interview I was shown what I should clean and then I had an hour of training the day after when I started. Requests for further training were acknowledged but never acted upon. 

Management isn't great either, I've had 4+ managers since starting here almost three years ago. Many were nice but incompetent and current management plays favourites and throws around the word fired like a toy. Forced participation in a group WhatsApp which isn't part of the contract and refuses to message outside of that. 

Audits which should be done every 6 months are coming in at a rate of monthly now and soon Bi-Weekly as they ride the high of being a manager. Complete unprofessionalism when you go below a standard not taught to you and they don't seek to fix it but parade your mistakes in front of colleagues you've never even met or interacted with.

Not to mention hours have been cut to everyone so a massive drop of £100 was felt from everyone's pay during a cost of living crisis making it even harder to subsist.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Cleaner 2874 salaries reported	£12.65 per hour
Area manager 25 salaries reported	£14.33 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	£15.50 per hour
Area supervisor 18 salaries reported	£13.85 per hour
Cleaning technician 4 salaries reported	£14.45 per hour

Working at NIC Services Group: company overview and reviews

NIC Services Group

NIC Services Group ratings

Popular jobs at NIC Services Group

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected