associate

production associate

apprentice

maintenance technician

fitter

Tarmac

I worked for Tarmac for 6 years in its quarrying industry. The work content is good if you have that interest and there are a lot of good people on the ground. However, the company is a hierarchical mess and has a terrible habit of employing uneducated men as senior management personnel, who have generally reached their position due to the longevity of their employment. This, in-turn has a continual (weekly at-least) effect on the difficulty of the normal workers job and workload, which I can safely generalize as being excessive at best. The generic contract , is 48hr mon-fri, 'fully-flexible', over 6 days, meaning that your life is no longer yours to safely plan social events, and you will almost definitely have to work excessively long shifts on a regular basis, I have known guys to work 24 hours in one shift. Wages are at the medium/lower end of the scale for this type of work, however the quantity of work expected of you far exceeds the wages and to ask for a pay rise is to ask for a pirate's gold. To say that this sector of the company is in demise is to be kind, the weak links in senior management are slowly bringing the company to its knees as-was seen at the beginning of 2019 when some asphalt plants produce next to nothing for the whole of January. Sites are very slowly closing across the central belt, they regularly keep sites open just to cling to customers, despite some of them losing up to 10k per week just to be open.
The company preach about their commitment to their staff and how their staff should have a strong work/life balance, but the truth is that your work is your life and that is the balance. The pension plan is poor for such a 'mighty' company and staff are very rarely rewarded when rewards should be given. There is absolutely no thanks for the extremely hard work some of their staff do.

In summary, I would not recommend this sector of Tarmac to anyone.

Tarmac CRH is a good company to work for with a lot of opportunities for progression in the company and lot to learn about the industry.  With that being said the success of a company in the end comes down to individual site managements which either make or break a company. 
So it's safe to say that the management of Moutsorrel quarry is successfully driving the company in the ground with multiple break downs and lost tonnage and to make matters worse they have hired absolutely anyone as so called "plant fitters" who don't have a clue  about what they are doing.  The quality of technical aptitude and engineering ability of the maintenance team is pathetic to say the least. 
Also the managers don't have a clue of the heavy industry which is why they keep on lying and it's making the place more dangerous than it's already is. And thanks to  the incompetent fitters they have hired. 
I am a "Service Technician "which is equivalent to a Service Engineer position in any part of the world. NOT OVER HERE. Here it is below a fitter position with much less pay and no shift allowance although the work, hours and the risks associated to the job is the same for service technician and fitter. The managers have essentially lied about the job tile/ work description during the interview process. Another lie was I was supposed to work on mobile plant in the quarry but now work only on fixed plant thereby wasting my time and skills. That's how I landed over here because they told a lot of colorful lies.

Leadership lacking, management clueless and quick to point out mistakes without any support.  Lack of career progression as a driver unless you spend most of your life in the office having leadership "influence" you.  Certain drivers will get away with doing certain things whereas others will get made an example of. 
 Day to day work hit and miss, some days easy, others difficult - especially when as a cement company they have no cement for tankers to load.  Tarmac don't pay for tacho breaks, which drivers are required to have by law.  At times you're forced to break rules to remain compliant but management will turn a blind eye to this.  Excessive workload at times which even when you mention to the office you're told to just get on with it.  Equipment maintenance is average, Tarmac do not pay congestion charge so not helpful as a driver.  Okay job if your face fits, but otherwise nothing special.  Most enjoyable part of the job was finishing on a Friday or leaving for the final time.

Working in an organisation that has grown through acquisition, many of the contractual issues still unresolved, lack of TUPE transfers during the acquisitions, leaving a management team unsure of where they stand in the management of issues and benefits. Newly acquired by CRH in August, signs of a drive to understand the variety, complexity of the contractual issues. Large aftermath of manpower/contractors cost implications to be resolved. Business has been focussed on delivery of product and not the development of the Line Management. Line Management team all highly qualified in respect of the standards expected under the quarrying regulations, great ongoing programme for line manager to complete University qualifications. Managers soft skills programme needs to be designed and structured with the same passion and dedication as quarrying qualifications get.
Hardest part is coming to terms with the different T & C's across the business, understanding the individual Union Agreements and the implications for each site.
Most enjoyable part was the commitment and dedication to the Company that people shared. 30/40 years service was not an uncommon thing.

Typical day often started at 7am at a specified depot, normally finishing before 5pm. Involved travelling around to agreed depots/sites by  company supplied van, to sample concrete. 

My supervisors and many of my colleagues on the front line were good to work with. Many of who were working under pressure by upper management/ parent company demands. Restructuring/redundancies has damaged morale, there is  a lot of negativity in the workforce. 

There is currently no scope for progression in this region for this company. Requisite training was provided for (like first aid courses etc) although further personal development training opportunities became scarce to non-existent. This makes the company Personal Development Plan a bit of a joke. Job security  isn't a certainty in this company.

Salary was ok for what it was, plus a one off  company-wide (small) bonus if company hit its financial targets. Also access to discount/ reward schemes.

Overall not a terrible company to work for other than the fact your constantly worrying about being made redundant because the shareholders want a few extra quid. The whole company is working at a ridiculously low staffing level which is unsustainable and it causing a number of staff a great deal of stress (including myself). Long contracted hours but still expected to work more. Not contracted to work weekends but for some reason still have to request them off and arrange your own cover? However management have always been reasonably fair when ive had unexpected family issues and have needed last minute time off. In conclusion CRH have ruined Tarmac, ive worked for Tarmac for a number of years and it has progressively gotten worse since CRH took over. I would say avoid unless your happy to be overworked, underpaid and happy to worry about redundancy constantly. 

I will be for ever grateful to the Management and work colleagues I had at Lafarge Tarmac/ Tarmac Group.
I started as a Data Entry Temp, my Manager saw that I had advanced knowledge of manipulating Excel Formulas and Macros, but also liked my ability to be self sufficient, investigate issues and provide analytical data.
 
I went in on a 3 week contract for an Audit and ended up staying for 1 Year and 6 Months, ending up as a Subject Matter Expert and Business Analyst, having learned how to use SQL, SAP, Java Script, Google Script to build Databases and Applications.

I was trusted to provide training, manage internal customer accounts and be the face to face first to contact of a £5 Million Digital Transformation Project. 

I cant speak highly enough of this company from the IT Director and Executives to the other Analysts and Customer Services Reps.

Unless you're a chief engineer, master or work in head office you will be underpaid, under valued and under appreciated.

The salary is below average compared to other companies in the same industry.

Only certain crew members are included in a high bonus despite the fact that it's everyone but these people who are pushed and pushed to get the job done. These bonus entitled people show no respect for the rest of the crew. 

If you have an accident, you will be scrutinised and intimidated to lie on your statement so that certain people don't have to deal with the paperwork and can earn that bonus. 

Certain jobs that have only ever needed one person now require two but jobs that are seriously unsafe to do by yourself are ignored and you're expected to do it solo regardless.

Honestly, go work anywhere but here. You're treated like scum depending on your position.

Oh and all this from a comany that claims to be a world leading business.

My working day consists of liaising with site management teams, supporting these teams to help implement internal management systems to help advance productivity and reduce costs, whilst still maintaining high health and safety standards.

Daily team meetings and regular updates for higher management regarding wins and loss's 

Promoting change is essential within the company many long time servers within the company on plants, 'we didn't do that 20 years ago' can be hard to convince that new more efficient methods work.

Overall fantastic company to work for with massive opportunities for self progression in most cases, however can sometimes hold back and not develop at the right time.

I really enjoy working with Lafarge Tarmac as the team I work with are exceptional, however, this is only an interim position for a specific project.

The opportunity to learn new skills has been great for me and I have learned a huge amount regarding change management, project management.  I also have a fantastic mentor who has introduced me to Prince 2 project management principles and for the reason I am learning so much and work within a fantastic team, I love working here.

The hardest part about my job is gaining agreement as to next steps as two businesses have come together and often have differing views, culture and legacy issues to consider.  

The staff do what needs to be done to get the job done but with a smile and we're always being asked to share our opinions and thoughts which is refreshing.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Associate 1 salary reported	£22,987 per year
Production associate 16 salaries reported	£17,856 per year
Apprentice 11 salaries reported	£20,931 per year
Maintenance technician 3 salaries reported	£17,150 per year
Fitter 5 salaries reported	£17,250 per year

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