Hating your job is the worst: no one wants to wake up on a Monday morning filled with dread for the coming week. Bad jobs can happen at good companies, and vice versa, but it’s worth taking a look at a firm’s reputation before accepting a job offer.
One way to find out what you’re getting into is by using Glassdoor, a company reviewing website with over 31 million reviews from current and former employees about their workplaces. Another way is to look to LinkedIn for a sense of staff turnover, and perhaps send a few InMails to recent departures to find out why they jumped ship.
While Glassdoor does assemble a ranking of the best companies in the UK to work for, it doesn’t do the same for the worst, saying “we don’t like to point fingers because all companies have the tools to change.” We’re not that nice, and it’s always worth flagging the firms that seem to have issues around employee happiness. To help us collate our list we turned to Glassdoor’s user reviews from existing and former employees, across 770,000 businesses globally – although, we only looked at the UK-based ones.
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We’re not saying don’t work for those companies, or that they’re even the worst offenders out there, but perhaps take your time with a bit of due diligence first. So, going by Glassdoor’s user reviews, here are a few companies to consider carefully before joining.
Alphr’s pick of the lowest-rated UK tech companies on Glassdoor:
Dyson
The British engineering firm, famous for vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, apparently sucks (or blows) to work for. Jokes aside, Dyson rates just 2.9 out of five on Glassdoor at the time of publishing, with just 46% of staff saying they’d recommend working there to a friend.
Staff reviews call for Dyson to invest lots of cash into IT systems before it’s too late and complain about long working hours. Plus, the staff discount isn’t very good, according to reports. On the more positive side, it’s also repeatedly described as truly innovative, with “engineering central to all the business does”. Dyson did not respond to our request for comment.
If life at the cutting edge still appeals, jobs at Dyson can be found here. Other big tech brands that you may want to consider include Apple (four stars on Glassdoor), Google (4.4), and ARM (4.2).
Capita
The outsourcing and solutions giant has a score of just 2.6 out of five on Glassdoor, with just 36% of staff saying they’d recommend it to a friend. Reviews suggest new CEO Jon Lewis is a welcome change for some staff, despite his currently middling approval rating of 56%.
Of course, there’s a wide range of work at the behemoth, so it’s worth considering whether a review actually applies to your own department. One self-described IT manager criticised the “lack of investment in people and processes”, while an IT service desk worker in Belfast said the “training was good and the development of troubleshooting skills is top class”. Capita said it had no comment.
If you’re willing to join the Capita team, its jobs listings are here; if you like the sounds of working for a massive outsourcing company — hey, to each their own — you may also want to consider Capgemini (rated 3.9 stars out of five on Glassdoor) or Accenture (3.7 stars).
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DXC Technology
You may not have heard of DXC Technology, but you’ve probably heard of the two firms that merged to create it last year: CSC and the enterprise services side of HPE, or Hewlett Packard Enterprise. DXC Technology has a 2.7 rating out of five, with only a third of staff saying on Glassdoor that they’d recommend the company to a friend.
Reviews on Glassdoor describe it as “very turbulent“, with a tech consultant in Glasgow saying there has been “near enough quarterly rounds of redundancy” for the past five years. On the other hand, an IT project manager in Hook, Hampshire, said that at least the “work was interesting”, and a current staffer in the Digital Transformation Centre said there’s “no real cons” to that department.
A DXC Technology spokesperson said: “DXC Technology’s culture embraces change. While some may be put off by this, others thrive on change and are making the most of a dynamic environment and the growth opportunities it offers. In turn, DXC is focused on helping our people to improve their skills and capabilities, adding new talent and leveraging training and certification programs with our partners. Our goal is to offer mutually beneficial employee experiences in a rapidly changing marketplace, and we are continually investing time and energy to make this a reality.”
There’s plenty of jobs going at DXC’s various UK locations. If the reviews put you off, check out Salesforce (4.4 out of five on Glassdoor) and Colt (four stars).
Sage
The tax and accounting software and services company may well be beloved among its customers, but not so its own staff — the company has a 2.9 out of five rating and just shy of half of its staff on Glassdoor would recommend working there to a friend.
While the work-life balance and benefits are praised, staff aren’t fans of management — or the dearth of kitchens in the offices. IT staff criticise the slow pace of everything from innovation to doling out laptops to new staff. That said, some say that “things are changing for the better”.
In response to a request for comment, a Sage spokesperson replied: “Colleague experience is hugely important to us. That’s why we track engagement by surveying colleagues regularly about how we can improve.
“Based on that feedback, we have moved to light touch performance management and are improving the working and kitchen(!) environments to give colleagues the best platform to achieve their full potential. Our goal is recruiting and retaining the very best talent so that we can make our customers more successful.”
Sage’s job listings are here. If you’re looking for other options, consider SAP (4.1 stars out of five on Glassdoor).
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William Hill
William Hill has a Glassdoor score of just 2.7 out of five at the time of writing, with only 41% of staff saying they’d recommend the bookmaker to a friend. However, many of the negative reviews are focused on the front-line retail side, with complaints that some staff are left to work alone and have poor work-life balance.
If you get a job in the tech department, you may fare better. An HR staffer called William Hill a “great place to work”, saying it has “exciting tech programmes” and an “agile way of working”. Another current employee cites the company’s “great technology stack” as one reason to sign on — but they also describe themselves as the deputy CIO, so they would say that, wouldn’t they?
William Hill said it was working hard to make the company a good place to work, with programmes for building skills and leadership capabilities, as well as a tech graduate scheme. “Changes to our culture and ways of working has been pivotal to the businesses progress and we developed and rolled out our new values this year and also revised our leadership expectations in parallel,” a spokesperson said. “With jobs available across Leeds and London including a 1,000 strong technology team as well as positions in over 2,300 betting shops in Britain William Hill is one of the largest employers in the betting industry and offers excellent opportunities for people to develop their skills and build a career.”
There are still plenty of jobs at William Hill, but perhaps taking a punt on Bet365 (3.4 stars on Glassdoor) or 888 (3.8 stars) might be more for you. Ladbrokes and BetFred have similar or worse scores to William Hill, however.
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