Significant changes required to support L&W’s workforce and respond to their needs. - Researcher Learning and Work Institute Employee Review

There are some genuinely lovely people who are dedicated to delivering the charity’s aims. The benefits (not the pay) are good for the size of the charity. The work is stimulating and interesting for the most part.

The charity operates with the bare minimum of people and resources to keep their head above water. This means you will be expected to work hard and constantly deliver, but for less than market rate pay. I found some of the demands to be unreasonable and made senior management seem completely out of touch. I had some unpleasant interactions with senior management to the point where I felt powerless and under appreciated on a number of occasions. There was a complete lack of understanding about what the role entailed, the workload, effort and stress. There was an air of snobbishness and dismissiveness from some which I did not like, and was ironic given the supposed ethos of the charity.

1. Varied and mostly interesting work in a really important policy area. There are opportunities to specialise and develop knowledge in specific areas. 2. Skills and knowledge are accumulated quickly due to the intensity and volume of work. 3. The organisation is well known and respected so there are opportunities to engage with influential stakeholders and for the work to have an impact. 4. Passionate and talented colleagues to learn from and who generally want to collaborate and help one another rather than compete. 5. Options for flexible and remote work. 6. An allocated budget for non-work related learning.

1. Substantial pressure to overwork due to consistent underestimation of project costs. 2. Normalisation of working far beyond contracted hours, late evenings and weekends, leading to high stress and burnout among staff. 3. A blame culture where problems tend to be looked at as an individual issue rather than in the context of organisational issues or a lack of support. 4. A failure to practice what they preach on several levels: staff did not have much access to formal skills development, little effort to make hiring inclusive, no clear progression for apprentices and interns, below market rate pay. 5. Resistant to change and innovation. Preference for the tried and tested which limited creativity. 6. Slow response to staff concerns despite repeated instances of raising these issues. 7. Some favouritism while other colleagues are marginalised. Some senior staff openly criticised colleagues and on more than one occasion this crossed the line into hostility and obviously pushing people out. It can be a good place to work for a short time if you do not get on the wrong side of some senior staff and are prepared to work too hard. However overall it could not be recommended for any longer term career advancement. They attract talented people but fail to nurture them, and display a lack of care about their staff.