Not sure worth the stress - Call Handler Lifeline24 Employee Review

nice people to work with, had nice time, free parking

Being made to work v quickly, gossiping senior management team, obsessed with hiring apprentices. I think the company has been taken over now by another therefore this review is for previous management

-Chance to throw yourself into your role and progress quickly if you work hard - You can set your own hours to an extent - I enjoyed my work and got on very well with colleagues - Staff who have passed probation currently get one paid ‘duvet day’ per year (effectively a sick day) I had positive relationships with all my managers and colleagues. I was given great feedback on my work and I picked up skills I never expected to learn. There are genuinely some great aspects to working here.

I worked at Lifeline24 for nearly two years. There are several things that I think they really need to improve. Their handling of the pandemic was disappointing from day one. CEO was reluctant to let staff work from home until he absolutely had to. (Around a week before lockdown one, I went my then-manager in tears to ask if I could work from home and was told no.) Then non-essential staff (people who could absolutely do their jobs from home) were brought back into the office full-time from early 2021. At this time, government guidance was still “You must work from home if you can.” They also asked all staff to turn off the NHS test and trace app because our “internal tracing system” would be sufficient - but I never got a proper answer about how this system actually worked or whether it was as effective as the app. When I questioned this, the CEO told me that staff have a responsibility to keep themselves safe and not make risky choices, which is fair enough, but doesn’t an employer also have a responsibility to protect their staff from unnecessary risk at work? Throughout my time at Lifeline, there was always a very high turnover of staff, both from people quitting their jobs and staff being dismissed with little warning (and seemingly no formal process). For the first 18 months of my time at Lifeline24, I often worried that I would be the next one out the door if I wasn’t seen to be providing enough value for my salary. Unless you progress to a management role or you’ve been at the company for years, it feels like there is very little job security. I also think that the company really takes advantage of its apprentices. Across the board, the apprentices appear to be overworked and underpaid, which is why so many of them leave as soon as another job comes along. This high turnover is a big source of stress for the staff who do stay, but management seem quite happy to keep hiring apprentice after apprentice on minimum wage and letting the cycle repeat itself. Finally, I am really disappointed that there is still no form of sick pay at Lifeline24, beyond one paid ‘duvet day’ per year (which I believe will increase to two days in 2022). Covid or not, someone who is ill should not be in the office - potentially putting vulnerable colleagues and their loved ones at risk. But without proper sick pay, what reason does an ill person have to stay at home? Especially when the company is still so reluctant to let most people work from home. To me, all of this demonstrates a sad lack of concern for staff welfare and I really hope these issues are addressed.