Low Morale - Regulatory MHRA Employee Review

Turn over is ridiculously high and added on to that is a freeze on recruitment. Despite this, expectations of staff are high with big ideas from management without any consideration for the lack of resource. The workload is impossible and a lot of work is not done in time. Where staff are recruited, experienced colleagues are replaced with inexperienced staff. Pay is not competitive with industry which makes it difficult for the Agency to attract talent and expertise. This essentially means training involves the blind leading the blind. There is a tendency to take advantage of young talent that show enthusiasm. There is no accountability for senior staff, particularly those who have been at the Agency for years, not doing their share of the work. This work just gets passed on to more junior staff as a "good learning opportunity". Its not uncommon to overhear complaints of "burn out" from junior staff during lunch. A few have resigned to just being average at their job as a coping mechanism because being too good means you get more work. There are also inconsistencies in the distribution of work which means that often within the same team some people may be keeling over with work while others are twiddling their thumbs, playing on their phones and chatting. The IT systems are ancient and not fit for purpose. The data we are supposed to be using to inform decisions is unreliable and nobody has the confidence to use it. What this means is junk in junk out. Training opportunities are non-existent. Staff morale is at an all time low. Every lunchtime conversation involves people plotting their escape. You can see the panic in people faces when they have to sign their third leaving card in a week. You can also see the despair and longing in peoples faces on a colleagues last day.