Pluspunten
- Flexitime hours means you can come in as early as you want (as early as 6:30am) and obviously means you can then finish early
- the older people are nice and very knowledgeable in their fields.
- unfortunately thats about it.
Minpunten
i am copy/pasting another review here because it was so accurate:
"Relocated from Leamington to a small run down unit at the back of an old industrial estate with difficult road access in bad weather. There is no reliable bus service or other public transportation. Car parking is an issue unless you arrive before 7 am as there are only about twelve parking spaces including visitor's places and sometimes company test vehicles and vans use these spaces.
Unless you like food from a 'greasy spoon' type van which arrives once per day (usually sold out) there is no lunch available to buy within walking distance and the nearest supermarket is a 10 minute drive away.
The design office is noisy and in poor repair being located next to large CNC machines and test rigs with no soundproofing. The office has no temperature control so temperatures can be as low as 9 deg C in winter upto 31 degs in summer both well outside MISRA guidelines.
There are no Work instructions or processes in place, just the attitude of get it on a vehicle as soon as possible and we'll fix everything there (JGID) although ASIL safety category B/C, lip service is paid to ISO 26262 and 61508. System FMEAs don't exist but superfical mechanical requirement coverage is substituted instead, fortunatly no audits have ever been performed. There is no attempt to follow any kind of V diagram or development process, similarly there are no specifications or design doumentation so all details are held in the designer's head which, as staff turn over is high, causes large problems of continuity.
Due to the constant downsizing and reference to 'offshoring' there is an all pervassive feeling that everything is being run down and it is only matter of time before the inevitable closure happens.
The renumeration package is basic only. A legal minimum pension (following problems with the previous pension fund) and the low end of the competitive salary range. The biggest problem is the working hours however. This is a 40 hour week company recently upped from the 37.5 (as is the automotive normal) which is fine but Raicam close the building at 1 pm on Fridays so that 40 hours has to be made up in 4.5 days (9 hour days). Working through lunch is encouraged or late finishes will be required. Solo work is discouraged so it is not always possible to work as late as you might like.
No training is available or given and it is expected that you can train yourself on the job. Preferably you are an instant expert on the fine detail of Raicam designs when you start.
Advice to Management
Moving to Redditch was a golden opportunty to become a professional automotive mechatronics company which has been wasted by wanting to return to living in the glory days of forty years ago. The moribund atmosphere really needs addressing as does the noise levels in the design office. Remember that there is a perfectly useable quiet office mothballed in the adjacent unit."
To corroborate this review:
- yes, temperature is awful here. Suffocating in the summer, toes feel like they're falling off in the winter.
- Similarly, i dont know if there is some sort of regulation mandating this, but water temperature is ridiculously high. This wouldn't be a problem if the (very poorly ventilated...) bathrooms had proper mixer taps, but they dont, the hot and cold water flow side by side so half of your hand freezes and the other half burns. Genuine burn hazard
- No training. No idea what the plan was by the company as to how they expected me to learn and progress. Been times where i've had a specific question or needed help with something and have had to wait 3 days for the manager to become free enough to give me 10 mins. I'm just expected to know all the mechanics of how everything works, and how to make it.
- nearest food other than the van is around a 15 minute walk away. But the permitted lunch break is half an hour, so...you aren't getting that fresh air.
- around 99.9% of my job just requires a PC. why do i need to be in the office for this in an age where the workforce in general is much happier working from home. Plenty of companies have kept the policy showing there is no sacrifice in work output. Its just an antiquated mindset.
- The hours. Yeah, this is probably the worst part. As mentioned, its 40 hours (not 37.5), crammed into 4.5 days, leading to 9 hour days that start at 8am at the LATEST. I'm tired every morning and exhausted by the end of each day, Disappointed in the lack of flexibility at times. I also thought working later than 1pm on Fridays would be an option (to reduce the hours required in the rest of the week) but this was not allowed. I have also asked for some tiny tiny favours in this regard but been denied (i wish i could go into more detail).
- pay. I was here 2 years and all i was given is one 5% profit related rise that everyone received, I achieved everything that was set for me in the appraisal, but was ignored for a pay rise where others were given one.
- atmosphere. Maybe its the arrangement of desks, or maybe its the people, but this office is...dead quiet...aside from the assortment of noises from the machinery on the shop floor.