Pluspunten
There really are none apart from the fact that the job is fully remote
Minpunten
Well where do I start? The job is 40 hours a week, they don’t offer part time. It is intense, every second you’re on shift you are on edge because you’re being watched and monitored and listened to. Even your “lunch break” is timed to the second and the minute you’re back on the phone it’s ringing again and you’re sat there dealing with your 15th or 20th client of the day. The volume of calls is truly insane. It’s not an exaggeration to say it really is constant, from the moment you start your shift to when it ends. They con clients into thinking they can call in and eventually have Counselling sessions, clearly this is how they advertise themselves at workplaces so people call in with that expectation but no. The truth is Spectrum don’t want you to refer people for Counselling even if they are “suitable”. Instead they want you to give in the moment support basically a session on the phone there and then and at the end signpost the client to go and seek Counselling elsewhere and quite often pay for it privately. You rarely can refer people and when you do your decision to do so is scrutinised. You have regular audits, your manager listens to your calls and picks them apart sending emails telling you why you should not have referred the person. There is a lot of criticism and while they may say the call itself was good as in the support you gave, they’ll always criticise you not following their rigid model which is designed for the client not to get their sessions. At the end of the day they want to save money and they want you to fall in line and not refer people so they pressure you and put you off referring people by criticising you every time you do. There is supposed to be five minutes between calls but often this built in feature on their phone system does not work and the second you end a call another one will come through. They will say it’s a technical issue and you have to report that to IT when all the while they are determined for you to answer call after call. The “technical issue” happens so often it’s obvious that it’s a nonsense lie to make you think they care about your wellbeing and you should get those 5 mins between calls. 5 mins is nothing, they should be giving at least 10. Keep in mind the calls include risk calls and you could come off of an intensely difficult call and if you speak to a manager for support they’ll just read your notes, say it’s fine and then your expected to move on to the next call. Rarely will they check that you’re ok, one or two managers will but the majority aren’t bothered. Whilst you’re on probation, you’ll be on edge for those 6 months. The reason is the constant pressure of course but also the fact that everyone drops like flies. You’ll see your colleagues disappear, you’ll see that one day they’re there working as normal and the next day their name is removed and they have gone. Managers don’t mention it, everyone wonders where the person went and there’s no explanation. The person never has time to say goodbye so over time when this happens on a weekly basis of course you wonder if your job is safe. Did they get dismissed or did they choose to leave? It’s only from reading reviews here that I’ve seen the truth, that many people were dismissed for minor things but the reality is they did nothing wrong apart from no doubt not fall in line with what Spectrum wanted. Also when on probation of course people have very little security, no sick pay and can be gotten rid of quickly. Spectrum save money that way and by getting rid of people before probation they don’t have to pay the bonus they promise people will get. There are also an overwhelming amount of Counsellors who get burnt out and leave because they can’t take it anymore. Many people become sick with stress and the turnover is atrocious. They will bully and make people feel guilty if they are off sick, to put pressure for them to come back on shift. When you start the job they’ll tell you that once you pass probation you’ll have a clinical day - a day off being on the constant calls and will have clients of your own and a caseload. When you get close to the end of probation they’ll tell you this has been put on hold for now. There was no intention of you having it anyway and now they’ve drawn you in to work like a dog for 6 months. After you pass probation you assume things may get better, they don’t. Nothing changes. I can honestly say that this is the worst job I have ever had and I wish someone had warned me, which is why I’m warning you. Please don’t risk your mental health and pay attention to the reviews. Be suspicious of the reviews that make out everything is amazing, doesn’t make sense does it when you see the other reviews which are the majority. Remember managers will be conscious of what’s written here and will want to cover that up. When I left I felt so much more relaxed mentally and physically. I felt like my old self again. Beware this job can change you as a person if you let it. It can make you irritable, on edge and even on your days off you’re dreading the next time you’re on shift again. Someone else said here in a review that your life is not your own, it’s Spectrum’s Life. That may sound extreme but it’s true because there genuinely is nothing nice about the job other than when you help a client who really needs it, when you have to turn people away (all with a scripted response being aware that you’re being recorded) clients will project their anger, frustration and annoyance at you. You may not agree with Spectrum’s rigid processes but you have to talk like you do and the clients can get so upset. That’s the hardest part of the job and clients won’t understand that you’ve been bullied into giving those responses of course they’ll just think it’s you. They then want to complain which they do, only to speak to a manager who will explain the same thing to them. These complaints are shut down very quickly and the reality is the client is complaining about Spectrum not you but you’ll go through an intense time of having the call scrutinised which in itself is stressful. They are constantly on a daily basis asking people to do overtime. There is a WhatsApp group they will add you to (without asking your permission) when you start and the messages are through the day and night. The constant requests for people to jump on the phones there and then is too much. They’ll guilt trip anyone who is off sick or on leave by making a thing out of needing cover because they’re low on staff. The WhatsApp group means you don’t get a break from them even when not working. When people offer to do the overtime they find they get sucked in to working well over 40 hours a week and this becomes an unspoken expectation and the norm. The company advertise all the time as so many people leave. I’ve known many colleagues to be signed off with stress and not come back. People stay a few months and leave, it’s rare for someone to stick it out for a year.