People are great, but you get scammed into doing multiple departments worth of work for very minimal pay - Energy Specialist Octopus Energy Employee Review

Disclaimer - This company asks for a review on glassdoor immediately before starting training. You will see most of these reviews state "cant think of any cons" and alike with little to no pros that reflect on the job at hand, I must admit I fell for the same request as it was framed as a review on my experience with the interview process. Please keep this in mind. I've noticed that a significant number of individuals are actively exploring alternative career options. The workload at our workplace is exceedingly demanding, resulting in a persistent state of burnout among employees. Unfortunately, a prevailing sense of negativity pervades the office environment. The absence of distinct departments translates to shouldering a wide range of responsibilities, which is framed as granting us agency. However, the reality is that we often find ourselves at a disadvantage in this arrangement. When raising this matter during constructive discussions, it is not uncommon to hear the response, "this is the nature of the job". Yes, the nature of the job does indeed entail engaging in conversations with colleagues who openly admit to experiencing pre-work tears and "breakdowns" due to the overwhelming stress and the very thought of working another day in such an environment. Moreover, the regular occurrence of encountering verbally abusive situations on the phone, stemming from our inability to effectively manage the workload, exacerbates the situation. We often find ourselves incapable of swiftly resolving inquiries, resulting in the need for callbacks that only escalate customer frustrations. I have personally come across accounts exhibiting billing discrepancies spanning as far as a year, along with lingering registration issues dating back to 2019. Instances of accounts being overbilled or not billed at all for extensive period of time further compound the challenges, leaving customers desperately pleading for assistance which we don't have the time to provide. My primary concern has been exacerbated by a lack of communication from upper management. Not too long ago, we operated with a single pre-payment team dedicated to assisting customers using the prepay mode. Given that there were around 25,000 customers utilizing this payment method, the team was appropriately sized. However, during the transition from Bulb, a significant influx occurred as we absorbed 125,000 smart pre-pay and pre-pay customers into our systems with minimal advance notice. This abrupt shift inundated the general query lines with complex issues that we were ill-equipped to address. These challenges extended beyond simple inquiries; we encountered cases where customers reached out because they couldn't top up (due to our inability to connect to their meters), leaving them without electricity for essential tasks such as heating baby food and powering their homes. Training to navigate this crisis was introduced several weeks later, but in the interim, we confronted a surge in emergencies that our existing training did not adequately prepare us for. All this, with an increasing amount of resignations from our experienced members of staff. This meant that most of these queries were tackled by ops members who were fairly new and inexperienced. To add to the complexity, this situation was presented to us as a triumphant accomplishment during what is referred to as a "family dinner." However, the reality painted a starkly different picture. Not one member of the operations team could genuinely label this as a "great achievement." Instead, we found ourselves navigating a challenging ordeal, and unfortunately, our customers endured the same. The most perplexing aspect is that these figures were available prior to the transfer. One would assume that higher-ups had access to this data and the foresight to recognize that a transfer of this magnitude demanded meticulous planning and precautionary measures. Yet, the lack of such foresight remains perplexing.