Oct 4, 2024
Octopus Energy Response
1yHi there. Thank you for leaving a review of your time working with us, I am very sorry to hear there are things that were not to your liking personally but good to know you valued the space, the fun and the food! It does appear that you have had a negative experience that has created perceptions of things that don't seem to be aligned to the feedback we receive directly from the team day to day. I'm sorry to hear this as I always hope people who work with us feel like it's a welcoming and fair place to work. Our low attrition and positive feedback seem to indicate we are doing a lot right but I do appreciate it hasn't felt that way for you based on what you have shared here.
For balance I've responded to some of your points, but would be happy to discuss directly with you to help understand how we can create a space that works for everyone, where possible. My contact details are below.
Of our leadership team in Manchester, we have a balance of experienced managers who have joined us externally and newer team leaders who have progressed within (none of those with no prior leader experience have entered the business straight into a leader role, just for clarity). I am proud of our culture of promoting from within where we see great potential in people and believe that's the kind of workplace people want to be part of. It'd be a shame to never promote just because people haven't been a leader already and I trust we will never be an employer that sources all our leaders externally. The balance we create means they have experience around them to develop their skills and ensure the team always have the experience around them indirectly where needed.
You are right that we don't have a HR team but we do have an abundance of experience in our business. As leader of your part of the business I have 100% confidence that we are able to deal with any matter competently and, where required, by the letter of the law. You will have been aware that we are extremely open to direct contact and have a very flat hierarchy in that respect with myself and other directors always amongst and talking to the team openly. If you have come to me or any of the managers directly with any concerns I assure you we will have heard you and done whatever necessary to help alleviate any concerns. You could also have done this anonymously using our company wide feedback tool. I'm not aware of anyone being negatively impacted by this but it would be great to understand more about your example in case we have missed something here.
I can also say confidently we promote based on earned opportunities looking at competency and delivery. We have structures in place for this to give everyone clarity in what they can do to progress. I do appreciate when some are unable to meet the demands of the role it can be difficult to accept this, so we are open to development conversations to help people find what is right for them.
On the subject of pay, we offer a very good salary for the role, recently increasing the base considerabely. Our base salary is over 22% higher than the national minimum for your role and the opportunity is there to increase your base in the same role by more than £5k before promotion.
Please do reach out to me at ben.palmer@octopusenergy.services so I can find out if there are things we should apply some specific focus to based on your feedback. Many thanks again for taking the time to leave a review.
Ben Palmer
Operations Director