Far from actually being a Great Place to Work in the UK - Current & future employees beware
Pros
There are some very friendly, loyal & knowledgeable employees Excellent subsidised on-site restaurant in Marlow as well as beautiful grounds Generous sickness absence policy (8 weeks full pay then 75% pay for up to 26 weeks)
Cons
The company has changed over the past few years & is not the same place as it used to be. Since the company globalised 2 years ago the UK business is now highly controlled by the US meaning UK employees have little to no say about changes & act simply as puppets doing what they are told with very little ability to influence & change. SAS talks the talk but does not walk the walk. The company puts up a very good front of being a Great Place to work to impress people & attract talent but in reality this is not a great place to work. An example of this is the Bullying & Harassment policy that whilst written & communicated is often ignored by HR allowing serious bullying to happen across the business without any recourse or action against the bully’s. This is a common theme in reviews about SAS UK & is sadly very true. Employee turnover is increasing & has worsened in 2018 specifically in the Sales & Finance department. Finance in particular has seen 30% of its employees leave in 2018 due to the behaviours & actions of senior management who have failed many within the team. Finance is far from being a well established team. Job security is an issue with the company who hire & fire at will particularly around the 2 year mark of employment thus preventing employees obtaining full employment rights. If you want job security this is not the place for you! Headcount issues are common with frequent headcount freezes. Employees who leave are often not replaced meaning work is rolled up or down putting undue pressure on existing employees. Settlement agreements are common practice across the business although this will be denied by HR! They are often used to buy their way out of failings made by management that they want to hide. Support & respect for middle management across the business is scarce meaning often those managers fail through no fault of their own. Middle managers simply act as messengers of decisions they have had no involvement or say in no matter how hard they try & fight. HR in the business are the biggest let down. They are rarely visible & avoid face to face contact with employees with the preferred means of communication being email. If you need or want to talk to them then good luck as they will mostly be at home taking the occasional working from home policy to extremes!
