8 Nov 2021
Utility Warehouse Reviews
3.5
64% would recommend to a friend
Stuart Burnett
71% approve of CEO
61% positive business outlook
Utility Warehouse has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 753 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Utility Warehouse employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Energy, mining, utilities industry (3.7 stars).
Reviews by job title
753 reviews
1.0
20 Dec 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
Immediate 'down-tools' at 5.30! Clockwatchers' paradise. Free cake when it's someone's birthday (but you have to clap and look silly ... sorry, happy). Free certificates to put on your desk showing how long you have worked there (in nice, tasteful, brown wooden frames). If you manage to get to the toilets early in the morning you won't have to put up with the dirty poohs left unflushed later on in the day. Free sweeties distributed with the monthly newsletter (they really do think they are employing kiddiewinks). Local company, easy travel. Money off utility bills at Christmas time. OK to put up with until something better comes along. Moving to new building soon (next to a KFC and nearer to Asda - the staff canteen is horrible so this is a big plus).
Cons
Too clicky - newcomers do not fit in. Managers can get six smoking breaks in a day which is impossible for lowly mortals. Advisers keep getting blamed for glitches in the system where you need to set something up but the billing software won't allow you to fix the problem. You're supposed to be friendly and helpful but if a Customer talks too long it's your fault and you get told off because your stats aren't good. They want you to push promotional stuff but then blame you for giving too much free stuff away. They want you to push online paperless billing but then tell you off for doing it too much if Customers complain. Told off for being one minute late (9.01) but then had to sit listening to manager spending nearly an hour talking about menu options for Christmas party. If you get to be a manager its OK but I know people who have been there over 20 years and still work as Advisers. Only allowed an hour off for doctors but my doctor doesn't open till 9.30 so its difficult for me to get there for 10.00,
2.0
26 Jun 2017
As honest as possible
Former employee, more than 1 year
London, England
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
- If you get a good supervisor/manager, they will do their best by you as an employee - Great social events for staff - Christmas and summer parties - You get to work with a great range of people so usually your team is the thing that keeps you going through the day - Decent pay for your role and possibility of a consistent bonus every month.
Cons
- Getting a good supervisor/manager is extremely rare - Limit on how many children you can bring to summer party (unfair for those who have more than 3 children), the limit was rolled out to all staff with no proper explanation as to why - You can at times feel like a robot or a child being told when you can take a break (to the minute!) being reprimanded for being off the phone for more than 2 minutes after a call. - They say they value their customers but when you're actually in the call centre it is very much a quantity over quality approach - Promotions are definitely NOT given based on merit - From when I started in 2014 to when I left in 2016 the training team had been talking about changing the way they mark employees as one size doesn't fit all but this was never implemented. - There's even favouritism in call-marking! - There is a real 'us' and 'them' culture between departments in the call centre and those in the back office. - You are trained to never end a call no matter how abusive a customer is being to you. - Supervisors like to avoid taking escalated calls.
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