Camlin Group Reviews

The best individuals are worked to the bone whilst some other staff members appear to be contributing nothing to the company. Stress levels are extremely high across all pay grades from middle management through to the goods inwards staff. No communication from senior management regarding the health of the company. Senior management keep themselves away from staff on a daily basis and only communicate with them when they feel a need to vent anger. I have witnessed some shocking and extremely unprofessional verbal exchanges between senior management and staff. There is a history of "knee jerk" reactions whether this be to new opportunities or to problems. Management often make a decision then clear off on a day of shooting game leaving the staff to sort out the crisis rather than show leadership. Sexism is rife. It is well known amongst all staff that the CEO doesn't approve of hiring women and this has been discussed as part of some hirings that I have been involved in. The company does not invest in its staff. Training is as rare as hens teeth and don't even think about asking them to pay any professional fees! No structure for pay grades. This means it is impossible to know where you sit in relation to your peers and pay rises are made up every year with no parity between pay for people with similar experience/skills. No real opportunities for promotion. Overtime is not paid for salaried staff but is expected on a regular basis with your commitment to the company questioned if you dare to leave at the end of your contracted hours.

It's a family run business, which essentially means chronic nepotism. It also features a number of high rank individuals with no particular purpose within the company (they're old friends of the CEO), who get huge salaries for wasting office space and disrupting everybody else's work, often using bad manners and foul language. Job positions are advertised as a 37.5h/week job but they are in fact a 40+ h/week, as breaks are not paid and Friday is a full day for everyone. Plus by contract you are expected to work overtime without pay if necessary. Not a chance of career progress (or "being part of the family"), especially if you don't share their political views and religion (DUP/Creationist). Needless to say they are Euro-phobic, which is ironic given that a good part of the workforce is Eastern-European, including over half of the engineering department. Employees are essentially victims of InvestNI which - I am told - pays a generous portion of the workforce. The company therefore gets 'rewarded' for employing people, and the effect is that employees are seen as disposable. I have once heard the CEO 'complaining' that he did not know what to do with all the money he gets from InvestNI, which says it all.