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Ambitious about Autism

Engaged employer

Right idea. Awful execution. - Labs Ambitious about Autism Employee Review

2.0
2 July 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A few absolute diamonds of staff. Great vision for enabling adults to have a last shot at staying in education.

Cons

There are not enough words in a dissertation to do it justice why I would not recommend anyone to work at ambitious. All I would say is read what people that start at the bottom have said in the past and stay wary of positive praise as they are usually either people from behind a desk boosting the review score to help save the free falling reputation of a dysfunctional hybrid of charity/educator that performs as such. Or people financially incentivised to leave a positive score because morale is so low and turn over is so extraordinarily high. Talented, experienced and educated to a high degree staff are lowballed into taking the absolute lowest salary, do not be fooled by the 17.4-22 figure you will be starting at the lowest, if you survive probation, there may be a chance to not die of starvation in this currently inflated economy. This seems to be an insulting attempt to trap you into staying for regular increases of 6-7 hundred pounds every year and passing probation. My personal favourite story is after inflation increased even higher along with the cost of living, instead of offering even a small increase in pay, the offer was to be receiving free bread for breakfast with maybe some things to spread on it. I am being neither satirical or dramatic. Its a good thing staff work next to a food bank as soon itll be offered as a workplace perk of the job. One of the very few ambitious offer their staff. Some staff will be secretly offered more or less depending not on performance or experience but on preference from senior management. Senior management is cliquey, immature, unprofessional and frustrating to work under. There's a prevalent theme of blame culture, lack of accountability and deep levels of incompetence flooding through the service. Many people work there as glorified baby sitters that are being fed like cannon fodder into hospital trips due to serious injuries while senior management offer advice such as 'you knew what you were signing up for' after life changing injuries. Road to progression is absolutely and utterly limited to the amount that your seniors like you. I believe as I have seen students kept at the college against their free will (they have communicated they are unhappy at college) as adults due to their high funding they get from the local council. The entire college is built around a robust culture of viewing labs as expendable and if they are unhappy or feeling undervalued then the only answer is the universal saying of 'this job isn't for everyone' it's quite extraordinary to behold when your there. Do not believe the recruiting strategies ambitious create. Its a resentful, bogged down, cliquey and messy organisation that once had a beautiful vision and has veered far away from its original purpose.

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Ambitious about Autism Response
3y
As Head of College, I wanted to personally respond to this review. We are an open culture who actively seek staff feedback because we strongly desire this to be a great place to learn and to work. We have many mechanisms in place through which staff can raise issues or concerns so that we may address them. We operate a clear and transparent salary scale and offer a competitive wage which is supported by a commitment that all support staff will reach London Living wage level by the end of the first year of employment. In direct response to the cost of living crisis, we offered all staff a discretionary £400 bonus in April. I am very proud of the high-quality education we deliver to our learners and of our amazing staff who support learners to achieve their goals. I am disappointed to hear the views of this reviewer but will take on board the feedback and continue to make Ambitious College a great place to work. Linda Looney Head of College

Explore other reviews about Ambitious about Autism

5.0
7 Oct 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Employees are great to work with and management cares about their employees. Training is first class.

Cons

I can't think of any cons

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Ambitious about Autism Response
8y
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this positive review, we value your opinion and are very grateful for the contribution that you make to the organisation. Thank you very much for your ongoing support.
1.0
1 July 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits great lscs free breakfast

Cons

Not a fair disciplinary policy employs people who be have there name on the Internet for abusing children

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