GoLocalise Reviews

2.8

47% would recommend to a friend

(22 total reviews)
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David Garcia Gonzalez

51% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

GoLocalise has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 22 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The GoLocalise employee rating is 27% below average for employers within the Arts, entertainment and recreation industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

22 reviews
1.0
1 Mar 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Tasks: Working at GoLocalise as a Project Manager, you will learn a lot about the translation, subtitling and voiceover industry. You will acquire the skills to be a good translation/subtitling Project Coordinator, but also a Voice Over Coordinator and a Subtitler. This multi-tasking can open many doors for a future career in the translation/broadcast industry. Work hours/overtime: 9am - 6pm with a one-hour lunch break. Employees usually leave the office between 6:00pm - 6:30pm. During busy period: No lunch break. Overall there isn’t too much overtime for Project Managers. Same is not necessarily true for Sound Engineers. The team: 2 Sound Engineers. 2 Project Coordinators – Postgraduates from the University of Roehampton or UCL. 1 – 2 Team Leaders/Supervisors/Seniors Account Managers. 1 (sometimes) Sales Executive. Atmosphere: When it comes to the team itself, the atmosphere is always great, most of the team usually being comprised of students fresh from uni. You will always feel welcomed by everyone and make great friends there. Oppression is a good way to unite people. The strong bond between the employees usually comes from a form of coping mechanism to bear with Management’s behaviour and fantasies.

Cons

Salary: 16k at start for a Junior role. After probation, the salary increases to 17k. Tasks - During training/probation period and after: - Project Management (main task) - Subtitling - Translation - Proofreading - Voice over Direction - Creation of quotes, purchase orders and invoices - Cold calling clients Note: You will be held responsible for any issue occurring, even during your probation period, even if it is out of your control. Note 2: All of the above are technically at least three different jobs. Expect an overloaded workload and unrealistic individual achievement goals set by Management. Turnover: The turnover in the company is very high: - A few employees leave or are fired after 1-2 weeks. - Some employees either decide to leave or are fired before the end of their probation period or shortly after, and in the latter case, are not given all the reasons for their dismissals. - Once/if probation is completed, employees usually stick around of 10 months – 1 year, usually what will be enough time for the employee to find a decent job. Work hours: The Managing Director monitors every clocking in and out. If you forget to clock in or out, you might expect to be called into a meeting. Overtime is not paid. Management/ Business practice: - Abusive: expect to be treated like the suspect of a crime scene. At GoLocalise, you are guilty until proved innocent. And even after being proved innocent, Management will always say you could have done more or better without having any context and will keep openly doubting you, potentially going as far as humiliating you in front of the rest of the company. - Random: Anything can happen to anyone at any time. Especially getting fired for little to no reason. - Vengeful: Should you want to try and ask for more decent conditions of work, you might expect to get fired/be made redundant soon after. You will be made an example of for the rest of the company. - Exploitative: If you stay long enough, Management will keep adding to your workload without any increase of salary or compensation of any kind. You will be expected to find time to complete the added tasks and you will be monitored on it every day, no matter how busy and understaffed the company is. - Paranoid: Management always has in mind that someone might try to double cross them. If the company is advertised as one of the friendliest companies in London, Management actually has zero trust in their employees and any suspicion of any kind might arise at any moment. - Absence of leadership skills: The real leadership skills always come from the most experienced employees in the company, not Management itself. If anything, their decision frequently sabotages the projects the team is working on. Your best hope is that they don’t feel like meddling with your projects. It might give a chance for the company to make a few pounds… Advice to prospective applicants: Project Coordinator was my first job after uni. It was a very tough experience, that has caused me an enormous amount of stress and brought me close to breaking point on several occasions. As a postgraduate, you might be exploited no matter where you start. However, the difference is that Golocalise will both exploit and abuse you. There are many companies in London in this sector that hire postgraduates who have a subtitling/translation background and they will treat you with respect. Please remember that you deserve this respect. You have the qualifications and skills for this and Golocalise does not deserve them.

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GoLocalise Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback. Pay rates at GoLocalise are based on practical experience in the industry. As a recent graduate with no workplace experience, your salary reflected this. It is concerning that you view job duties such as timekeeping and project management as negatives. This may be explained by your fundamental misunderstanding of the localisation business. Your review comes from a purely emotional place, which we acknowledge may be genuine, however, a review based on hyperbole and vagaries is hardly helpful. It is this attitude towards work that may have made your time at GoLocalise so unpleasant for you. We have been honing and enhancing our training materials and methods over the last couple of months, so you can rest assured our new staff continues to receive excellent training. Thanks again for your review. GoLocalise is always working to improve the employee, client and supplier experience.
1.0
18 Feb 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The bond among the people who work there becomes incredibly strong, all generated by the will to leave it.

Cons

- The salary is very poor and will not increase at all even if your responsibilities increase. - Management is absent. They arrive always late and leave early, taking hours-long breaks (to go to the gym, or so they say). - There is a constant promise of expansion of the company which never happens, because of the MD's incompetence. - The MD's dog is at the office all day long, even when its owner is not there. Not only is that a hazard as the dog runs around and more than once it has almost knocked someone over, it can also be a problem with clients, visitors or employees who may be allergic or afraid of dogs. - There is no will to listen to employees' needs, even when directly asked for their feedback. - The only toilet available is constantly broken. - The turnaround of people is incredibly fast and always, always impacts the well being of the company. - There is no solid long term plan to build a strong company.

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GoLocalise Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback. I like that the team is able to take on responsibility and work independently. It’s unclear, however, if you were working independently or being micromanaged. To avoid this in the future, we have put enhanced employee training and documentation materials in place. The pay and holiday allowance is standard for the UK within the industry and legal standards. Furthermore, employees are rewarded with an additional day per year of service with the business (up to 25 days, excluding bank holidays) and most members of staff receive pay rises following the successful completion of their probation. In fact, it’s not unusual to receive several pay rises in a year based on performance. We’re proud to give opportunities to inexperienced graduates looking to enter the localisation industry. During business hours, a manager is always on site with the team. If a manager was off-site at an inappropriate time, this should have been flagged to the CEO/owner. It is true that the toilet was out of order due to circumstances beyond our control. However, it was promptly fixed. GoLocalise is a dog-friendly office and has been since its founding. We love Rambo! You weren’t privy to company planning decisions. This may have led to your fundamental misunderstanding of how a business is run. Thanks again for your review. GoLocalise is always working to improve the employee, client and supplier experience. Your feedback will help in this endeavour.
1.0
27 June 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Amazing colleagues that you will keep as friends - Cool sandwich toaster in the kitchen

Cons

The Managing Director is an incredibly narcissistic individual who thinks they know how to run a business when they have in fact no clue. His micromanagement (which will give you PTSD) is on the verge of psychological abuse while the salary is outrageously low. You will start on 16K per year, yet you'll be asked to generate over 70% of profit on projects. And you will be asked to lie to freelancers and clients as well so that the MD can get what he wants (money, money, MONEY). There's a complete disrespect of freelancers as well as employees, but also clients given the quality of the work provided. Nothing is proofread and most freelancers are inexperienced translators randomly found online who agree on GoLocalise's rates only because they are totally inexperienced and desperate for work. They have not been tested and there is no QC or whatsoever in the recruitment process. And the payment terms for suppliers are 60-90 days (sometimes more) even when it's only for £15 so why should they bother providing clients with quality? Absolutely no flexibility or benefits, no sick pay and very low holiday allowance. There is an extremely high employee turnover and there are obvious reasons for that: you're on your toes at all times, counting every penny you spend throughout the month and you wish you weren't working there. But you're young, unexperienced and quite likely to be foreign, so you stay for a bit. Tell you what though, for this salary you might as well work at Tesco or Sainsbury who will surely value you more. It's only the day you find another job in a real company that you realize what kind of horrible joke GoLocalise was.

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GoLocalise Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback. It’s great that you made friends and enjoyed the kitchen facilities. After completing your probation, you’ll have also enjoyed private insurance, reduced rates on gym memberships and other benefits. All of which you were made aware of at your interview. The profit mentioned in your review is inaccurate and false. Were it true, that’d be amazing! A key strategy of all businesses is to negotiate with suppliers and clients to the benefit of the company so that salaries, rents, utilities, etc. can be paid and allow the business to grow. From your comments, it can be inferred that you were working against the company in this respect; something any employer would be extremely concerned about. As anyone with experience in localisation will tell you, supplier management, recruitment and engagement is an ongoing and ever-changing process. We regret that we were unable to prepare you for the realities of this. Rest assured that we have expanded our training process in this area so that this is no longer the case. Suppliers are paid within 45 days of submitting their invoices and the rates are standard for the industry. Everyone is aware of the rates and terms before accepting a job. To sabotage a project because one’s unhappy with the agreed upon rate is an issue all companies face, but we can all agree that it’s extraordinarily unprofessional and unethical. We regret that your first job didn’t deliver everything you expected and we should have done more to prepare you for that reality. Your low opinion of Tesco or Sainsbury’s workers is telling of your attitude in general. Thanks again for your review. GoLocalise is always working to improve the employee, client and supplier experience.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 22 Reviews

Glassdoor has 38 GoLocalise reviews submitted anonymously by GoLocalise employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if GoLocalise is right for you.