Good Energy (UK) Reviews

4.3

80% would recommend to a friend

(222 total reviews)
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Nigel Pocklington

96% approve of CEO

84% positive business outlook

Good Energy (UK) has an employee rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on 222 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Good Energy (UK) 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

222 reviews
1.0
15 Jan 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Great People in the teams - Lots of passion and drive - Great brand - Very rare to find such a purpose driven business - Lots of progress has been made (but man was it hard going) - IT service is now wonderful (when I joined they didn't have wifi in the whole building) - Loads of potential - Mental health first aiders - Some teams and roles are spared from some of the details below, you might get lucky

Cons

- Founder Syndrome in full swing. -- See wikipedia - Dunning-kruger effect is also affecting people. -- See wikipedia Sadly the culture at the top directly contradicts their brilliant values: [Hence the 1 star for culture and values below, it looks great on paper, but there is little evidence of the behaviours being demonstrated] - Nothing is straightforward at Good Energy's they have a tendency to use a topdown micro management approach. - Constant shifting of focus on to short term goals, means no one really knows whats happening and long term stuff just gathers dust. - The 'Top' has very little interest in actual customers, their problems or what it might take to fix them. - Inclusive means if CEO and or certain directors like you, you'll be given a promotion your likely not qualified for and they will badge it as 'development'. - Culture of blame at the top. I've had to comfort distressed co-workers more at GE than any other previous role. Fairness rarely gets a look in. - Bulling regularly witnessed 1st hand to demean and belittle people. - Inappropriate comments and overt displays of alpha male nonsense go unchecked. - Needlessly competitive Sales culture results in an "either your on our team or your the opposition" resulting in unnecessary confrontational attitudes, special treatment of a select few, which all further divides the teams and undermines people. - Some people think that because they have a PHD they have 'completed' education and they have nothing more to learn, this results in some serious narcissistic behaviour. Like the climate crisis Good Energy's CEO and Directors suffer from: - Huge lack of common sense coupled with a pretty healthy amount of confirmation bias resulting in poor decision making. - Systematic and repeated failure to listen to 'expert advice'. Resulting in a huge technical debt and investment in the wrong things at the wrong time. - Not much desire to look at any data that goes against their bias. - Lack of understanding about engineering/technology/digital/marketing/brand. - Lack willingness to truly empower people. They say they value their people but the staff churn speaks for it self - HR are always busy ushering talent out the door with some sort of severance package. In my 3 years at GE I attended close to 45 leaving drinks, thats more than in all my previous roles combined. The new building has always been 18months away (once they start), for 3+ years and counting.... and still no diggers.

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Good Energy (UK) Response
6y
We are deeply sorry that you feel this way and a review like this obviously causes us distress, which is why I am answering it personally. We know we’re not perfect - no organisation is - but this review is completely unfair and unbalanced. We have very high engagement levels, which we measure every six months (81% in August this year). Whilst you have not enjoyed working at Good Energy, most of our people love their jobs here. We absolutely do not tolerate bullying in any way, shape or form. Nor any kind of behavior which demeans or belittles any member of the team. It is a supportive and caring environment. We have 50% women in our Executive Director roles including myself and our CEO. We would not tolerate inappropriate ‘alpha male’ behaviour and we pride ourselves on our inclusive culture. The renewables industry is such a tough environment and Good Energy has had to adapt and change because of external factors. You're definitely right that we’ve been forced to shift focus at times in order to meet these challenges and deliver our mission. We really value your feedback on these areas and advice on what we can do to improve things. I guess you would know that Bulb is a business which has completely different objectives to Good Energy’s mission, so not the best comparison, but best of luck to them anyway. Thank you for your review. Fran Woodward People and Customer Operations Director
1.0
31 Dec 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Highly motivated purpose-driven people doing their best to turn around a failing business if only they'd be let off the leash - Flexible working - Friendly environment within most teams - Progression possible particularly those in the contact centre - Emphasis on mental health (albeit this is simply an effort to mitigate the damage done by key senior individuals on a regular basis)

Cons

- Toxic culture of fear at the top of the business due to leadership not trusting their staff nor valuing the experience and expertise individuals bring. - Egregious lack of business experience at director level that is unfortunately paired with an inability to listen to others. - Lack of agency or autonomy in one's role as a result - your focus becomes box-ticking and avoiding criticism rather than taking reasonable business risks. - Things move incredibly slowly due to poor communication and governance. - Directors, seated on their own floor, have created an opinion factory which is the basis on which the trapdoor opens underneath so many brilliant people I've seen leave in my relatively short time so far at the business. Beware!

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Good Energy (UK) Response
6y
We’re sorry to hear that you feel this way about working at Good Energy, and we'd encourage you to please talk to us about your concerns. We work hard to make Good Energy a great company and encourage colleague feedback so we can keep improving our business for everyone.
1.0
25 Sept 2024

Honest Review

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Can’t think of anything at the moment

Cons

- No communication - Micromanaging - misleading stuff

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Good Energy (UK) Response
1y
Thanks for the review. Whilst we acknowledge your feedback and have passed on relevant points to the relevant squad leads, there are some inaccuracies in here. You were hired for a general Debt Recovery role – this was not specified or limited to, either only domestic or only commercial, so the role has not changed and still exists in the same format as advertised. The new team consists of 9 people rather than the 15 you claim. All the team have had regular communication about the restructure via huddles and one-to-one meetings with your manager, so this should not have come as a surprise. All reviews are anonymous on Glassdoor and managers respect this. Follow up conversations and attempts to get to the bottom of the issue have been held internally within the team. We encourage you to speak to your manager about any additional concerns you have.
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Glassdoor has 226 Good Energy (UK) reviews submitted anonymously by Good Energy (UK) employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Good Energy (UK) is right for you.