PDSA Reviews

Make yourself a cup of tea and sit down – this is going to take a while…. Let’s start at the top. Constant changing priorities and direction. Money wasted on vanity projects because the 'leaders' wants to do them – despite them not delivering any key objectives and losing the charity money. Constant restructures. It some areas (Marketing) it’s a 12-18 month cycle. This usually coincides with someone’s face no longer fitting or upsetting one of the 'leaders' by being ‘critical’ (also known as not being a yes-man). A team will barely be established and working towards the current plan when everything changes. Cue more uncertainty and projects being paused. Charity money spent on redundancies. The people (un)lucky enough to be left behind end up with a bigger workload to cover for the roles that were 'no longer needed'. With these restructures comes new Directors - again Marketing is the key problem here. Average of 1 new Marketing Director every year I was there, They're brought in because of their expertise, then not allowed to use them (much like the staff). But, you can't expect much else from a charity which publicly states she doesn't believe in investing in this area. A truly toxic culture. Staff who are scared to speak out or have given up because they aren’t listened too. Micromanaging, gaslighting and a general distain for staff mental health/ wellbeing. Ultimately as long the end goal is met, they don’t care what happens to staff along the way as they limp, battered and bruised, across the finish line. Finally, income: Viewing the people they help as an income stream – squeezing every last penny out of them. During a cost of living crisis! No long-term investment in brand growth or marketing. Not understanding that sometimes you have to spend money to make money – every year it costs more just to stand still. No new fundraising activity, or investment growing new income streams. Seeing spending less on charitable activity (eg helping pets) as a positive – because it makes the bottom line look healthier. Sitting on millions in reserves while passing cost increases on to pet owners.

There are three PDSAs really: Veterinary Retail Head Office. You'll notice most of the good reviews on Glassdoor are from staff and volunteers from the Veterinary or Retail divisions. I can't comment on those areas since they seem to be culturally and operationally different to the Head Office operations, of which I couldn't be more scathing. I worked there for six years and every year without fail there would be a huge restructure with entire departments put at risk of redundancy. Marketing, Finance, Marketing again, Retail, Marketing again, Legacies, IT possibly. Can't remember all of them. But the effect of seeing your colleagues fearing for their jobs constantly, then new blood coming in only to be turfed out 18 months later was soul-destroying. I constantly felt the pressure of the axe and would take that anxiety home where I'd worry about how I'd keep my family fed and homed if the Directors decided on a whim to target my department next. The anxiety got to a point for me where I took a temporary position in the public sector just to escape the uncertainty. This was an excellent decision since I must have become somewhat institutionalised. It was only upon leaving that I realised what a dysfunctional place PDSA was and how normal workplaces with normal leaderships don't stoke this culture of fear and instability. Since leaving, the restructures have continued. Eventually the axe fell on my former department, and whatever goal the leadership is aiming for has continued to evade them. During COVID-19, the ruthless, unethical, self-serving leadership decided it was another great opportunity for yet another massive restructure. So they turfed out another cohort of long-serving staff into a bleak economy. Former colleagues who gave PDSA their best years, continually delivering excellent results just thrown under the bus for another throw of the dice by the leadership, who then went on to hire a bunch of new staff with slightly different job titles. All while the failing leadership remains unchanged. Do not accept a job at PDSA. Even if you thrive in your role, you *will* be put at risk of redundancy at some point. You'll see colleagues in tears as they are put at risk, you'll see new people come and go, and eventually it'll be your turn. It's just how PDSA operates.