Penumbra Reviews

3.3

46% would recommend to a friend

(52 total reviews)

Jane Cumming

58% approve of CEO

29% positive business outlook

Penumbra has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 52 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Penumbra employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

52 reviews
2.0
13 Apr 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good team and the work is rewarding.

Cons

Bad management. Most managers are condescending and have little care about staff mental health. Colleagues were going off sick a lot and either wouldn't return or would be off for long periods of time and their caseload wouldn't be spread effectively by management. Morale was always low. Team accused of skiving just before Christmas from the comfort of the office while we were out in the wind and rain working. Manager kept tabs on where we were for almost every minute of the day and didn't understand what we were doing in the field. I could go on and on and on

3.0
26 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I met some of the amazing people I have ever met working for this company (mostly supported people some of whom still pop in to my head and I have fond memories of, a few staff too - I would like to thank these people as I wouldn't have lasted so long without you all) , and learned so much in my time there. I worked in 3 of their services, all of which is a Recovery Worker (5 yrs) before moving up to Recovery Practitioner in my last service for 3 years. There are development opportunities albeit few and far between, I was lucky!) I was put through my SVQ 3, my CMI Lvl 3 Principles of Management & Leadership award and PDA Health and Social Care Supervision Lvl 7. It's a great job if you like to be ourdoors alot and like to keep active, I would regularly walk 25-30,000 steps a day. There's lots of variety too - you'll never be bored!

Cons

High turnover, unrealistic expectations of staff, no work-life balance , little training for front line Recovery Workers who are expected to shadow meds a couple of times and do an online e-learning module before doing this independently, management will try and hush any incidents and will do anything for an easier life, senior management are non-existent, inadequate lone working protective measures, rotas would be sent out with less than a weeks notice, they were also highly likely to change drastically on the day due to staffing issues, having to write up peoples notes on buses or when walking because there often wasn't time during the support session itself Too many unqualified staff who don't have enough knowledge of the various mental health conditions the people we worked with have (largely schizophrenia, personality disorders, Bi-polar, Schizo-affective disorder though many would also have anxiety and depression, substance misuse issues, be elderly or have a variety of other needs nor the appropriate interventions to use so this very much becomes a maintenance model rather than one of recovery Poor pay for front line staff (there had been a restructure where Assistant Managers got made redundant and they bought in Recovery Practitioners to do the same job for less money). Similarly, Support Workers at the time had their titles changed to Recovery Workers and had their pay frozen. Newly hired Recovery Workers started on a lower salary until they caught up to this rate through annual 1% increments. When you do get put through qualifications (SVQ 3 a requirement so all get put through this (though I know at least 1 or 2 longstanding members of staff on relief contracts hadn't done theirs still after several years) you don't get given time during working hours to do this unless by some miracle you've got through your own days work and then covered sickness or annual leave (this regularly meant people didn't get the support the local authority was being charged for). I stuck it out there as long as I did for the service users and my passion for supporting those with mental health issues, not from loyalty for the company. This job had a severe impact on my mental and physical health - whilst being told I had been successful in getting the Recovery Practitioner role I was quickly told that I didn't get it because of my mental health issues and I wish I wasn't so naïve then to have continued working there after hearing that. After our team being to poorly supported during lockdowns and realising there was nothing more I could do to attempt to improve the service I finally left.

3.0
24 Apr 2022

Room for improvement

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fairly quiet service Low risk residents Encouraged to spend time with residents and build good relationships Good working relationship with resident care teams Ideas were allowed to be suggested and encouraged. Small team and for the most part there was good communication

Cons

Obvious staff burn out - inconsistent approach to shift rota. Would often work 10 days in a row. At times Rota would only be one week in advance. Some practitioners (supervisors) unable to keep team motivated. Inconsistent approach to management styles - at times direct and tense. Staff sickness would leave team under staffed which would often lower moral Staff turn over had become expected part of the work culture as no one often lasted longer than 1 year Service at times seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis as roles and expectations were not clearly defined Although new ideas were encouraged, unless they were suggested by practitioners they would either be met with resistance or silence Inconsistent approach to using best practice.

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Glassdoor has 58 Penumbra reviews submitted anonymously by Penumbra employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Penumbra is right for you.