The Scouts Association Reviews

Working at the Scouts for 4 years destroyed my self esteem and mental health. The Scouts HQ is a wolf in sheep's clothing, where discrimination is rife, really bad managers are celebrated and retained, gaslighting is the norm, pay is poor, workload is grossly unmanageable, staff are infantised, promotion is non existent unless your face fits, and old ideologies of what Scouting should be are very, very hard to change. Yet on the outside, and indeed on the inside at a surface level, there is a great deal of rather insidious smoke and mirrors - which aim to give the illusion of a wholesome, positive, youth-led organisation. I knew of many people who were being bullied including myself (all females), and if you ever thought you might be listened to if you went to HR about it (as they often professed you would be), in reality you'd better buckle up for a horrible ride of gaslighting, denial, deflection and threats to your job. And on top of that, just to keep you on your toes and in constant fear of losing your job, they carry out restructures which lead to considerable job redundancies on average twice a year. When I joined the Scouts, I thought it would be my dream job; instead it was the worst organisation I have ever worked for. While it is true that no workplace is perfect, for me and many others, the Scouts was truly soul destroying. My word of warning to anybody reading this and considering working here: upon joining, and on the surface, it may seem to be the wonderful things you had hoped, but just give it time and you will soon see all the truth underneath the façade - and by then your self esteem, mental health and wellbeing will likely be destroyed.

Horrible management from the senior leadership team (SLT) . Managers don't listen to staff. Managers will lie to staff for their own benefits. Managers make you do their work while pretend to do work and then take credit for it when talking to SLT. Managers will drive you out the company. Management in the HR will sit in meetings and play games on their phone or show no professionalism in meetings as they are too busy vaping away. No training provided, will be called a wrong name despite they know your name. Get given loads of work for very little salary, no respect from SLT or HR. Managers speak down on you or ignore you when being in the same room as them. They make the organisation an excellent place to work but once you get in you can see all the cracks very soon. They only want to show volunteer reviews as it makes the company look good no reviews for actual staff working in the offices and behind the scenes. No career progression as managers will block it or want you out. The EDI in the scouts is horrible as they will hire people if they think you fit in socially and not on what knowledge or value you will have for the team.