Branch Secretary : info@housingworkers.org.uk
  

Catalyst Housing: I would leave tomorrow if offered another job

Catalyst's CEO reviewed his own company as an employer and gave them 5 stars

 

 

Some of you may have heard of Glassdoor.co.uk, a website where employees can anonymously review their employers so that potential employees can get an idea of what a company will be like to work for.

 

 

Over recent months, Catalyst Housing's reviews on Glassdoor has been, erm, 'mixed' at best with a rating of only 2.8 stars out of 5.

 

 

Instructed to take annual leave rather than go home sick

 

 

Staff members have used the website to highlight some of the issues that Unite have been campaigning on in recent months.  One person talked about the new sick policy causing their manager to instruct them to take annual leave rather than go home sick. Another reviewer bemoaned the lack of bonus in 2017, whilst numerous reviews have criticised the lake of transparency in promotion and recruitment and a bullying culture that is pervasive in some departments.

 

 

So with this in mind, management have decided to get the big cheese himself to fire up the computer, crack his knuckles and pen a review to correct this balance.  After all, they have been encouraging 'real' and 'authentic' reviews for months (presumably the bad reviews must be fake, how can anyone not love working for union-busting Catalyst Housing?). 

 

 

Two hundred grand a year CEO

 

 

What could be more authentic and representative than the two-hundred-grand-a-year CEO, who has got so much money in the company pension they won't actually let him put any more in it now, adding his own personal contribution? Obviously it's a more authentic review than the Customer Service staff who are paid less now than they were 5 years ago, or the members of staff imploring management to do something about bullying, or front line staff saying our service to residents has been decimated because nobody in the business knows anything about housing any more.  Getting the CEO of 20-odd years to do his own 5-star review is definitely a good idea in this context.  Excellent work.

 

 

I would leave tomorrow if I was offered another job

 

 

Perhaps most galling of all is the way Cahill says his review is representative of staff opinion: “these points aren’t just what I think - they’re also what our colleagues told us in recent surveys and feedback sessions.”  Is this the recent Catalyst survey which said that only 1 in 5 staff disagreed with the statement “I would leave tomorrow if I was offered another job”?  Funnily enough, that doesn't get a mention in the CEO's review.  Nor does the fact that he has derecognised one union and pulled out of talks to recognise Unite, presumably because he is so confident in his own ability to represent the views of his staff from his position at the very top, why would he need a union?!

 

 

Unite are continuing to campaign for equality, fair pay, a just sickness policy and a union voice at Catalyst Housing, no matter what Rod Cahill puts on the internet and social media.

 

 

Read more about Catalysts sickness policy here

 

 

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