Pros
49 hours a week. It's enough to live comfortably even if it only works out to £10 an hour.
Cons
Where to begin? The prospect was enticing, four days on and four whole days off for just a hair under £30,000 a year? Sign me up! An eco friendly company that is trying to do its bit to make the world a better place to live in? Sign me up! Rewarding, up-skilling work that will lead to promotion opportunities in a professional, white-collar environment? Sign me up! Except MHI Vestas in reality has none of this to offer 95% of us. Let's start with pay, half a year off sounds nice for 30k a year doesn't it? Good luck with that you'll be so physically drained from the constant change from days to nights that actually equate to 1 and a half real days off after night shifts that a lot of your "time off" will be spent sleeping. When you work out that you are working around 49 hours per week for about £1900 you are on about £10 an hour, WOW! 2 sets of those 49 hour weeks will be night shifts from 7pm-7am, if you factor in what should be an unsociable hour premium you would actually be better off working those same hours (if you can get them!) in a supermarket. What makes this worse is that you get about 6 days holiday of your choice and the further two weeks or so are factory shut down periods in which you take your mandatory holiday. You don't get a choice despite the shutdown not being your decision. You might only “work half a year” but you still work 49 hours a week. Depending on your department the work can be absolutely grueling, a challenge physically with exposure to utterly toxic chemicals and mentally challenging with exposure to utterly toxic people. I woke up after most shifts with severe acid reflux that since leaving has mysteriously availed itself, coincidence? I think not , it most likely stems from the exposure factory wide to 3M red adhesive spray, a substance so toxic that it is banned in several countries. If you're ever unlucky enough to visit the factory you will see the remnants of this spray on various surfaces a sure sign that ventilation is inadequate and the poor sods that work there are getting lungs full of the stuff. Resin is toxic, glue is toxic, the various adhesives used are toxic and the huge amounts of dust that are the result of grinding a resin and fiberglass composite are immensely toxic. You will be exposed to all of this and the PPE provided can't protect you from all of it. WIll it be worth £10 an hour when you die young from this exposure? Think about it. If you’re on the mould you will be forced to debag at temperatures far above what you should be, in most cases just after the covers are removed with temperatures as high as 70 degrees, there have been instances of overshoes melting and I’m not joking. Nobody cares. You will start to notice patterns of various seperate groups, like some primitive nonsense from a wildlife documentary. Certain groups consider themselves better than others and due to the validation of the powers that be will be exempt from hard work whilst those considered pond life destroy themselves physically and mentally daily by working themselves to the ground for little to no praise. More often than not those that work the hardest are treated the worst, it will start to sink in that nobody is your friend here and everyone is out for themselves. There’s a weird fascination with wasting your time here, it always surprises me that these wealthy companies seem to employ the idea that time = money and not the truth that in fact value = money. Why on earth they believe that making employees scrape tacky tape off the ground with chisels will be better for productivity and morale than merely sending them home on half pay is beyond me One choice makes annoyed, bored employees and the other will reinvigorate and make them appreciate the job more. Additionally maybe you should apply the prevention is better than the cure mentality and simply make sure your ops aren’t chucking tacky on the floor in the first place? Just a suggestion but I forget, you don’t take them. 80% of the workforce here is under the influence of illicit substances, I would bet good money on it. If they don’t like you, they will test you and you’re gone. See ya! If your face fits though, you’re good don’t worry You can crash forklifts into posts, cause collisions with cranes and no one will bat an eyelid. A fatal accident will happen in this factory one day. The amount of landfill waste from a supposedly environmentally conscious employer is soul destroying. The pervasive attitude is one of disposable culture, use a marker pen once and bin it. Use a mixing stick once and bin it. Tonnes of plastic all going into a skip, it all seems a bit backward to produce something that supposedly creates clean energy. Some process coordinators are two faced, one to one they will be all friendly and supportive apologizing profusely for their behavior in front of the “lads” the next minute they’ll be berating you in front of everyone. Lad culture permeates the factory, nobody cares and some people are under the false impression that they are invincible. Everyone wants the group lead role, it’s a shark tank full of sociopaths trying to do each other over to get the best paid and least labour intensive positions. Job roles are created for mates of mates. If you like golf, you’re good though just sniff some pants and you’ll be up there in no time.