BRE Group Reviews

3.6

67% would recommend to a friend

(132 total reviews)
avatar

Ian Shapiro

100% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

BRE Group has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 132 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The BRE Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

132 reviews
3.0
25 Jan 2015

Be wary

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

People are mostly very friendly, holiday allowance is very generous, flexible working hours, easy to park. You are able to learn new things and.gain new skills.

Cons

CEO is almost idolised, although he seems to do very little to improve the company culture and employee satisfaction. No facility expenses are put into the company such as washing up liquid, milk, coffee. If you do venture to the staff canteen, it is extremely expensive, poor service and very low in quality. The company structure is a shambles, with numerous office buildings separating staff, you cannot expect to get an understanding of other areas of the business. Unless you have been there for centuries, which many of the staff have been, no exaggeration. Due to a lack of.understanding of how the structure is and is not working, restructuring is a regular occurrence. Directors are swarming the company with little respect to those who work very hard, and with more thought about their own pockets than the progression of the company. Due to long timers in the business and an average age of close to or past retirement age, salaries are unevenly distributed and below industry standard. Younger employees hang around with hope for improvement or a lack of experience in an average professional working environment. Most office buildings and technology are falling apart. The IT department mostly hate helping staff with any queries. You may as well use a pen and paper and read some books for reseach.

2.0
7 Feb 2019

Lost Their Way

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Majority of employees are fair and honest and the company espouses a work life balance. Getting new CEO following Dr Bonfield's departure in 2018.

Cons

Weak senior management lives on dreams and listens to those with loud voices and not sound ideas. Significant money wasted on vanity projects for several years and BRE now shedding staff to balance finances. Too much departmental politics and not enough willingness to change. Its experience base regularly shrinking with senior staff churn. Company will be fortunate to survive the next few years, even with a new competent CEO.

2.0
20 Feb 2018

Be very careful if you consider working here!!!!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Ultimately most people who work for BRE do so because of their interest in the work that it does and because it really is a unique scientific institution where you can work on things that make a meaningful difference. Also BRE is able to attract interesting and highly capable people and the organisation has far greater potential than its current state and performance indicates.

Cons

The way the place is managed has a great deal to be desired. There is a serious disconnect between what they say and what they do, this is a problem at all levels, starting from the CEO down, where the 'optics' and the 'story' are prioritised over effective implementation . This culture of 'fiction' affects all aspects of the business from the strategy, financial reporting, expenditure control and investment, staff progression, as well as the facilities and business plans. As a result; Staff progression appears to be based on favouritism and the generation of 'exciting future ideas' not on actual performance. There is a serious lack of focus on what activities to prioritise resulting in staff, resources and investment being spread woefully thin. Salaries and benefits vary but are generally poor for the nature of work and location. They are able to recruit high calibre talent but aren't able to retain them, this is especially true at senior levels with many high performing individuals joining but then moving on. The facilities and IT infrastructure are generally old and in a poor state of repair. Overall BRE is failing to achieve its potential and will continue to do so without decisive leadership.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 132 Reviews

Glassdoor has 138 BRE Group reviews submitted anonymously by BRE Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if BRE Group is right for you.