I interviewed with Nimbus, and was then subsequently interviewed a second time just a day later, with an offer landing the same day. I was in all areas their dream candidate for the role I interviewed for. And to be honest, the role was great for me too. I asked for the contract to be sent over so I could sign it. This was where things started to unravel. All comments below are in regards to the contract I was sent. Suffice to say, I was unwilling to sign it and thus declined the role with Nimbus. **** They specifically feel the need to specify lunch breaks are unpaid. This seemed a bit odd to me, going by the fact that the role was a permanent position. It's kind of an irrelevance since the role was salaried. They specify within the contract that overtime (without pay) is expected. The contract is non-committal in terms of providing reviews of employees, saying employees will be "reviewed on occasion". This is pretty unusual, and I interpreted this as "once you're in that's it, you get nothing in terms of progression". Bonuses are mentioned in the contract only in the form of if you've had a bonus paid and you get laid off, they expect it back. There is however zero mention of bonus schemes, when they're paid, historically what the payouts have been like for existing employees etc. There is zero mention of any benefits (other than pension) in the contract whatsoever. It starts getting far more concerning when you get to pensions ... the contract says ... and I quote ... "you will pay such contributions to the scheme as may be required by the company from time to time and the company will also pay such contributions to the scheme as it may designate from time to time". My interpretation of this is that this is plain and simple illegal. Quite a claim I know, and it is only my interpretation. However, on review on pension regulations and UK legislative law, minimum regular pension payments are a legal requirement by all employers in the 2023/2024 year, when this review was written. The wording of the contract is once again non-committal in both the percentage figures to be paid into an employees pension as well as the regularity of payments. This was a huge red flag to me. If my interpretation is wrong, I hold my hands up and apologize. But having run this particular point past a number of friends (and people in the pensions industry), they've all said the same thing as me. Then, the worst clause of the lot ... "lay-offs". Again, I quote from the contract ... "The company reserves the right to lay you off or put you on a short-time working where the needs of the companys business make this necessary, for example, because there is a temporary cessation of or reduction in work ... in the event that you are laid off or put on short-time working, your entitlement to pay on workless days in a period of lay-off or short-time working will cease". To me, this reads as a Zero Hours contract, whereby you work (and get paid) when the company say so. And if they say you don't work, you don't ... and you don't get paid either. BIG RED FLAG. Under no circumstances would I ever work for a company that says this in a contract. And to be honest, thank goodness they did say this in the contract. Because it would have been a very short engagement had I found it out once I started. There were other (smaller) issues I had with the contract, but this review includes the main issues I had. The people I dealt with in the brief communication I had with them were universally warm, welcoming and friendly. On a personal level, the company were fine. The role I was offered was technical, and the direction they wished to technically go in was, fine, if a little bit behind the times. Saying that, many companies are, and Nimbus to their credit were looking to change that, so all good on that front. BUT ... as for the contract they sent me ... they need to get their lawyers onto changing them, because (in my humble opinion), they could basically be closed down due to an extremely questionnable legal position. I hope they go from strength to strength, I truly do. But if they read this (and I hope they do), for the love of god, change your contract, it is appalling. Some advice ... get your contract changed pronto. I didn't report you to the necessary governmental departments. But other people may.
