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Design Council

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Design Council reviews

2.5

8% would recommend to a friend

(15 total reviews)

28% positive business outlook

Design Council has an employee rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, based on 15 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Design Council employee rating is 33% below average for employers within the Nonprofit & NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

15 reviews
3.0
May 23, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I met some really nice people during my time at Design Council. The staff were passionate about their projects, and the office was in a lovely Islington location.

Cons

The staff turnover was the highest I've ever seen in an organisation. Someone seemed to be leaving at least once a fortnight, and only 50 people work there. It's also difficult to articulate exactly what the organisation does, and they have suffered with a lack of strategic direction. As a result they haven't been able to make themselves more commercially competitive in the marketplace which is a concern as their government grant has reduced significantly over the years. Decision making at senior level took forever sometimes and commercial opportunities were missed, because some of them seemed to be running around the country doing everything themselves or waffling on about design rather than delegating effectively.

1.0
Apr 13, 2017

#ResignCouncil

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The other members of staff are some of the best and nicest people I have worked with. The scope of the work is interesting.

Cons

The directors are largely incompetent and I often felt like I was being bullied. I worked hard to get my job done (the content of which I enjoyed) but the staff structure does not empower managers to make decisions or move forward with a project, everything has to be checked by several people who make often pointless changes on work. There is no clear vision for the organisation ( despite the directors working constantly on defining our vision and strategy) and the directors seem only to be able to focus on the single most urgent matter at hand meaning that there is no forward planning, structure or agile working practices. The culture is one of secrecy over even the most trivial aspects of working life which is obviously frustrating and results in work being duplicated, working being done in error and mistakes being made.

2.0
Aug 16, 2018

High staff turnover

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good user base and nice office location.

Cons

Poor management who do not trust their staff. Everything bottlenecks down to one or 2 individuals who never make decisions on time.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 15 Reviews

Glassdoor has 15 Design Council reviews submitted anonymously by Design Council employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Design Council is right for you.