A great company for progression, learning and development - Area Manager Choices Home for Children Employee Review

Honestly, the team here is what makes it work. There's real cohesion where people actually solve problems together, which lets us create the best, most bespoke solutions for what each young person needs. Children's homes always come with their fair share of crises, but here you feel prepared for it. You can see the clear direction of growth of the company and the training we get actually builds confidence for the job, which is a rare thing I've come to cherish in this field! I also really appreciate that the home invests properly in therapeutic stuff like play therapy or group events: Sports days and talent shows are crucial, and seeing all the children genuinelly lost in the moment is what we do this job for! They’re what allow the young people to properly grow and develop and really shine.

At points, you will be asked to move around and help out in other homes if necessary. I recognise people don't tend to like this. Having your own transport is definitely a huge benefit that negates this.

I had never worked in children's residential sector before and I've learned a lot about the industry from staff at every level - senior management teams have always had time for my questions. It's been motivating to put my experience into a company that does important work with young people. I've been given a lot opportunities for training and growth, and have completed an NVQ relevant to my role since I started. I've had opportunities to give input on areas I felt could be improved and have been given leeway to put things in place to improve the business. One major pro of Choices is if they identify a weakness in the business, they are quick to amend and change it - whereas previous workplaces I have worked in have been reluctant to change without dragging heels. I've seen significant improvements to the business since being here - wage amendments for staff, new bonus structures, more consistent face-to-face training and longer inductions to better set staff up before they go onto shift. Choices is a family run business and it definitely has that personal feel. Me and my colleagues get on great and we work hard to maintain those positive working relationships with everyone at every level of the business.

There is further work to do around streamlining processes and ensuring training is as best it can possibly be for staff. We're not there yet, but this is in progress and hopefully the improvements will keep on coming.