SWS / Southwestern (Clonakilty)

Max001

Hiya

If anyone works for this company or knows an employee,
I'd be very keen to know what its like to work there.
Am considering a job with the company and know very
little about it.

Much appreciated.

Max

PS PM me if you prefer.

tanjian0007

My wife works for this company and I also know loads of people that work there as I live in Clon, it is a really good company its a company that expects hard work but has a very good relationship with its staff.

trotter_inc

PM sent.

whocares86

offered a interview with SWS for a manager role but the money is very very poor , any one know if the wages are low down there

smcgiff

The owners are venture capitalists - They develop companies to eventually sell off. They've their fingers in a number of pies. I'd say you'd get good experience.

whocares86

i have 10 years experience at what i do but not in a management role, i am working at the moment but i dont think i could afford to take a drop of 30% in my wages

NavNav

The wages are very low in SouthWestern (SW) although the company is thriving through the recession. The company has continually grown during the recession.

They implemented a pay freeze in Jan 2008. The following year in 2009 they implemented pay cuts besides the fact that staff rejected this. These pay cuts are still in place. In return for "accepting" the pay cuts the management abolished the requirement for staff to pay a monthly subsidy of approx €5 for canteen facilities (literally milk, coffee, tea, milk and sugar). This subsidy was required despite the fact that there were approximately 400 employees at the time.

It is my belief that SWS are using the recession as an excuse to cut staffs salaries further, despite the fact that salaries are already extremely low.

I am aware that members of SouthWestern are challenging the pay cuts through a trade union.

After Trade Union officials met with SouthWestern management the management held one-on-one meetings with each employee trade union member to try and come to deal. To me this was a divide-and-conquer attempt which worked to some degree. Some union members were intimidated and decided to stop challenging the pay cuts. Others negotiated new job titles and roles while others as I mentioned are challenging the pay cuts.

I am also aware of some staff members that upon returning from maternity leave were told there job no longer existed which, to my knowledge, is against the law. Some had to challenge this through the trade unions before they were told there would be a job at the end of their maternity leave.

Job descriptions are meaningless in SW. You may be given work that is absolutely outside your job description. I am aware of one employee that questioned this and was told to do it or else they would get someone else to do it i.e. she would be fired! So don't think that even though the salary is low I will gain good work experience. This may not happen.

On a positive note (I'm sure you are shocked there is one after all that), the lower level staff in SouthWestern are excellent and a joy to work with and very friendly. I cannot say the same however for management!

munster_2

The best think about Southwestern is the staff other than that it has nothing else to offer. A lot of the staff are from towns and villages nearby and therefore there is little opportunity for new employment. This leads to the staff being paid minimum wage and afraid to say anything in case of losing their job.

There has been cases where contracts have been lost and staff being moved to different departments for less money.
There was a pay cut implemented in some cases the current staff took the paycut but the new employees were paid more. I was shocked that i had 2 years experience and took the pay cut and the new employee was on my original wage.
It is all cost cutting so don’t expect anything from the company.
A lot of the management have shares in the company so based on profits they will get a percentage every year. So even with the pay cut they will get a bonus.

I could go on all day but my advice would be to stay away. They have no loyalty to anyone!!

NavNav

SouthWestern recently had to pay 65k in compensation to a former employee for unfair dismissal. This was reported in the Irish Examiner on the 5th of Jan 2011.
These are the kind of people you are dealing with. They think they can get away with anything!

Beware!!!

NavNav

To the best of my knowledge SouthWestern had to compensate the staff that challenged the pay cuts. SouthWestern took this all the way through the Labour relations commission before they finally gave in.

Despite the news about the new positions currently available in SouthWestern, they have also recently lost some significant contracts for poor service! You don't hear about that in the news of course.

The news article on RTE states they are going to "investment €3.5m in research and technology". I'm shocked to hear that. SouthWestern's managers attitude has always been against R&D and innovation... "sure if it ain't borke, don't fix it". It mightn't be broken but you always have to innovate!

Ya gotta love their website too... all the stupid pictures of models that obviously don't work their!! Laughable!!

As I said before any potential new employee of SouthWestern should think long and hard about it!!

Cork red

i have applied for a positon with southwestern and have an interview next week.

Does anyone know what exactly the pay is and if it is weekly or monthly?