G4S reviews

With both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia sections of G4S in Pennsylvania, most of the problems that I had were with the offices, not the people working in the field. I have compiled a list that includes SOME of the problems that I encountered with G4S at both sections in Pa. 1. Both offices have a tendency to provide uniforms that don't fit properly, and sometimes they don't even have enough uniforms and articles of clothing to provide for you at the moment. Keep in mind that they have at least 2 weeks to order everything you need in your correct sizes before you start actually working out in the field, but unfortunately, sometimes they just don't. 2. Extreme lack of communication between the office and anyone else, including the workers, other G4S offices, and the client company. 3. Minimum wage pay rate for training, NOT your normal rate of pay. 4. Human Resources in both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia sections are incompetent, in more ways than one. One prime example is that they frequently short people on the hours that they should be paid for on their paychecks. Then it takes a long time before the problem is fixed. Also, they are not very knowledgeable of the policies set in place by the contracts. Do not be surprised if you are lied to about a lot of things. 5. If the next guard does not show up to relieve you when you are done with your shift, and if no one else is able to fill that open shift, YOU have to work it, NO EXCEPTIONS!!! If that is the case and you refuse to work that open shift and walk off of your site, you will most likely be terminated. There have been countless instances where employees have had to work double shifts, anywhere from 16 to 24 hours straight, because no one can relieve them. This is often unexpected and last-minute, but also quite frequent. 6. G4S will not reimburse you for any travel expenses unless you are travelling over 60 miles from where you live to get to your work site. G4S will also not reimburse you for when you travel to work on days when you find out that you actually don't work, because your boss messed up the work schedule, or changed the work schedule and did not notify you about the change. So imagine that you just traveled a long distance to get to work, and you found out that there was a problem with the schedule, and you actually didn't work that day. Well, even though your boss screwed up the schedule, G4S will NOT reimburse you for your travel expenses. So you will drive back home, not make a dime, and lose money from the gasoline you used to get to your work site. THIS HAPPENS FREQUENTLY!!! 7. Even though you may be a full-time employee, if there are too many guards working at your location, your hours WILL be cut. There are numerous instances where so-called full-time employees were only getting 32 hours of work per week, or less. As a full-time employee there was one time when I was only working 24 hours per week, for three weeks straight. 8. If there are not enough guards at your location, which happens a lot, be prepared to be asked to work a LOT of overtime. You have the option to refuse the overtime, but keep in mind that if you never work any overtime to help out your bosses, you will not be viewed as an asset, and therefore will be one of the first employees to be laid off or have your hours cut whenever there is a surplus of workers again. 9. This goes back to the uniforms. Even IF you get all of your uniforms and articles of clothing, it is your responsibility to pay to tailor them. For example, if your work site requires that you are to wear flame-retardant coveralls, you will be handed G4S patches and will be expected to either sew them on yourself (which is nearly impossible because of how thick the fabric is) or to pay to have them sewn on, at your own expense. As previously stated, G4S does not like to reimburse you for anything that you have to do. 10. If your client company does not provide the necessary tools that you need to do a job (such as pencils, pens, paper, etc...), neither will G4S, and you will have to buy your own supplies for work in order to do your job. This may sound like a small problem, but there are plenty of work sites where you need supplies that are far more expensive than pens, that G4S and the client do not supply for you, and you will have to buy them yourself in order to do your job. If not, then you can't do your job properly and you are either moved to a different work site or terminated. 11. When you ask for something from the office, such as a new pair of work boots to replace your old worn-out pair, it will take them a long time to get you what you need. How long? It depends. Sometimes a few weeks, sometimes months. So imagine having to walk around in boots that are worn out and hurt your feet, all because your local G4S office won't see you as a priority. This has happened a lot. 12. Even though G4S claims to care about you and your safety, they honestly don't. They want you to work and do everything that the client company wants, no matter how dangerous the tasks are, so that it makes G4S look good. After all, if G4S looks good, then they get to keep the contract with the client company and make a lot of money. But unfortunately, the working security officers in the field see very little of this money. No bonuses and a very low pay raise, if any at all...So where does all the money go? The corporate fat cats in the offices. They keep the big chunk of cash that the working security officers work hard to get the client company to supply. 13. G4S will not offer any bonuses, and will not even consider to offer a pay raise until after 1 year of working there. After 1 year, they review your performance, and most of the time they pick out any little reason to not give you a pay raise. IF they do give you a pay raise, it is very minimal. For instance, I worked a LOT of overtime for 3 months straight in order to help the client company when we were severely understaffed, including working many swing shifts, double shifts, and pretty much giving up my personal life...and I did not get any recognition from G4S whatsoever... 14. If you are an Area Supervisor, you WILL work way more than 40 hours per week, but you will only be paid for 40 hours, no matter how much more work you do. Usually all of this extra work is time spent at home, trying to get caught up on work, and calling officers to try to get open shifts filled. Of the Area Supervisors that I have talked to in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia sections, they claim to work anywhere between 60 and 80 hours per week. But like I said, they only get paid for 40 hours that week because all that extra work is done at home. So if you have a chance to be an Area Supervisor, keep this in mind. Also, remember too that Area Supervisors get yelled at all the time for overtime, even when they can't control the overtime. There are countless times where the G4S offices wouldn't hire any new guards, and work sites were severely understaffed, and the guards had to work a lot of overtime. Even though it was the G4S office that was at fault for the overtime by not hiring new guards, the Area Supervisor still gets blamed for it, even though they can't help it. 15. If you work at a site in your own personal vehicle, G4S will NOT reimburse you for your gasoline expenses to run your own vehicle. There have been many times where guards had to use their own personal vehicles at work sites during freezing temperatures, and they had no choice but to run their vehicles to stay warm. 16. Very little room for growth within the company. If you are looking for opportunity, this is not the place for you. This job is best as a beginner job, a side job, a filler job for people that are in-between jobs or have lost a job, and as a job for older retired people that want something to do. This is NOT a place to work if you want a career, because the pay, the benefits, and the atmosphere is very dissatisfying. There are many more problems with G4S in Pennsylvania, other than the ones listed above. I highly advise you to steer clear of this company, because they WILL take advantage of you, and you will NOT be viewed as anything more than a disposable body that they could easily replace. No matter how well of a job you do and how much you work, G4S will not show you any special recognition for it, no incentive whatsoever, and will continue to be incompetent with your needs. IF you do end up working for G4S, I highly advise you not to stay long. If there was ever a company in today's day where the employees needed a labor union, this would be it.

No holiday pay getting stuck if no one shows up Tons of dumb policies Incompetent managers They make you sign a contract saying they can do whatever they want you to do whenever.