Sorely Disappointed at how Oxfam has gone downhill over the years
Pros
In the days I worked for Oxfam there was a great structure in place - I got to work with super line managers, fellow Oxfam colleagues and an energetic, motivated bunch of volunteers, and it was also a great social hub with friends I kept for years after I left. It was my most loved job ever, I loved the diversity of tasks as a retail manager and loved that our joint efforts had a meaningful end result helping those in poverty. In the days I worked for Oxfam we were treated very 'inclusively', trained amazingly and got to learn about projects first hand.
Cons
It was hard work and underpaid at the time I worked for Oxfam (late 90s to 2000). But recently (2019) I joined a new Oxfam retail venture as a volunteer, which I enjoyed at some level. But as time ticked by I got to witness situations that would never have been allowed back in the day. I was never inducted (fundamental to retaining volunteers), I was never included nor involved in what projects were current, I was offered free fair-trade chocolate and discount on clothing (this was not allowed before), I was given a free reign to come and go as I pleased, which I appreciated at some level, but it all comes down to serious lack of structure. The final straw was when I witnessed the paid deputy manager shouting at a volunteer for doing something wrong, telling him off in front of me (don't think she knew I was there) - with english not being his first language, he had not understood the task in the first place. I was horrified not to mention very upset by this. It seems there has been 'new blood' injected into Oxfam and its tainted. After this incident and observing a few instances of lack of integrity I left, sorely disappointed and disillusioned.
