Terrible, depressing and stressful. - Anonymous employee KidZania Employee Review

From the very beginning, there was a lack of organisation (which could be argued is normal for a start up company, however months in the problems persisted). They failed to pay everyone correctly the entire time I was there. Not to mention the fact that we were grossly underpaid for the level of work required from us. The rotas made absolutely no sense. Our shifts were way too long, breaks were rarely given on time and we were expected to come back early from our breaks. We had to deep clean our establishments, despite cleaners being employed by KidZania. Cleaning was never a part of my job description, it was more than just general tidying. We were expected to mop the floors, clean the windows, and take out the bins despite having just worked a 10 hour shift. There was no flexibility with hours, including part time positions (who had to work 5 days a week, with no flexibility). We weren't paid sick pay, despite the fact that so many of us fell ill because of the conditions we worked under. When we started at work, it was still a building site. We were breathing in dust and paint fumes all day for weeks, then the constant air con made us all ill despite us asking several times for them to turn it down. There was a serious lack of communication between management and staff, with new rules being created out of the blue every other day, effective immediately. The uniform policy was sexist, boys were asked not to wear earrings even though they were permitted for girls. Several procedures regarding employee safety and rights were not in place. In fact, there was a complete disregard for employee welfare from the management team. Our coordinators were inundated with complaints from us, and were not helped at all by their superiors in dealing with them. Hard work was never appreciated. We were working like dogs and so much was asked of us, though we were rarely thanked for it. Then they refused to pay us for any over time. If we got paid at all. Not to mention, the Artistic team being paid more than us for doing the same job. As a result of this, dozens of staff members resigned, a few every day. People stopped coming in to work, or arriving late. Meaning that the rest of us had EVEN more pressure put upon us to pick up the slack of being constantly understaffed. In addition to the fact that we were never actually fully staffed from the beginning. It was a horrible experience, and had it not been for the friends I made there I would have left a hell of a lot sooner.