West Midlands Fire Service Reviews

Where to start: Management (senior management, that is, so those above station level), are so unbelievably out of touch with those on the ground; firefighters are numbers, just bodies that they use to meet arbitrary targets and ticks in boxes. You're constantly micro-managed, gaffers are not trusted to manage their own watch, despite often have years and years more management and operational experience than senior managers, who are more often than not just promoted through the ranks to stop them being a danger on the incident ground. 'Diversity and inclusion' is hilarious in this organisation; women and ethnic minorities are treated as ticks in boxes, hired just so that the organisation looks good, but so many times the people hired are not the best people for the job, and so they struggle massively when getting to station and often go off sick within a matter of months because they feel incapable of doing the job they were so happy to get. There are so many amazing women and ethnic minority firefighters in this organisation, but they are not treated fairly or equally; they are gossiped about, given a hard time, and given no support from the senior management who were so desperate to get them into the job. They feel like they don't want to go for promotion for fear they will be seen as 'fast-tracked' due to having a protected characteristic, even though they may be the best person for the job, and senior management do nothing to combat this. Senior management do not listen to operational feedback; it's like banging your head against a brick wall repeatedly; nothing ever changes. They talk the talk, bring in someone to head up a new department that they magically found the money to fund, then send out a survey on how we can change things, and then within 2 months, that person has been given a promotion, and it's rinse and repeat. No wonder firefighters are more comfortable moaning around a mess table; is it any wonder, when management do not respect or listen to us? The problems highlighted in the recent LFB paper are absolutely prevalent here, and what's funny is that senior managers are so out of touch with their staff that they believe that 'West Mids doesn't have those problems' (direct quote). Apparently, West Mids FRS has been awarded a 'most inclusive employer award'; their numbers look so good on paper, but what they haven't focused on is retention and job satisfaction of those 'desirable' staff. They also neglect to mention multiple investigations into inappropriate behaviour towards women, by multiple members of senior management, and a previous head of recruitment. Promotion is also limited, unless you wanted to 'swallow the pill' or 'play the game' as it's referred to. You have to jump through so many ridiculous hoops, none of which relate to being a manager of an operational incident ground, that actual life-or-death side of the job, and instead all relate to arbitrary targets, irrelevant behavioural questions, and how good you are at saying the right things. The best operational managers I've ever worked with have been good firefighters, who were not good at 'playing the game' but can command the hell out of an incident ground and are fantastic with their team. Focus has shifted so massively from operational skills to business/management skills, but no one ever lost their life by not filling in a spreadsheet. The pay is also a joke, both for firefighters and control firefighters: 48 hours work a week, including nights and weekends, and we earn less than so many others in society. Operational health departments are completely overwhelmed, with 90% of referrals for in-house counselling being caused by inadequate handling of discipline cases, causing innocent people to become suicidal. Management don’t want to hear this though, and just allow the burden to fall to their amazing counsellors to carry an insane workload of people at the end of their rope. Management preach kindness and mental health, but instead of trying to prevent people from falling into depression through their own inadequacies, they wait until it’s too late, and then blame everyone else when someone cannot cope any longer. There is no accountability in the management team; hopefully that will change with the new chief in role and he won’t just promote his friends like the previous chief. If you're thinking of joining this job as a manager, or in a department, I implore you, please make some changes and think of those on the ground. This used to be the best job in the world, but it's so far from that now it's almost unrecognisable.