Purplebricks under fire after angry reviews by disgruntled employees

Purplebricks' work environment is under fire from a number of bad reviews written by existing and former employees.

Indeed is a job recruitment site that also has a reviews section, encouraging staff to relate their experiences of companies: they are also encouraged to rate the company out of five stars.

As with all review services, it is difficult for an observer to be sure of the absolute accuracy of the content; all of the reviews are anonymous but many are sharply critical.

One review, apparently by a former employee, talks of a training session involving “borderline bullying tactics” and contains a passage relating to a trainer:

“He then proceeded to prompt and poke every single new starter into divulging more and more information about their personal lives and the net forced result was approximately 5 out of 15 adults crying in a room full of strangers. This horrendous tactic I am sure was designed to break down new recruits with the intention of ‘building’ them back up the way Purplebricks wanted.”

Another review, again from someone describing themselves as a former employee, says:

“Middle management are a joke, if you're in the clique you're ok, days off changed to suit you, hours flexible and meals out every Friday, but if not you're nothing. This has led to a crazy turnover of staff because of the parity between what's expected to be done by people in the clique and people out.

“Disciplinary matters, some that are highly sensitive and confidential information (such as unexpected deaths in the family) are shared around the office by middle management.

“Your training will be great, run by some of the best people you'll meet and work for, but after the two weeks you'll understand why half the office looks miserable when you sit down for your first day.”

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