SGB; good or bad company to work for

K1ng B1lly

K1ng B1lly

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work at SGB for three years, and when i finaly wanted to leave to expand my scaffolding career,
they stabed me in the back by ripping me off, told me that i was over paid me on my holiday pay,
refused to give me my cards and certificates,

BAD COMPANY OR BAD BRANCH? let you decide
 
The cards and certificates (I assume were talking Svq' or Nvq's) belong to the person who did the course not a company, SGB tried this mince years back and got their behind kicked by the unions.

Most companies get you to sign a fee's waiver before sending you for your scaffolding courses which state that they are due financial re-imbursement if the candidate leaves within a certain time scale, but the cards belong to the candidate.

One way around it would be to inform your training provider that you lost your certificates and card, these can be replaced for a fee
 
K1ng B1lly

I started wi SGB Aberdeen Green Bank Road Aberdeen in 1972, the Depot was Managed from Copland Road Glasgow---But the Supervisors wer from Aberdeen and Dundee. Supervisor and Scaffs treated each other with mutual respect and we were never short in the Broon Pay Packet ( or the blood and snot would be flyin all awer the yard ) we always got oor dues and oor work effort rewarded accordingly. HOWEVER, I must say that I agree with your observations SGB Abdn has deteriorated over the years---SO, to answer your question it is NOT SGB per say---it is the sub-standard Supervision in the Depot---Scaffs Rule :nuts:
 
I worked for SGB at Nottingham for 10 years as a Scaffolder and then into Management, I've got to say I wouldnt have the skills (Or lack of them!!) I have now if it wasnt for my time with them. Overall I found the experience to be positive.

The company was purchased by Harsco about 8 years ago and have just recently removed the SGB brand and are now called Harsco Infrastructure. Friends I have that still work there or have just recently left tell me it has been slowly declining since the Harsco takeover as they are not really intrested in Major Contract Scaffolding so the days of massive SGB jobs in the city centres or on huge developments has sadly gone, they are heavily targeting the Industrial Market as they have just aquired a big insulation company and will be set up along the lines of Cape etc.

In regard to are they are good company to work for? I certainly think they were, I cant think of a Scaffolding Company in my region whos Owner or Manager did not spend some time there, in fact I always used to advise any youngster who wanted to get into the game to try and get a start with them as their training regime was spot on, give them 5 years (An old fashioned apprentership really) get some experience as you will do jobs at SGB that you will simply not do at other business's, get all your qualifications and then move on if your not happy, alas no more.:sad:

As for witholding Cards/Certs etc...dont f*ck about with the morons...contact your training provider for duplicates, it might cost a little but it gets you sorted pronto!
 
PW

Well said---the old SGB of years gone by was indeed the Promo Firm to Work for and their Training Regime second to now, it sadens me to think that a once well respected Scaffolding Orginisation has now been reduced to yet another snowt in the trough along side the other Service Companies.

SGB---RIP

Scaffs rule ya Bas :nuts:
 
SGB-Scafform Dublin

I had the experience of working as a sub-contractor to them in Dublin.
The Management had no real experience in scaffolding the senior contracts manager was a ex-cigerette salesman.

I was really surprised at how bad they really were,they let the sub-contractors run their jobs.And relied on them for new business.Management did not care and had no interest in anything.I t was a pity cause they really could have cleaned up on jobs if they had a showed some sort of professionalism and answered thier phones.

In the end they have shut-down the Depot and pulled out.

I will say though they did pay on time,sad to see them go...
 
CelticWarrior

There is a common theme emerging from the threads posted on this Forum, in that in the majority of cases Senior and Line Management have a distinct lack of both Practical and Theoretical knowledge of our Industry.

How long do the Scaffs have to carry these Butchers, Bakers and Candle Stick Makers ???. The Scaffs have to Prove them-self time and time again---yet some tupper ware salesman can walk in and make a c^"nt of it and he get rewarded---feck sake Guys what's the script :mad:
 
I remember years ago when SGB had a recruitment drive for Graduates with a view of putting them (eventually) into Management positions, as with most things SGB it was a structured scheme with the candidate having to spend 6 months in the yard and at LEAST 2 years working with scaffolders and have to acheive a Part 2 qualification before they then moved into the office side. I indeed had a couple of these Grads when I was a chargehand and to be honest I used to work them to death based on the fact I thought they had years of stroking it in the office to recover!! (Not much foresight on my behalf in that circumstance!!) The ones that made it did get a little bit of respect from lads BUT they still didnt know what was what really and lads would run rings round them.

On the whole though when I was with them I would say (In Nottingham Branch at least) SGB promoted from the ranks and it was obviously the way to go as of the 15 operational staff in the office only 1 had come through the Grad Scheme and most of the others had come through the CECOL route (A damn good scheme...why did they stop it!!???) and the likes of myself who came up from the tools.
 
K1ng B1lly said:
work at SGB for three years, and when i finaly wanted to leave to expand my scaffolding career,
they stabed me in the back by ripping me off, told me that i was over paid me on my holiday pay,
refused to give me my cards and certificates,

BAD COMPANY OR BAD BRANCH? let you decide
Click to expand...
I worked for SGB in 92/94 Brighton , PROMIS,D the world an got nothing ,BAD BAD COMPANY :mad:
 
If my brother and I were ever ripped off---we either took it out of their nose or their Yard---no feckin mercy. :nuts:
 
worst company ive EVER worked for

K1ng B1lly said:
work at SGB for three years, and when i finaly wanted to leave to expand my scaffolding career,
they stabed me in the back by ripping me off, told me that i was over paid me on my holiday pay,
refused to give me my cards and certificates,

BAD COMPANY OR BAD BRANCH? let you decide
Click to expand...

done 11 months on nights in london had a 33% pay cut and most people who stay on collecting their badges are mad once a great firm now not to far away from folding
 
was that victoria you were on??

i worked for them cracking bunch of lads but just a pile of **** no ppe supplied had to beg and borrow to get some gloves glasses ect.

but heard they were good years ago.
 
Slowly Going Bankrupt..!!!

I concur with PW on all his comments.

I think anyone who has worked for them past & present will always have a love/hate relationship, but then again that could be said for all the majors really! Like Paul, I've worked both sides of the fence so for all my whining about poor pricing, minimal PPE issues, I got to understand why when I was a Contracts Supervisor with enough project budgeting to feed a small family of ants!

I was an SGB drone through and through and worked all over the UK and in 8 different countries for them both on the books and as a subby, until I broke my back in a fall from height, sued them and won. Things were never quite the same after that really!?

Over all though, it would have to be the thumbs-up from me due to their commitment to training, safety and for always attempting to keep the lads employed through-out recessions and down time.

Cheers,
Phil.
 
K1ng B1lly said:
work at SGB for three years, and when i finaly wanted to leave to expand my scaffolding career,
they stabed me in the back by ripping me off, told me that i was over paid me on my holiday pay,
refused to give me my cards and certificates,

BAD COMPANY OR BAD BRANCH? let you decide
Click to expand...

just ring cisrs up and say your cards were stolen they are your property and illegal to hold them cards
 
I had 6 good years with SGB, working out of their Lincoln and Nottingham yard's. Got everything from them Basic 1,2, Advanced, all my inspection certs, IPAF, Class1 LGV, they even got us forklift licence's. In my opinion they were spot on, even the money was good ! Would go back to those day's again. Good boss, good lad's and decent job's. :weird:
 
sgb

hello all, i worked at Cambridge contracts for 3years then worked for industrial for 1year, they both have the good and bad points, i personally wouldn't work for them again. but as harsco now have full control of the company i have been told that its got worse but it depends on the manager that you work under. same goes for any firm you work for really.
 
i would say that gb were the best company i worked for.i worked offshore for them and whenever they went quiet they would always give you the chance of other work.i would love them to make a come back in the industrial side again
 
daftscaff said:
i would say that gb were the best company i worked for.i worked offshore for them and whenever they went quiet they would always give you the chance of other work.i would love them to make a come back in the industrial side again
Click to expand...

With their new business model of heavily targeting Industrial projects your wishes may come true, what they will be like to work for as "ARSECO" is a different matter.
 
hiya lads,i worked for sgb for 15yrs and can tell you that they where a good company until a new supervisor started n he was a "P" called mark walker fa the glasgow office but other than that,they where a good company cos i was a foreman for 4yrs
 
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