5 Wellbeing Red Flags To Look Out For When Applying For Jobs

Here's how to spot those shady red flags on job applications!

When it comes to applying for jobs, the job ad and company website can give a lot away about what it's actually like to work there. Applying for jobs can be hard and if you're desperately searching it can be easy to overlook potential red flags, however, picking up on them early on will help you to decide whether this is really the right company for you or not.

Nowadays, the company culture is as important as the job itself, and if a job application is displaying a few glaring red flags, there's a big chance that you may find that the company isn't that great to work for, and for your own personal wellbeing and mental health it may be best to avoid. Here's what you need to look out for when applying for jobs.

Wellbeing red flags on job adverts

1. They list holiday as a benefit

First things first, in the UK there are laws around annual leave. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, regardless of what job and industry they're in and if you're working a 5-day week you must receive at least 28 days paid annual leave a year–– this is the law.

There are 8 bank holidays in 2023, and for most office jobs you will get bank holidays off as standard. This is because companies can use this towards your annual leave allowance. So, if you see a job ad advertising 28 days of annual leave including bank holidays, this means you'll get just 20 days of annual leave to use throughout the year. Or, if the job ad says 20 days annual leave AND bank holidays, you're still getting the legal bare minimum, this isn't a benefit.

Many jobs offer up to 30+ days of annual leave, may offer you the chance to choose whether or not you want to take bank holidays or use your annual leave on other days and many even offer unlimited annual leave as well as birthdays and religious holidays off. An incentive can also be gaining annual leave the longer you work at a company.

While jobs only offering the legal minimum for annual leave isn't necessarily a reason to not take up the job offer, it is a red flag if they're not willing to offer a bit more flexibility around holidays, it's a sign you could end up overworked or that they don't recognise the importance of regular breaks for your mental health and wellbeing. So, definitely be wary if their annual leave policy is actually a benefit, like unlimited annual leave, or the legal requirement which is 28 days.

2. They're not flexible about working from home

Since lockdown, it's become much more widely accepted that working from home is the way forward. Working from home has so many benefits, from improved mental health and productivity as well as cutting down on commuting costs and being able to take a job without having to move to a new city.

There are very few jobs that actually require you to be in an office every day, and hybrid and flexible working models are the way forward. If the job you're looking at doesn't offer a flexible working-from-home policy, this is a red flag to be wary of. Most companies have moved towards either a hybrid model where employees go into the office 1-2 days a week or even once a month and offer flexibility for when employees choose to go in.

If the job you're looking at doesn't offer working from home for at least part of the week and wants you to be in the office pretty much all the time or only allows you to work from home for a set number of days per year, rather than allowing you to come in as and when you please, this is a big indicator of the company culture. You could find that you're going to be roped into unnecessary meetings, being kept behind for long hours and micro-managed, with managers constantly looking over and checking in on what you're doing. Not to mention, working in an office and commuting 5 days a week can be very tiring and detrimental to your wellbeing.

Trust us when we say there are plenty of jobs out there that offer a hybrid and flexible model and if your job doesn't recognise the value of working from home, avoid, avoid, avoid!

3. Listing pool tables, socials and free drinks as benefits

First things first, a nice office environment is a benefit and if the job has an office decked out with pool tables, regular socials and free food and drinks this is great. However, companies tend to include this in a job application as a way of making the company sound great and deflecting away from things that aren't so great. While there's nothing wrong with a company that likes to throw big socials and has a fun atmosphere, make sure you're double-checking their policies around annual leave, working from home, pensions, salary and maternity and paternity benefits.

You can check honest reviews on companies from current and former employees on Glassdoor, as well as see average salaries, so you can really get a feel for what it's like to work there and anything that the job application might not be mentioning.

Essentially, while pool tables and free drinks are a great benefit to have, this won't make up for a job that has a non-inclusive culture, low salary, long hours and doesn't allow you to work from home or take more annual leave than the legal requirement. So, don't let these fun office benefits distract you from the actual realities of the company.

4. The salary is listed as competitive

Newsflash, if a company isn't being transparent about the salary this is a huge red flag. Companies not listing the expected salary for a job they're recruiting for, usually means they don't want to disclose it because they know that it's lower than it should be. Or, they'll use this as a way to ask a potential candidate their salary expectations, and if you list a salary lower than what they'd been planning on giving, they won't tell you this and will use your answer as a basis to underpay you.

Applying for jobs can be hugely determinantal on your wellbeing and can involve a lot of rejections, phone calls and stress-inducing interviews. If you're someone that finds the interview process for a job overwhelming, you don't want to get through a 3-stage interview process only to find out the salary is too low and you've not only wasted your time, but you've also gone through something super anxiety-inducing for nothing.

A lack of transparency in a job ad is the first sign that a company may be shady, and don't want to pay employees properly. It can be hard to give your salary expectations if you're applying for your first full-time job, and recruiters often bank on graduates or entry-level employees not knowing their worth as a way to get away with underpaying them. If a job won't tell you the salary up front, it might be best to avoid this one or bring it up as soon as you can with the initial conversation you have with a recruiter.

5. Watch out for the language used

Here are some job ad red language flags to be wary of:

• Must be able to thrive in a competitive environment

• Fast-paced environment

• Not for the faint-hearted

• We're not a company, we're a family

• Must be able to handle stressful or high-pressure environments

• Must be up for a challenge

These types of job ads often indicate that you're going to have a poor work-life balance. This indicates that the company is going to expect you to go above and beyond, after hours, on days you're on annual leave and that you won't actually get to have a break from working. It also indicates a stressful work environment and that if you're not able to keep up, there's a chance you won't thrive in the role, indicating that you might not even pass your probation unless you can be super hands-on all the time. While jobs should come with an element of challenge, job ads that sound like this 9 times out of 10, aren't going to be worth it.

Don't forget to check out how to get a feel for a company's culture before you take the job.