Great place to be a colleague, tough life if you want to progress
Pros
Great benefits. A lot of folks have been with asda a long time so there's a strong sense of belonging. As a colleague you are well looked after with plenty of options available to you for shift swaps, 'me time' (unpaid days off). In my store there's always plenty of overtime available and I believe this is the same for most stores. I would recommend working here as a colleague.
Cons
Recent restructure of management has seen the opportunities to progress beyond Section Leader diminish. It is however far easier to become a Section Leader and due to the need to fill all positions in the last 6 months, there has been an influx of inexperienced people stepping up (think straight out of school and never had a job, let alone worked in retail) leading to increased pressure on those of us who are experienced, as we have to keep them above water as well as doing our own job. When area managers come to visit there is a mad rush to get the shop looking its best, quite often with managers/section leaders putting in extra hours to bring up the standards. In my opinion, senior management should see how our stores look on a typical day, with the budgets and resources we have. There has been a recruitment crisis in the Aberdeen area recently, mainly due to the fact that you can get an entry level position in an oil industry office and get paid more than in a supermarket. Again this has led to the employment of many who otherwise wouldn't get through group selection, simply because they are an extra pair of hands.