This is going to be a very long list.
- pay, managers are salaried. In my experience it was expected of me to start work before my clock in and clock out but continue working. It meant I was actually making less than other non managerial store colleagues paid per hour.
- Training was abysmal. If you have never worked in retail before be prepared to just be handed a tablet with endless instructional videos then 1 week of shadowing. The hilarious part was as a Team manager, my week of shadowing was to learn how to stock shelves, that’s it. No shadowing on checkouts, or with Team Leaders or Managers.
- Store managers, this one can be different from location to location. But at the Fishguard location the Store manager has an atrocious attitude. Everyone there literally walks on egg shells around them. They are the type of person to scream and lose their mind when tasks are missed but refused my suggestion to put checklists in place. Very poor management (ran off 2 team managers before my short stint, now 3).
Workload - be prepared in this role or the Team leader role to work multiple jobs everyday. If the Store manager is not on shift you will be expected to cover their duties + your duties + team leader duties if short on staff (happens often) + regular staff work like serving customers/stocking if short (happens often).
- Setting a poor example. Specifically at the Fishguard location the store manager sets a poor example. They take breaks often, well over the allowance to have teas and coffees by the fire escape chatting away. Meanwhile complaining about other staff not working hard enough. The store manager would often add extra staff or the most experienced staff to their shifts so they could sit around. Meanwhile other shifts struggle with new or less staff.
- A horrible culture and atmosphere exists at the Fishguard location. Everyone talks badly behind everyone’s backs. The Store manager on my hiring told me they would have my back as the management team. But after a few weeks and on several occasions before turning the corner to grab more stock I could hear the store manager and other staff talking badly about my performance. The ironic thing is these poor practices often bleed down and the store manager doesn’t realise everyone talks badly about their performance when they are out of store. Under a good leadership I would have shut this down normally, but after getting stabbed in the back I chose not to.
Overall this was the worst employment experience I have ever had. I worked for Amazon in a warehouse in a leadership role for 4 years and it was leagues better. Save your mental and physical health. The Coop is fine to work in if you are just a regular low level employee. I would not recommend to my worst enemy working in leadership at the Fishguard location.
