Pros
Working close to head office meant lots of visits from high up people, meaning I think they got an understanding of how the store was performing and why. Lots of opportunities to move stores if needed. Management tended to stay consistent. No unnecessary moving Working days very flexible to be worked in for days off you may want.
Cons
Employ regional managers straight out of uni, meaning they actually have no clue about how the company works beyond on paper. This led to. Pay issues - I'm still owed £500 due to my region manager having "more important things to do" than sort out my pay. Unrealistic expectations - they've never spent a proper day in store to understand what's realistic. No communication or results from the people who work the stock and those who send stock in. Especially specials. A large part of my day was spent calling other stores in the areas to swap stock or take stock off our hands as they were consistently sending in too much stock for the sales of the store - this only briefly improved after a big visit and them seeing the extent of what we had to work with. This is the same over the 5 stores I worked at. Depending on management it could be a very clique place to work. Store managers stay put which can be a benefit but also means they get friendly with set people and it's hard to communicate that to anyone. Feels degrading that head office colleagues always got 2-4x more on their Christmas gift cards than sales associates and other members of in store - do they work harder? Upper management never recruited within beyond deputy manager. Jump through hoops to get to ASM and as it turns salary and you miss on the extra pay you end up hardly being paid more (mine only got about 300£ more than me in the year due to add up of premiums earned as hourly) store managers don't leave and have no option to progress further unless they have a uni degree so no progression available beyond this point unless you're willing to relocate. - why is a uni degree needed for regional managers instead of encouraging and promoting the store managers who have 30 years of experience and knowledge of how a store runs?