Intense workload but nice people - Garment Designer Marks & Spencer Employee Review

3.0
Nov 28, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Lovely people generally - Get to work on some great ranges/designs - Better salary than some other retailers with quite a clear pay structure - Relatively good pension - Discount came in handy

Cons

- Progression path was not always clear/possible - Design team was usually spread far too thin in terms of workload; there could be a lack of ownership due to poor or mismatched design direction between teams which created more work/changes - One can feel like 'just a number' due to the company size and distance from the top brass, whom often made decisions that didn't always make sense (they downsized at unusual times, for example, which affected morale). - Expected to work a lot of days in-store which was a struggle in/around the workload (and while trying to find time to take annual leave) - There was a little too much corporate red-tape regarding HR, annual performance reviews, etc. Employees surveys felt like tick-the-box exercises for example, because negative feedback was typically disregarded

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Marks & Spencer Response
7mo
Hello, we appreciate your time given to write us feedback. Your thoughts are highly valued, so thank you for taking the time to share them. Whilst it’s great to see you enjoyed many things about the business including our fantastic colleague discount perk, we are sad to hear about the cons you have listed. This doesn’t sound like the way we do things at Marks and Spencer and goes against the values we've worked so hard to uphold. We take on your feedback and hope that this will improve our colleague's experience going forwards. Our success relies on the dedication of employees like yourself, so we thank you for all your hard work. Wishing you all the best, Marks & Spencer.

Explore other reviews about Marks & Spencer

5.0
Aug 5, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I love how positive the working environment

Cons

I dont like some of the names of the bread

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Marks & Spencer Response
11mo
Hi there, thanks so much for leaving such a great review – it’s lovely to hear that you enjoyed working for us! We're so grateful for your kind words, so thanks for sharing your review with us and the Glassdoor community. Our success relies on the dedication of employees like yourself, so we thank you for all your hard work! Wishing you all the best, Marks and Spencer
1.0
Jul 27, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-20% discount -I must enter 5 words

Cons

Never before have I worked for a company where the threat of gross misconduct is thrown around constantly by management. Senior members of staff have been given wrriten warnings over sudden changes in policy. Instead of carrot and stick you're just given the stick. A sudden change in policy comes in and immediately a TM or TSM will tell you "if you can't do this you will recieve a written warning or disciplinary." That is a best case scenario, the alternative is nobody tells you and you continue to do everything as normal and you get punished for an absolute absence of communication. Regional managers pressure Store Managers to hand out punishments like quotas. Worst of all, the company promotes immature and lazy managers for the most part, who will happily stand around doing absolutely nothing, but drive workers aged 60+ like a cart horse. Sorting basic worker's rights like annual leave is a chore to them, and they act as though they are doing you a favour when you do the bare minimum. Favouritism in my store is endemic. Not all managers are like this, my store manager just happens to like a handful of staff and puts down everyone else.

2
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Marks & Spencer Response
11mo
Thanks for raising your concerns. We're really sorry to hear you’re unhappy and we want you to know that at M&S, we care deeply about doing the right thing and acting with integrity, building trust, supporting one another and taking the time to listen. You have already addressed the first step of voicing your views on here, and now we encourage you to talk to your Line Manager. If you feel you cannot approach your Line Manager, then tell a more senior person or someone who you feel most at ease with, for example your BIG rep or your HR Business Partner. Thanks again for sharing, - Marks and Spencer
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