Pros
20% discount which you feel obliged to use as it is the ONLY benefit, no extra pay, raises, overtime pay, that is if in fact you get a staff discount card, One of our temps was upset she didn't get hers until two weeks before she left and said they capped the discount by £40 this sounded disappointing as she was a student and wanted to use it. Some staff are nice. The customers are the best thing about the job, the job itself and the customers. The management ruin the company.
Cons
AWFUL management, intimidating and threatening to work for, a LOT of backstabbing, slander and lying behind scenes (including people gossiping about staff members divorces/separations) calling one staff names because of their appearance, just general childishness. Puts me off ever taking my break in the staff room as the things you would hear in the staff room made it such a negative place to work and would put me in a bad mood. I felt so bad for the christmas temps being slandered as it seemed targeted character assassinations, especially for a few of them of whom I liked, I felt awful just hearing it and made it difficult to work downstairs with them wishing I could tell them what was being said. I worked with these temps and thought they were all sweet but people just have a chip on their shoulders and slandered them to maybe make themselves appear superior? It was mostly the older staff who get away with very LITTLE work and only retain their job out of managerial loyalty (usually the front desk staff). All I know is the bullying ruins the company and it is getting worse. It is hard working with someone you like knowing people are slandering them and not being able to say anything. I had two temps crying in the lockerroom about how they were treated. That is not on! I am a mother and it was like seeing my children being bullied at school. There is no excuse for bullying staff. It is not professional. There is little to NO training for new people, I was constantly asked how to do things as they were not taught how to use tills and all the system. I was a bit disappointed by this as seasonal temps have to cover the busy period and they can't do the job right if not taught right. I felt half of my shift was showing them how to find things on the till. I don't mind but it isn't my job to train people. It should be the managers. The management are poorly trained, do very little and get away with it, our manager has a few nasty nicknames and customers complain about her due to her rude, nasty and cold expression and storms around the store like a tornado of fury as if she is looking for a fight, I have had customers ask if she works here because it has jarred them encountering her, there is zero communication between departments and the section co-ordinators just slagged off management constantly and vice versa. Not at all professional. I just keep out of it, try to endure my shift. It appeared a political struggle with a lot of jealousy between authority. The main manager was seen as some sort of menace of evil (she is a bit of a witch to be fair and I had a few of the young temps confide in me about her as being a bully and to be fair, she is, she doesn't bother me as I am a lot older and wouldn't intimidate me as easily) and the management would slander her and call her names but then be so nice to her face, then the section co-ordinators would treat customer assistants like rubbish under illusion they hold some sort of power, there is no team work in this company. They NEED to retrain all management and have regular reviews asking current staff from every department to give a review on the management and section co because it is too many chiefs, not enough indians and the management/sec co are the ones ruining the experience for the customer assistants. They would get a big shock if the customer assistants were responsible for them keeping their positions, I believe it would change a LOT. You wouldn't keep your superior job and continue to bully others if they held the noose around your neck. Luckily I retire soon as will be glad to leave the company. If I was to stay longer I would want to get into management to show them how to treat people properly. You get better staff when you are nice to them.
