Pros
20% discount is very generous. Trainee management program is excellent if you are actually given the time to properly complete the training and you have a decent mentor.
Cons
Frequently M&S treats its employees as one-size fits all. There seems to be little consideration of individual motivation or differing personalities, although they pay lip-service once you reach management level. Unfortunately, it seems that increasingly, the type of person the business wants to employ as their Store Managers is the bullying type. The business has also adopted a policy of 'Managing Your Bottom 5%' which essentially means 5% of every team needs to be performance managed (frequently in the negative sense rather than the stretching management of the highest performers), this has created a very negative and unpleasant atmosphere in stores. Internal promotion from Section Manager level is practically non-existent and movement into Head Office from Stores literally never occurs unless you are a D Band Store Manager.