Pros
Probably the company’s name in your CV. Other staff members very nice & qualified. Customers in general friendly and patient. Company’s benefits (if managers allow you to have access to it - this completely depends on their mood and whether they like you or not)
Cons
The managers at my branch in North London were a complete disgrace. They told us lies from the start, e.g. the very intense training would have to be done entirely from home and would not be reimbursed in any way. And we are talking of at least 5 hours “homework” at the computer. Also the three hour induction would take place in our free time, unpaid. Well, according to them, because in theory Waitrose wants all this to be done at work in work time, but managers simply changed that policy. They said they simply would not have the capacity to let us do it in the store as Waitrose policy wants it. “ We need you on the shopfloor straight away.” When questioning this and speaking up against it, needless to say I immediately fell into disgrace and was then systemically bullied out of the company after only two weeks by giving me late evening shifts that I struggled doing because of my little children. Funny thing was that one day a more approachable manager said yes to it, he told me it was all confirmed and even showed me a text on his work phone. When arriving the next day one of the bad managers seems that this was a mistake and would not be an option, just to say no! It was so ridiculous. I was treated like I was extremely cheeky and lazy by even daring to ask. All I wanted was a job that fits around my family. I later heard by other store colleagues that the evening shifts would be used as some sort of punishment. One guy who usually worked as a delivery driver apparently made a mistake at work and was therefore punished with an evening shift. Unbelievable! I have excellent customer service experience by other jobs and all my previous employers references stating that I am always welcome to come back and working for them, and I never had any problems anywhere else in another job. I was very much looking forward to work for Waitrose and still can’t believe what happened. When turning to head office seeking help, I was let down by them as well, they did not really listen to my suggestios to be transferred to another store and kept suggesting to forward my emails to the store managers for feedback! Quite funny actually, were they really thinking this would have had a good outcome for me? In the end head office just ignored my last email, accusing me for not having answered theirs which was a complete lie. When proving them wrong by forwarding my last email again they simply did not get back anymore. All very odd and disappointing. Managers in store NEVER replied any emails or texts when they didn’t Iike the content (so basically anything), and I felt very much left alone from the beginning. I understood later that they did this for a reason, they knew they were doing dodgy business by changing company’s rules to their favour and could obviously not put this in writing for not being caught. Most staff members at the store were unhappy but did not dare to speak up because the managers spread some sort of grim authority that no one liked to face, most people were simply avoiding them trying to get on without them. Not a single time I have seen the line manager or the personal manager smiling. They were spreading so much negativity and unhappiness that the whole store seems like a dark rain cloud. I bet they had no idea of the job, most of the store assistants seemed to have way more qualifications than them, and they probably knew that too and were trying to make up for it by spreading fear. Anyway, as long as Waitrose head office protects their bullies and turns a blind eye on them this will go on and all the motivated and highly qualified individuals like me will run off to places where they are treated with honesty and mutual respect.