Unexpectedly disappointing
Pros
-Good employee discount which was applicable to John Lewis and Waitrose. - Good and clear training provided from HR about working for the Partnership, I felt I had a clear understanding of their vision and values which I felt aligned with.
Cons
-The managers promoted young people to the status of 'supervisor' which wasn't officially recognised as an official job title in their pay banding system. -The responsibilities were near those of an assistant managers but the pay only went up by 21p an hour for that. -Managers promoted quickly to supervisor, left young sales assistant unassisted to run matters whilst they went home early or were simply nowhere to be found. This was difficult because of the little training received to assist with this. - There was an unpleasant coercive attitude from managers which made students feel like they had to keep picking overtime, despite being contracted to part time hours. -Apart from the HR manager, the managers of the tills section were all unapproachable and purposefully intimidatiing (which felt worse to the young people for whom it was their first job) apart from one of them. -When I reported issues of not receiving enough training of how to do the tasks once promoted to the unofficial role of supervisor, they would seek to reassure me solely with their words, no action would be taken to provide me with support and I was left to muddle through. -When I found the job so stressful that it was beginning to seriously affect my energy levels and I got burn out and put in my notice, the main manager remained persuasive, wanting me to stay, saying things would be better. I felt it would have been better if shed' respected my decision and left it at that.