Located in Kent (not Ashford)
I've worked several decades in the customer service and retail industry and have never felt compelled as an employee to highlight criticisms toward an organisation I've worked for.
To begin with, the importance placed on the initial application assessment is laughable in the face of what an employee will subsequently have to contend with if successful ('Successful' being a very loose term in this regard)
As an organisation it appears to be one that pays a lot of lip service to itself, but without the conviction and integrity to back it up.
If the store I worked at would be considered an example of the ad-hoc nature and attitude of the company, then going by the many reviews from others at various locations across the UK, I would suggest it's indicative of being systematic and not exclusive to this particular branch.
Training is not ideal, to say it was minimal would be generous.
The practical training falls far short for an organisation that advocates staff welfare (yes, 'Staff welfare' in terms of adequate training falls under that umbrella too)
Staring at a tablet to view videos and flash animations over a period of hours, without touching upon, much less being shown and shadowed in person the actual necessary, specific, often fiddly and time consuming practical day to day processes is poor and a reflection of the laisse faire attitude toward new staff members. That staff are able to pick anything up at all would, I presume, be through trial and error or sheer improvisational luck.
What I experienced did not constitute training I would consider acceptable on any level. Throwing people in at the deep end, using the 'Sink or swim' method is not beneficial for anyone and frankly it's embarrassing, it's a false economy in teaching and a waste of everyone's time.
As those things supposedly taught would then have to be relayed again and again since no effort was spent the first time around for that information to be properly digested.
Some appear to conflate the term 'fast paced environment' with that of something akin to turmoil, chaos and undue stress.
The duty of care is sorely lacking.
Some 'Team Leaders' use passive aggressive (and in some cases not so passive) methods to get their way. Sorry but I don't do yelling.
There's a world of difference between leading and dictating. Social skills, clear, steady, rational communication, just basic professionalism, between adults appear to be entirely alien concepts to a few. If you're a Team Leader, then lead, but then again a 'Team' would have to be a cohesive unit in the first place.
Believe it or not, micro managing staff does not produce the desired results or feelings of encouragement, it fosters a culture of suspicion and resentment. Being asked every two minutes: "Have you done that yet?" while you're obviously and constantly dealing with queues of customers on your own and all that entails, will not complete the task requested any faster.
More bothersome was witnessing your colleagues freely move about the store, doing their tasks in relative peace and not nagged by the constraints of a manufactured deadline that someone else has imposed.
You're paid by the hour not perceived rate of speed no matter how expedient your endeavours.
I was employed as a 'Team Member' which I was led to believe entailed a number of differing tasks and duties, subsequently I was nothing more than a cashier, virtually manacled to a till point as soon as I stepped on the shop floor for every shift (most of which were unexpectedly late night ones and every weekend) this was not a role I exclusively applied for.
Make no mistake I was under no allusions that working tills wasn't part of the job, however I would stress that I was under the impression it was a 'Part of' the role, not the be all and end all.
An error on my part. As such I found I was working by myself for much of the time and felt less and less like a member of a team than I did a temp to fill a gap.
Some will happily let you do everything then criticise you later. On more than one occasion tossing out the non-sensical line of "You need to control your time" ?..
When you're on your own whilst running back and forth to work the primary till alongside the self checkouts, handle, pack, process sales, generally deal with all manner of enquiries, foolishnesd and issues (of which there are many, varied and time consuming) stopping to take receipt of customer parcels and everything else besides that is entirely beholden to human interaction, i.e: 'Customers as Individuals', then controlling ones time is an utterly meaningless point. If indeed there is a point being made.
You have no back up but will get lectured for letting lines get too long. Unless I've had a lapse in logic it's the customers that let the lines get long by sheer dint of choosing to append themselves to a queue at any given time, I just happen to be the one that's processing them.
Do you see how this works?
Some staff were really nice to work alongside (for the fleeting moments I did) as was the manager. One or two others I found had delusions of grandeur, 'The Big I am', or the type of miserable self importance one can only find in the field of provincial retail. Either they had no social or professional customer service skills to speak of in the first place or they worked in the same job, doing the same thing for decades, day in day out, to the point that they had all abilities for respectful human interaction entirely eroded from their personalities.
It's the only place I've worked where I got to feel as though I was being punished simply for turning up (always on time and often long before I was scheduled) I was either made to feel like an inconvenience or they really didn't know how to communicate with me at all, which only served to make things awkward and stilted on my side as I began to feel the same (in so far as wanting to say to them *I don't know what you want from me. I really don't know how to talk to you*) It got to a stage where I was almost afraid to ask questions, feeling condescended to if there was something I previously didn't know or was unsure of. The cliques among a few were unbearable to be around. I know I felt like I was being gaslighted on more than one occasion. So in the end I just stopped getting involved, head down, do the job, muddle through. It was making me anxious suffice to say.
It’s a job, in a supermarket, that’s it. There's no glamming it up or elaboration required.
The pay, compared to the physically and in many cases mentally demanding work, is sub-par. There's a lot more to it than Joe-public is probably aware of, you're juggling a multitude of tasks and customers, frequently with little to no support whilst being spoken to poorly.
I don't know who to recommend this to, it obviously works for some, how? I don't know.
I guess you must have some sort of mind set bereft of imagination, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, self respect and lateral thinking.
It's a job not a career, unless you wish for mental health issues and possibly an early grave as result of your efforts.
Remember who you work for, they're a large corporation that will drop you like a bad habit, irrespective of the work and diligence you provide, you won't be acknowledged except as an afterthought, in which case do the bare minimum under your contract.
If you're happy to turn up & do your thing, then go home, your fine. However there is more to life than this.
Let's not even get started on the whole data breach debacle, that should tell you all you ever need to know from this
shambolic company.
