DO NOT WORK HERE. - Sales Assistant bei Waitrose: Mitarbeiterbewertung

There are a number of issues with working at Waitrose. The way in which training works, which is non-existent and not rooted in the day-to-day tasks you undertake means there is a lot of 'on the job' training which often results in just giving things a go and if there is a problem, ask someone but then it means mistakes have to be rectified. Training is really reliant on the competence of those you work with, I will say I have always been trained well but management have zero understanding of the way in which the business operates or how to do any of the tasks. Disciplinary is used to manage members of staff the management do not like out of the business and they come down extremely hard. I have worked at two branches and I have seen this be done to at least two members of staff. There are unrealistically high expectations of productivity and accuracy placed on SOME members of staff but the reality is unless you establish yourself as very slow you will be expected to do everything and learn everything. The business practices a lot of sexist practices, only men will do the deliveries for example even though everyone is paid the same wage for these responsibilities. Management gossip and I reported this to another manager that it is highly unprofessional to be revealing someone's disciplinary procedures not just to one member of staff but in a group setting to gossip. Management expect nothing short of perfection, but receiving accolade after accolade from customers and there is genuinely no recognition. The bonus has been scrapped because the business does not make money and after every financial review we are just fed lies about cutting costs to increase profits because there is no other way. The business insists on 'cross training' partners which is just another way of paying you the same wage to be trained on several areas of the business but then you will have members of staff who can barely do one task adequately. The clientele of customers and their rudeness towards staff is reinforced by the management who refuse to defend their employees. They will undermine you and not follow company procedure but would sanction you for doing the same. The job is good for those who work minimal part-time hours, but for full-timers I cannot recommend it. The turnover of staff is insane, the most competent staff members will be there for no longer than 1-2 years maximum but most will be gone after a few months. The company has antiquated policies that are unfair to the members of staff who have to jump through hoops to please customers who love to complain to the staff because we are obligated to listen and act accordingly. Customers are allowed to verbally abuse you because management will not have security escort them out - I very politely refused to serve an extremely disrespectful customer and it became an incident. Products are mouldy, especially fruit and this is a Waitrose nationwide issue, and I reported this to my manager because it is because the fridges are not cold enough and they said there was nothing they could do about it and if I cared so much I should call the fridge maintenance company...it is our statutory obligation to not sell mouldy or out of date food. The brand struggles with varying standards and a lot of lazy workers who treat being there as a social club. Management are fixated with being your friend which lets you realise how adversarial their relationship is because they reveal a lot of secrets about how they view staff (they think very little). I once was off work because I was sick from the stress and they only called to let me know my sick pay had run out, there was no other contact and they were aware of this even when I did my return to work I cited stress and no plans were put in place. Low-level staff members are given immense amounts of responsibility and you are not paid differently for it. I really do think it is one of the worst places to work. The pay is not satisfactory for the requirements placed on employees and there is the normalisation of unsavoury practices (keeping products out of the chiller for too long and still placing them for sale, out of date products being found, poor stock availability).