- Poorly managed there were only three managers for the whole store: one store manager, one floor manager and one team leader. Most of the sales assistants had no interest in advancing their careers in the company. This created a lot of problems for everyone. The sales assistants had to do tasks that were not part of their contracts or salaries, such as visual merchandising and team leading. The managers had to juggle multiple responsibilities at once. The store was ignored by higher-ups despite asking for help.
- The training materials were outdated and useless. I watched videos from 2008 that had nothing to do with the current safety procedures. I also did not get an employee handbook. This reminded me of how poorly they treated me when I applied for a job at the head office. They left me alone for four hours unpaid, while they did other interviews. Never received the job and the feedback was that they were too busy to make judgement.
- The tills have a very outdated computer system that runs on Windows XP. It is slow and unreliable and often shuts down unexpectedly. The mouse is faulty, the keyboard is usually disconnected, and the screens are not responsive. There is no monitor to display the total amount for the customers, so I have to tell them verbally. This is very unprofessional and frustrating. The tills also have posters advertising "Klarna" payment, but the customers have to do it themselves instead of having it as an option on the tills. This is not competitive with other companies that offer this service.
- The mental health scheme is a benefit that should be eliminated because it is nonexistent. It is acceptable to not provide a service that does not exist. Moreover, the people who would deliver this service are not qualified in mental health as it's store management and there is no confidentiality. They are already dealing with a lot of workload.
- When the management is stressed they take it out on the sales assistants. I think they could use some mental health scheme to cope if it exists. Their attitude makes me dread going to work sometimes. We also don't have a way to report any issues to HR, because we have to go through the management first. It feels like a hopeless situation. They are never on the shopfloor unless there are visits from area managers and don't even have basic customer service.
- Low pay, which is not competitive with other companies in the same field. This applies to different job roles and levels. Another issue is the outdated and cumbersome system for entering bank details, which makes it hard to get paid on time. The pay dates are also inconsistent and unpredictable, making it difficult to plan.
- The company offers a uniform benefit, but it's not worth it. It's £190 if you work full-time, and the clothes are expensive and low-quality. They don't have much variety online or in-store. They also have strict rules about what you can wear. They say they want you to express yourself, but they don't like your makeup (editorial) or clothing patterns/colours (no logos). It's hard to work there when you can't be yourself and you have to deal with management's problems.
- Many stores in low-priority zones (after zone 2) face high rates of theft and violence from customers. The employees are not protected by any security personnel and are often injured or threatened. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed urgently. Only once did we have a security guard for a few weeks after an incident.
- We are under a lot of pressure from the operations and marketing team to meet the targets for online orders, even though we don't get any commissions for them. It's hard to be a sales assistant in this situation when other companies in the same industry offer better incentives and have newer systems to process them.
