What is the hiring process like at Cotswold Company?

Pros

The office looks swish, but (something about polishing a - ?) The ‘perks’ of fruit, pastries, or a bottle of bud if you want it on a Friday ^This could be considered no different to throwing a handful of corn to caged hens. The input doesn’t quite equate to the output being given. But if the workers have blinkers on its fine. Its fine. This is a perk, right?

Cons

Cons The new CEO Ralph Tucker writing a 5* review titled “Great Company”? This is indicative of the mentality of this level of Management, manipulating the bias. I trust readers see through this. Favouritism Low pay No thank yous __ I invested over two years here and I am glad I took the leap to leave. There is literally nothing for loyalty here. (pay reviews, promotions, professional development support). I’ve just got time consumed by this company on my CV, nothing of added value. There’s a worrying rise in frequency of bullying by management. A nasty band of managers across various departments – all backing themselves up. You cannot complain to HR (sorry, People Team) they are no better and bully within their own team. …If you don’t have a HR Department who are guided by ethics and have good morals, who are approachable and empathetic, who are supportive – I’m not sure what the point is. There’s always the legal stuff like employment contracts – but since mine had an error (granted in my favour), I’d suggest you check over your contract thoroughly. There has got to be something they’re good at, but I did not see what it was during my time there. As a potential employee, the first department you will deal with will be the People Team, so remember that. _ In your daily working life you can expect to see decisions being made by directors that have very little thought about the implications of the extra work being created to those at ground level. It will be continual firefighting for you as a result of those decisions, rather than a controlled exercise. You’ll end up feeling like you’re juggling your workload – just helping your team to keep afloat for the next ‘all hands on deck’ emergency. The frequency of those is all too often considering recruitment is low, there’s too much work per person across most departments. You will feel exceptionally underappreciated and underpaid for all the work being bandied about unnecessarily. If you can handle that, awesome. Don't forget to leave your job satisfaction at the door too, remember there’s no career progression for the likes of you here. The company is trying to grow fast, but cutting corners in doing so - to the detriment of its staff. Meanwhile the ringleaders are all patting each other on the back for the same. Staff morale could not be lower. The wages are not in line with national average, particularly if remote working. (pay rises are not good enough.) Staff turnover could not be higher. It’s a toxic work environment. But then its not my circus.

Advice to Management

Learn some employee names. Carry out Exit Interviews, understand and learn from them.

Pros

Could do what you wanted, there’s no one there who’s “on it” so I spent most days chilling or doing my own thing

Cons

Big male egos at the top. Hiring of friends rather than people who could do the job. Most of the furniture customers would send back because it’s all made in China and they don’t quality check it when it arrives so lots of returns. I witnessed lots of bullying and inappropriate comments.

Advice to Management

Restructure

Pros

If you like: being underpaid, not having a voice, not feeling supported, not feeling valued, not enjoying your job, not being rewarded for exceeding expectations continuously, not having a clear growth path, not being part of the 'inner circle' & awkward company-wide morning calls...YOU'LL LOVE IT HERE.

Cons

The word Family is banded around in abundance within this 'local Cotswold company'. From the CEO + Directors to store staff, you are told you are a part of a bigger family for the importance of ' the company '. We all drive towards the same thing, we are all as important as one another....However, its not quite as it seems. This disorganized company hides behind the family branding they crave so much, in a desperate attempt to hide the unhappiness of their staff & their genuine reliance on foreign imported furniture. The most unfortunate part of this is that it all stems from utterly abysmal communication from the top down. A CEO who simply cannot forecast and key directors who bicker over power are what truly impact the success of this import-reliant retail 'giant'. It's not the ones at the top who see the impacts of this amateur business management though... it's the people who are paid a fraction of what the market dictates they are worth and their families....their REAL FAMILIES. Your best bet is to get into an interview and ask for whatever salary you think you're worth because GIRL..you ain't getting no raise. So how do family treat their loved ones...their most loyal members?.. Not only do they struggle to offer real promotions to staff (even managers), but they pay higher salaries to oncoming employees in a bid to 'acquire the best talent' instead of retaining it. The only way to get yourself the promotion you want here - is to LEAVE. Overall, You'd be lucky asking for anything from this HR team, laziness is what to expect. I would be asking for retention rates and the last 2 years of employee satisfaction surveys on my first interview.. The work you do isn't overly rewarding either, from the unhappiest customers I've ever met, to some of the most misleading advertising I've seen, to the most obvious creative copy and paste from their rivals, Neptune. This is not a brand that looks like it's going to stay around for the ages. It's an eCommerce company that firefights daily and lacks a vision for sustainable longevity. Where does the money go?.... An abundance of non-recyclable packaging, extremely high external agency costs (due to how hard they are to work with), an overpaid management team & recruitment costs for new employees who lack the skills current employees possess. Where does the money not go? their employees. My overall advice is this, go there if you want to learn how to appreciate your next job or if you want some employee discount (you'll get a better deal in the outlet). But don't go there for a career..go and be ambitious and use your talents somewhere they will be appreciated and VALUED. As my headline states, this company is not good for your growth, progression, or personal success. There is a glass ceiling that will never move because there are too many overpaid people standing on it. ....and in case you're optimistic that it's changed...it hasn't.

Advice to Management

If you create a culture where people have clear progression, clear objectives, and are supported - people align themselves to the same goals as the business - because they want to grow and succeed. TCC has plenty of managers by name - but none by trade or skillset. Put your staff first, listen to them and support them . Their satisfaction and skillsets will give TCC success - not your poorly executed quarterly strategic plans...and advertise to more minorities - you wouldn't want people to actually think you're just selling to white people.