Easy work - Warehouse Operative Escentual Employee Review

A few free samples, that’s about it.

For the entirety of my time at Escentual, I was still applying for other jobs, as it very quickly became apparent that it was not an environment I wanted to work in. Management were rarely around for assistance. I was given very little training, and what I did have was from my overworked coworkers, who were often too busy. Most of said coworkers were also unhappy at the position, and vocalised the fact that they had been given increasing workloads, shorter timeframes and no additional pay. They often had to do unpaid work in the evenings to stand any chance of hitting deadlines. I was constantly encouraged to ask questions, but one of the reasons given to me for being let go was that I asked somebody to show me how to do something a second time, because I wasn’t confident with it. My main complaint, however, is that I firmly believe I was discriminated against on the grounds of disability. I was asked in-depth questions about my long term health condition, by management, and many of the symptoms I mentioned were later used against me. I would strongly advise against this employer if you have any sort of disability. During the process of me being sacked, I had a review in which I was given things to improve on, and it was suggested that I would be okay if I worked on these things. I was then let go during my next shift, meaning I was given one day to work on these things (which I strived to do, during that shift). I was also criticised for the fact that I sometimes sat alone during lunchtime. I was very friendly and sociable with my coworkers, I was a team player, so how I spend my lunchtime should be no business of the company’s. The truth is, I was sat on my own, desperately filling in applications for any other job I could find!

Honestly wish I could give some benefits but there's really nothing - apart from maybe a few freebies.

From the beginning of working at Escentual it was really odd. There was, and continued to be a distinct communication issue, where one thing was said to someone and a different thing to someone else. This was so poor and so confusing that during my first week, a colleague who started at the same time as me, quit, just then and there. From the minute I entered the job on the first day I felt a sense of unease and uncertainty about it - the way in which we were spoken to, or more accurately not spoken to, was so difficult to understand, and I was highly confused as to what my job actually was, because of the lack of communication. This continued, with the job description stating that the role was of a copywriter - someone who writes content in the brands tone and voice. This turned into a position where on a daily basis I was made to film content for their social media channels, something which was not clearly advertised nor was I told about at interview. There was a really hierarchal structure where most people have been there for years on end, and are evidently stuck in their ways. At the same time, they had just launched loads of new things, like short form and long form videos for their youtube and tik tok channels. It was soon very clear that this was a new enterprise, with management not quite understanding how these other avenues worked. Similarly, technology wise, my workflow system was constantly not working, forms I was reprimanded for not completing were not forwarded, my company laptop was broken for the majority of the time and often meetings did not appear on my calendar. In the end, they tried to fire me, due to my absences, which I explained were because on an ongoing health condition, something I was prepared to discuss and make accommodations for with my Doctor. I also asked if I could work from home, as an accommodation (which was entirely possible with the role, and other members of the team did so), however this was again poorly communicated, with this being mentioned as a possibility at interview, then again in several follow up meetings, then being completely dismissed in my last meeting. When they gave me specific points to improve on, I said I would implement these but was fired/quit later that day (at that end point, I told them I quit because I couldn't do it anymore). One specific point that stood out to me, and was brought up frequently in my meetings with my line manager was the fact that I didn't seem to be 'getting on' with the other staff, and would do things like sitting by myself at lunchtime. I remember reading another review on here mentioning a really similar experience to this, so similar that it's almost laughable how little they have done to improve their management since then. In truth, I sat alone most days desperately filling out other job applications at anywhere I could get my hands on in hopes of quitting (I really do sympathise with whoever wrote that other review - its a depressing place !) I would really really steer clear of this company - they have a high turnover of staff in this role, with copywriters coming and going frequently, and its unsurprising. It was a complete waste of time for a minimally paid job.