Pros
Kindest colleagues who work extremely hard despite mistreatment
Cons
Constant monitoring with unnecessary strict rules such as no talking, no phones, and mandatory uniforms, even though most workers were not given the correct uniform despite requesting it multiple times.
Employees are not allowed to increase or decrease their hours. When issues are raised with HR, they respond late and are extremely dismissive and rude, with little regard for how employees feel or how much they want to keep their jobs. Staff are often told to "just leave" if they're unhappy instead of HR trying to make adjustments or resolve concerns.
Employees are not receiving the pay or job titles they were promised despite carrying out managerial or supervisor duties. Multiple workers have also been sent home mid-shift simply because management wanted to reduce staffing costs that day, resulting in the store being understaffed and putting even more pressure on supervisors and remaining staff.
We had to repeatedly chase HR and wait until customers started complaining before they finally fixed the air conditioning. Workers were feeling faint, weak, dehydrated, and were experiencing skin reactions because of the heat, humidity, and lack of ventilation in the store.
I've never seen a company show so little regard for its employees. Staff are treated like disposable assets that can be replaced at any time.
Despite it not being properly disclosed in the job description, most workers — many of whom are students and teenagers, and some who are not physically strong enough for the demands — are expected to carry out heavy lifting, stock transfers, and physically demanding workloads. This is dangerous.
Workers are also expected to do intensive cleaning throughout the store, including the shop floor, products, testers, bathrooms, staff room, office, and stockroom. Little to no proper training is provided. We were told we would receive health and safety training, but instead we were brought in to pack goodie bags for the store opening.
Employees are expected to learn product knowledge entirely on their own, and when they don't know everything about a product, customers complain and staff get blamed for not being knowledgeable enough. One bad review and Head Office will look for any possible reason to blame store staff, especially supervisors, who are constantly judged and mistreated.
The security scanners are malfunctioning and, despite being reported multiple times, the issue continues to be ignored. To make matters worse, retail staff are held responsible for theft and blamed when items are stolen, despite having no control over faulty security equipment.
There is no sense of trust in the workplace, and staff morale is constantly low. The only thing that keeps people going is their colleagues, but even that can only do so much.
The constant monitoring and control are suffocating and excessive, especially considering there are very few complaints and no major issues within the store. Don't bother working here unless you're prepared to be overworked, undervalued, and blamed for problems that are completely outside your control.