Marks & Spencer job reviews

its close to where i live , discount is useful

the management and not knowing when i am working next

Amazing and friendly team, good management with lots of communication, great pay for customer assistants (particularly for students like me), with 20% staff discount it’s a great part time job, would definitely recommend!!!

Sometimes can be stressful and fast paced at time (especially working in hospitality like me) but not always, breaks aren’t paid.

nice people, different things to do

often stressful

Good salary

Not considerate or flexible to employees

Staff members apart from management

Managers barely let you talk

Fun at times with banter with the managers

Sometimes a bit under- appreciated
Pay is sometimes wrong and is difficult to sort out
Have to do 4 peoples jobs

I work in a great team

Not enough staff considering how much busier we've got.

Some of the people I work with

Not being kept informed, and they don’t care about you as a person

Every day is different

No security guards.

the pay, colleagues

most of the people the shop attracts are rude, unexpected changes to your rota, very hard to get a day off

It’s easy work

Working stock is a bit annoying when of customers are around and it’s a bit repetitive.

Break

Micromanagement.
Disrespect.
Abuse from managers and colleagues.
You report a manager and they defend them without taking allegations seriously.
Get abuse from customers and store manager more concerned with getting a bad review instead of how the staff was treated.

customers

management, long shifts, not feeling welcome by collegues

Good pay and the people are nice

Management is shocking, takes ages for anything to be done and managers are rude.

People I work with and customer

Trying to please everyone

Home life balance
Discount

New vanguard hours
Shifts can change at a moments notice

Great food fast hours and fun when busy

Benefits and the other workers. When you are working early shifts, having some funny people and nice people around you helps.

Management just change your shifts to suit their needs without asking and when you say you can't do them, they have a go saying that you have to find a person to cover for it. Sometimes it became quite toxic with the managers and staff and people didn't want to ask managers questions as people were shouted at for simply not knowing how to do a task because they hadn't been taught it. Customers can be really rude and have a go at you for things that aren't your fault.

Customers and the team are great !

The pay for under 18s

The shifts they put the young employees on. Weekend shifts rarely change either and they often but you on for both weekend days (this is hard as a student as you have hardly any free time then especially with the times of the shifts)

The staff

The customers can be rude, we are often understaffed especially when it’s busy

As operations usually we get to set our own breaks and work around delivery times and set times which jobs need to be completed by, so it gives you independence and the managers build trust with you if you do it well. Also the 20% staff discount is a life saver with FTO (food to order) and covers everything M&S hold including expensive clothing brands such as Jaeger. Really helpful for ‘treat yourself’ days.

Clothing managers are lovely and you can really talk to them about your problems without feeling like they’re going to get used against you.

Store manager is also really reasonable and trusts you to know what you’re doing and will back you on your decision.

I would recommend joining clothing or the foods department for those looking at jobs.

The normal salary is £9.50/hour which isn’t as competitive as M&S will let on in their advertising compared to other retails. I get paid 9.70 because I get an extra 10p per hour for being a first aider and another extra 10p for being a key holder for the store, which is literally nothing for the responsibility expected for both roles. In our store we have escalators and we see some very serious injuries on them, and the first aid training practically only covers cpr and minor bleeds. So for an extra 10p and basic training you’re expected to be an advanced first aider, (luckily I’m already first aid trained), but it does feel very much like you are thrown in the deep end and expected to float.

In our store in ops the team is basically allowed to be rubbish. It doesn’t function well at all, which means that I’m stressed out most of the time as I’m one of the experienced people in ops and expected to sort it out and manage it despite not being a manager… Unsurprisingly there’s a high turn around rate of staff with many complaints coming from the fact they felt pressured and bullied by managers, as when things get stressful the tendency for managers to just be unreasonable is high.

As an experienced member of staff and doing usually 7 and a half hours of my shift back to back followed by my unpaid 30 min break, I still get most of the bashing from my department manager over things I’m not responsible for, and then I hear from other people that the same manager complains I’m constantly stressed out… that’s one way to treat the person they rely on…

In ops it also seems that colleagues which are late/take the piss/whine about others while not working barely get a slap on the wrist, they might get told off but no actual formal warnings will be put in place.

So really if you work hard you get treated far worse than those who don’t.

The Staff, Discount and Hours

Management are alright, but can improve!

Colleagues are like one big family.

Customers are rude.

Some of the lovely colleagues I get to work with and the customers who treat you with respect

Staff, pay, decent break times dependent of shift length

A lot of backstage politics, favouritism, experienced customer assistants being under-utilised

Always busy

Management don't look after their staff.

Good pay and easy going work

I never get my shifts on time and it’s so unorganised

Really nice people!
Very well organised.

Customers sometimes being rude, but that’s what happens in retail and is easily sorted by managers.

Great people
Good discount great pay and decent work hours

not enough communication
Customers who shop and M&S

The amount paid

Very rude customers and really low staffed by choice

Decent pay

Micro-managers
Lack of respect
Disrespectful customers
Breaks often forgotten about
No flexibility with hours
Younger staff often given the worst hours

Conversing with the public

Standing and too hot

Good team, never bored

Understaffed, Rude customers, got sexually harassed by other staff higher up, stressful

People you work with
The pay
4 weeks holiday

The people
Bad management

Best is pay for under 16

Very boring, long hours, 30 min break for 8 hours unpaid

Really straight forward

Rude customers

The hours, the pay, not difficult job

incompetent managers!!!

Meeting lovely customers is actually the best part.
Some people I work with my age are nice and I speak to them outside of work. Yet it’s only a few because m&s is full of oldies.

Customers can be horrible, I got to the point where I’d argue back with them. Security in my work would just watch.

Other employees, typically the older ones would never help you as you’re younger and new. They’d leave you alone on tills, try to control you they give too much surveillance for being the same level as you.

The managers can be rude. I was scheduled for an operation and my manager had a go at me that I needed time off. She moved me from her department when I returned, even though I did overtime working everyday for a week crazy hours.

people
customers
co workers
work tasks

hours - shifts

The pay

Costumers are horrible

Get to meet people

Awkward customers

The staff didcount and able to buy good feels on food

Not supported in cateet progress

I’ve made some good friends and I worked there with my boyfriend for a year

The customers are entitled and the managers treat you like children and I get so stressed that my hair is falling out

5weeks holiday

Management.
Break unpaid.
Very little security, management expects shop floor staff to put their lives at risk daily to stop theft.
Uniform that has recently changed

Up to date technology

Management

Start time, managers and some customers.

Decent pay and operations is the best department to work in, free bakery food at the end of the day, managers supportive, friendly environment and staff. Good training and would defo recommend working here if you are a student

Sometimes rushed on the job, contractors that work for M&S are pretty bad at repairing things and there are many things wrong all the time (broken doors, lifts, leaking etc.) Short breaks, No canteen for staff