WHSmith

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WHSmith is a retailer. They sell books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery.

whsmith.co.uk

WHSmith job reviews

Showing 101 reviews

  • Best thing

    I love learning new things so the Team Leader position is perfect. No one judges you if you don't know how to do something, there's always someone willing to help. The team I work with are really good,everyone gets on with each other. Sometimes you get celebrities coming through but we don't bother them as they're just getting in with their day as a human being. Your entitled to 1 staff meal deal per day which is £3.50 instead of the full price £5.50.

    Worst thing

    We have to use the station toilets.

    9.7

    WHSmith Team leader, March 2024

  • Best thing

    Nothing

    Worst thing

    Understaffed
    Bad management
    Expected to do more then paid for
    Rotas short notice
    No respect for personal time from manager

    1.1

    WHSmith Sales assistant, March 2024

  • Best thing

    Colleagues are lovely
    It's easy to learn on the job (since you don't get trained you have to pick it up yourself)

    Worst thing

    no training
    no sick pay
    you are expected to know rules, policies and skills you are not taught
    managers only do things to benefit sales and other managers or team leaders, sales assistants concerns are ignored
    constantly understaffed, sometimes left in a store alone all day even when it needs atleast 3 staff members
    breaks are unpaid
    you never get a thank you or a well done even if you work above and beyond for them
    rotas are not available until on the day or around 8pm ghe night before, and you can pnly see it if you are already at work.

    1.8

    WHSmith Sales assistant, March 2024

  • Best thing

    I have only have 4 tasks a day

    Worst thing

    I have to work 6 days a week

    5.5

    WHSmith Employee, February 2024

  • Best thing

    The tasks are rewarding

    Worst thing

    The people

    5.5

    WHSmith Sales assistant, February 2024

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  • Best thing

    Everyday is different

    Worst thing

    Rude customers

    7.5

    WHSmith Sales assistant, February 2024

  • Best thing

    To be honest nothing much.

    Worst thing

    It’s stressful. Never have management. Low on staff.

    2.4

    WHSmith Store manager, January 2024

  • Best thing

    Flexiblity and chilled work environment

    Worst thing

    Bad management and hard to book leave

    5.5

    WHSmith Sales assistant, January 2024

  • Best thing

    The people you work with and you are always busy so never bored

    Worst thing

    No bonuses or extra pay, not getting paid when things run into your personal time, no chance of a pay rise and being basically on the minimum wage, no career progression and no supervisors

    1.8

    WHSmith Sales assistant, January 2024

  • Best thing

    Colleagues I work with , and good management

    Worst thing

    Nothing

    9.0

    WHSmith Customer assistant, January 2024

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  • Best thing

    Familiarity

    Worst thing

    Shortages of staff

    6.0

    WHSmith Employee, December 2023

  • Best thing

    The general team is super nice because we're all in the same boat against management.

    Worst thing

    There is so much of a lack of communication between management themselves and management with roles below them.

    2.8

    WHSmith Sales assistant, November 2023

  • Best thing

    get to take out of date chocolate home at the end of the month

    Worst thing

    everything: customers, team, management, lack of training

    1.8

    WHSmith Sales assistant, November 2023

  • Best thing

    Serving customers

    Worst thing

    Packing up so pests aren’t eating snacks and chocolate

    4.2

    WHSmith Sales assistant, November 2023

  • Best thing

    Other sales assistants

    Worst thing

    Managers/ Team leaders

    1.6

    WHSmith Sales assistant, October 2023

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  • Best thing

    The team and staff discount

    Worst thing

    Understaffed most of the time due to staff costs.

    5.0

    WHSmith Sales assistant, October 2023

  • Best thing

    Interaction with lovely people.

    Worst thing

    Sometimes handling some customers can be a very strenuous task.

    9.4

    WHSmith Sales assistant, September 2023

  • Best thing

    My colleagues and the tasks to do

    Worst thing

    Head office lack of awareness of what is going on, the fact that air conditioning never worked properly in the summer, scanners breaking down, management being cut so triple the workload, high expectations but not enough hours or training given

    1.3

    WHSmith Employee, September 2023

  • Best thing

    The discount
    Some of the customers

    Worst thing

    The other type of customers
    Reorganising the store for Christmas

    7.3

    WHSmith Sales assistant, September 2023

  • Best thing

    Other staff members.

    Worst thing

    Injuries, stress, poor communication, can't access systems, I haven't seen a manger in at least 5 months, the managers phone me at 9 at night when I'm not working.

    1.1

    WHSmith Customer assistant, August 2023

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  • Best thing

    Just the store staff

    Worst thing

    The customers and the company above the shop floor level is useless

    3.0

    WHSmith Sales assistant, July 2023

  • Best thing

    The people I work with and the customers I get to know.

    Worst thing

    The employer only cares about money card and machines and not there staff at all.

    2.6

    WHSmith Employee, June 2023

  • Best thing

    The other staff members
    Break team and home time

    Worst thing

    Poor training
    Rude customers
    Dealing with a work environment that WHSmith clearing has no intention of investing any money in.

    3.0

    WHSmith Sales assistant, June 2023

  • Best thing

    Variety of jobs I have to do

    Worst thing

    Being chronically under staffed and unable to complete tasks as a result
    The public shouting at you because you're short staffed and there are queues
    Being expected to work without breaks and without support

    1.1

    WHSmith Operations manager, March 2023

  • Best thing

    I work in an airport, it is a fun and lively environment

    Worst thing

    The hours I work, the amount of manual labour involved, the low hourly rate, the fact that I work harder but this is not reflected in my salary. The fact that it is extremely disorganised which has created an unprofessional vibe in the workplace. The fact that we are always understaffed

    3.5

    WHSmith Sales assistant, March 2023

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  • Best thing

    My team is amazing, everyone gets along

    Worst thing

    A lot of the roll is winging it

    4.9

    WHSmith Employee, February 2023

  • Best thing

    The fantastic teams, the nature of the job allows social bonding between the team too. Additional to discounts food that is wasted at the end of the day can be purchased by staff which is a nice touch, helping the sustainability of stores and morale.

    Worst thing

    The workload was reliant on everybody working as a unit. While it was inevitable some staff picked up the slack for others, it was done far too often due to managerial issues at the time.

    8.6

    WHSmith Sales assistant, December 2022

  • Best thing

    You don’t have to do to much

    Worst thing

    Line working and no manner support if a customer complains

    2.1

    WHSmith Sales assistant, December 2022

  • Best thing

    The Staff and some of the customers

    Worst thing

    Grumpy Managment

    3.7

    WHSmith Sales assistant, December 2022

  • Best thing

    Meeting people & gaining confidence talking to members of the public

    Worst thing

    There are some times when I have finished a task & I don’t really have anything else to do

    9.2

    WHSmith Sales assistant, December 2022

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  • Best thing

    The people you meet including some of the customers. The ones who come in all the time are so friendly and it's great to have a chat. I have always enjoyed helping people get what they came in for some are so happy!!!

    Worst thing

    They send too much stock, there is no room on the shop floor or in the stock room for everything. They send too many stands to go on the shopfloor. If I put out everything they sent then there would be no room for the customers to move around.

    3.2

    WHSmith Employee, November 2022

  • Best thing

    The other employees, we're all going through the same thing and they're like a little family at this point.

    Worst thing

    The communication, there's been multiple times that I've come in and been sent somewhere else or be told that they've arranged a holiday for me without telling me. Always understaffed.

    1.2

    WHSmith Customer assistant, November 2022

  • Best thing

    The people I work with and the job I do which is stock stationary

    Worst thing

    Post Office

    3.2

    WHSmith Sales assistant, November 2022

  • Best thing

    The people that work there are a community in their own right and it’s not overly difficult

    Worst thing

    It’s allot of heavy lifting and you need to stay happy even if your not for customers

    8.2

    WHSmith Sales assistant, November 2022

  • Best thing

    The people I work with and some members of management are really nice people to work with. Management make an effort to help with out of work issues and cover shifts at last minute.

    Worst thing

    We get sent too much stock and don’t have enough space to put it and end up with messy stock rooms which we have to constantly tidy but don’t have time because we have to maintain shop floor ,put out delivery’s and help customers . Head office make plans for position of stock but don’t consider how efficient it is or how it looks on the shop floor . I feel I am underpaid for how hard I work ,minimum wage makes me and other staff feel we are not valued and are worth only the bare minimum of payment .we feel under appreciated by the company.

    6.0

    WHSmith Sales assistant, October 2022

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  • Best thing

    Interacting with customers and giving customer satisfaction

    Worst thing

    Some employees and managers

    3.7

    WHSmith Supervisor, October 2022

  • Best thing

    Sometimes got paid the actual full amount of hours I worked

    Worst thing

    Manager was disrespectful
    Made fun of me Infront of customers on my first day when I was struggling with something she didn't provide me training for
    Wasn't paid certain hours I worked
    Rota was changed last minute and I was blamed for coming in 'late'
    Worked during COVID and didn't have proper training
    Not allowed to stand up for myself
    Made fun of and talked about behind my back
    HR did nothing about my issues at work

    1.7

    WHSmith Sales assistant, October 2022

  • Best thing

    Nice team members

    Worst thing

    Having to do too many things at once

    9.9

    WHSmith Sales assistant, October 2022

  • Best thing

    Customers have become friends

    Worst thing

    Solo working store so can’t close for breaks easy, have to wait for customers to leave and can be waiting to take break for up to 40 minutes

    1.9

    WHSmith Sales assistant, September 2022

  • Best thing

    Colleagues are very friendly

    Worst thing

    Underpaid, understaffed, head office don’t understand the pressure of working, usually by myself attending a whole floor, theft and unsanitary staff room.

    1.9

    WHSmith Retail assistant, September 2022

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  • Best thing

    I love the people I work with

    Worst thing

    Management is dire, staff levels are too low constantly, you could bend over backwards for WHSmith and they’d still dance on your grave.

    1.8

    WHSmith Duty manager, August 2022

  • Best thing

    the people i work with, the proximity of my job to my work

    Worst thing

    management is unorganised, the work is draining and the conditions are less the ideal, loads of people keep leaving as soon as they start because of how bad it is

    4.8

    WHSmith Sales assistant, August 2022

  • Best thing

    Just being park of a really good team, seeing people from all over the world.

    Worst thing

    Pays not the best but it’s still above national minimum.

    6.4

    WHSmith Sales assistant, August 2022

  • Best thing

    My colleagues

    Worst thing

    Managers and Higher staff are disrespectful towards their team, unsympathetic, unorganised, discriminatory towards staff and/or customers and extremely unfair
    Incentives are awful- ‘prizes’ for completing are worth little to nothing or are a voucher for the WHSmith store anyways
    Claim to support mental health but turn away staff from their supposed helpline
    Overpriced
    Unable to take on extra hours
    Understaffed most of the time
    Customers always rude or inappropriate

    2.6

    WHSmith Sales assistant, July 2022

  • Best thing

    Break time
    Pay day

    Worst thing

    Staff are unhygienic
    Manger doesn't care about staff
    Avoid working here not worth it

    3.0

    WHSmith Sales assistant, July 2022

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  • Best thing

    My team

    Worst thing

    Customer's attitude
    No rewards system
    Pressed to do things with no credit

    4.6

    WHSmith Sales assistant, July 2022

  • Best thing

    the people

    Worst thing

    the lack of hours

    3.3

    WHSmith Customer service assistant, June 2022

  • Best thing

    That it’s fast passed and it’s a different thing everyday

    2.3

    WHSmith Team leader, May 2022

  • Worst thing

    Being expected to do management-level tasks yet being paid minimum wage. Being overloaded with pressure from head office who have no idea what it’s actually like working in the stores. Management hiring too many college-age people who can’t often cover shifts because they have college commitments, so you end up working when you’re ill.

    3.4

    WHSmith Sales assistant, May 2022

  • Best thing

    The people, they are lovely to work with.

    Worst thing

    Sometimes not enough tasks to do.

    9.4

    WHSmith Sales assistant, April 2022