I have been with the company for nearly 5 years, and used to enjoy it. Now, I, and around half of my colleagues (that I know of, there may be more in secret) are looking to leave. If we manage to get a break, we spend it job hunting and sharing leads on who is hiring.
There seems to have been a massive culture change within the company (I know it is not just my store, as I speak to former coworkers who are in others), and is now driven fully by the bottom line. The new contracts we were forced to sign (otherwise we would have been fired) have basically made us give up our rights to a family life. If you join B&Q, you WILL be expected to work 3/4 full weekends, expect your rota a maximum of 3 days in advance (don't take too much notice though, it WILL change with a couple of hours notice, and you will be disciplined if you show up late for an amended shift). You WILL be expected to cover 2 departments single handed (in a smaller store from personal experience, you only have to run one on your own in a large one according to my friends) as well as cover checkouts, because everything is about bottom line profitability so they aren't bothering with things like adequate staffing.
Experienced staff are being driven out and being replaced by 16 and 17 year olds, which as they have no product knowledge puts more pressure on those older staff that are still there.
The only way to achieve any sort of progress within the company seems to be unabashed brown-nosing, and actual drive and ability be damned.
I have no idea what the new CEO is trying to accomplish with the changes that are going on (although judging by the profits they are boasting about on the intranet, killing staff morale as we have seen pay decrease because of the recent contract changes, it seems to be working short term), but this is a company that is going downhill very fast. Without major attitude changes within management, both local and upper echelons, the company will continue to bleed out talent, and will lose the trust of the consumer.
