Low pay. They pay little more than minimum wage. The bonus is a stunt to fool the gullible public into thinking we are well paid. It works out to about an extra months pay, but when the pay is so low anyway, it's more like a balance of wages. If you leave before it's calculated, you get zero. Pay is allegedly based on your performance, but you never get an appraisal or if you do, management will simply dismiss your reasons for extra pay. It is worth noting that even with the 'bonus' most are on less than the living wage.
Progression: Non existent unless you are a certain type of person favoured by management. Hard work is not the key here. Who you know and what you say most definitely is. It's extremely clicky and political. If your face doesn't fit, be prepared to stagnate and be forgotten about. I've seen some of the laziest most incompetent people elevated to positions they never deserved or worked for.
Management: Poor to utterly incompetent to downright bullying. Many managers have been doing the same role for years and as such are far too comfortable. As a result chances of progression for others further down the chain is made even harder bordering impossible. The pay for management is also derisory so one would question why you would want it anyway coupled with pressures of hitting the right results.
Shifts: Obviously due to the nature of the company, it's shift work. So it's very early starts and late finishes. Not advisable if you want a social life or spend time with family. Rotas are always done last minute, so full time staff often don't know from one week to the next what they are working. Worth noting though that many managers seem to have the pick of the hours/days they work rather than working varied shifts like the rest of the staff. Two sets of rules apply almost universally for everything in Waitrose, one for management and another for everyone else.
Sad to say but the company has largely become like any other corporate giant. Might be bearable if you are a student looking for some pocket money, but to anyone else this is not a job and will drain you.
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