store manager

account manager

sales assistant

order picker

gaming manager

Games Workshop

Running a shop can be a great introduction into a management role. Though in future interviews you will struggle when they ask how many staff you've lead as you won't have any in the current iteration of the business model.

The pay was middling, but the benefits were excellent. 

Years ago there was a strong culture of fear, and a huge disconnect with how to make money in the store. 

For example; I had a deal with a local movie theater during the opening weekend of "The Hobbit" years ago to set up in their lobby with a huge display table, and demo board to recruit customers, as GW had a licensed "The Hobbit" game. They were projecting having 5,000 people pass through that weekend, where as I was consistently getting 2 demo games from the low foot traffic of my store. I had everything all set, including community volunteers and a huge display designed to promote the hobby and drive my sales. All I needed was to get clearance for my on-call staff member to cover the store Friday and Saturday night, or even close down early for this special, one time event.

I was told "No. You need to focus on running demo games in your store."

I ignored the directive,running the demo games and demo paint lessons anyway in my free time, but I was forced to start later since I had to keep the store open regular hours. I jumped our core set sales from 3 a month to 17 the next month.

The favoritism was tragically open. Once I knew a manager who turned his store into the top performing standard store in the country. When somebody else with an underperforming store won Manager of the Year at a meeting for the region. Regional pulled the high performing manager aside and told him (paraphrase to remove names) "You should have won, I know. But this guy really needed the morale boost"

The underperforming manager went on to receive several promotions. 

It seems now the companies fear of making money through running events has gone, even though it was proven in the past long before me to work when done right. 

So unlike my last time in GW there is a need to work hard and focus on making money through that work, and not sitting back running the register because you feel a community owes you their business just because you're a company store.

Even the most cursory research will probably paint a very mixed view of the working culture at Games Workshop. If this raises concern for you, then I can tell you right now that any pros or cons you will see stem from the company's unique business model. The stores are, at time of writing, mostly one-man shows. This means that you are responsible and in charge 99% of the time, which is as good and as bad as it sounds. The other significant aspect of the business model is the company's vision of the stores as "hobby centers." This means that customers (or otherwise) are encouraged to remain in the store for extended (i.e. all day if they choose) periods of time to participate in the hobby (playing games or building/painting models). All of this alters the usual perspectives on work environment and management. You essentially have no coworkers, but you will see core groups of regulars on a weekly basis, so learning to "work" with them becomes a must (since ideally, you want them to be customers on a regular basis as well). Also, as mentioned, you are the management--at the local level. There is literally no one looking over your shoulder for months at a time. So consider the pros and cons of that. Whether or not you can thrive in this culture will be entirely up to what you are suited for.

That being said, there are several straightforward pros and cons. See the separate fields for those.

Typical day back in 07 was giving about 5 demo games a day to youngsters, and sell about an average of 100$ in product at the register.

I learned to open up about my inner nerd, to show others why i loved a hobby and not be afraid of the resultant judgements and nerd-calling, to truly be myself and show others what i enjoyed, and get paid for it.

Management had it rough. I worked when there was great upheaval at the company, and policy changed drastically when i left. I'm a fan of the old management, and although gruff, rough, and impersonal, they did their jobs well and maintained a psudo-militaristic discipline to the hires. 

Games Workshop, even to this day, retains a completely unique culture you have to experience to understand.Coworkers were all upstanding. Became my friends for years after working.

Hardest part of the job was meeting quotas for sales. Proactive work helped by leaps and bounds, but there was only so many people you could sell a starter set to throughout the week. We were the used car salesmen of the tabletop world. 

Aside from that, everyone who took the game seriously enough to come into the stores and play, were GREAT people. You had your fedora wearing neck-beard occasionally, but otherwise the fact that you worked at a place that sold your favorite thing, is an unavoidable plus

overall games workshop is a good company to be with. they take pretty good care of their employees. typical days are spent helping customers with purchases of models, paints and other supplies. they train all their employees in their particular sales methods as well the operation of their systems and procedures within their stores. most sales positions are solo operations. the hardest part of the job is managing time with customers to ensure that each person is getting the best service and therefore the best product for them. a large portion of the job is spent demonstrating hobby skills and techniques both in planned in-store sessions and spontaneously as the need of the customer requires. the environment at game workshop really focuses on the creativity of the employee. each store is run a little differently depending on the manager.

I truly enjoyed working for Games Workshop and was sad I had to leave. The pay structure, benefits, and day-to-day operations suited me very well. I also got the chance to work with/learn from a ton of highly intelligent, good-hearted people. As a Store Sales Manager, I learned a great deal of business skills that will transfer well into other positions. Over the course of my time with Games Workshop, I also learned a bit more about myself as a professional in the business world. I enjoy providing excellent customer service and having clearly defined goals to work towards. I also prefer to work in teams. The hardest part of this particular job was that I was on my own for the majority of the time. I had to reach out to peers on my own time to bounce ideas off of them and really spark the creativity and motivation that made me successful at the job.

Floor sales. Company sold collectible miniatures. I had to know and communicate knowledge of store product as well as demonstrate to customers how to construct as well as paint the product. The shop also provided a place for customers to participate in a strategic wargame in which customers used the miniatures we sold. I oversaw these games as well as designed and ran events for this game,
I worked with 3 other individuals that became very good friends and helped us do our job better. I honed my people skills and learned to always have a smile on my face. Customers were my first and last priority while employed with Games Workshop. I would have to say working 5 to 6 days a week with few breaks over a period of months could put some strain on the individual. I will always take away the camaraderie with my team members as well as my customers as the bright spot to that job.

Working for Games Workshop has been a blast. There has never been a day that I dreaded going to work. Most days are fairly simple of helping any customer with purchases and questions, as well as restocking shelves. This is the only job I have worked where I felt higher management actually cared about it's employees. There have been times when several higher ups have visited our store seeing how we were getting along and if we needed help. The best part of the job is working with and around a hobby I enjoy and getting new people into the hobby. But with every job there are downsides and the only one I have with this job is some customers might be upset about a decision the company made as a whole and direct that anger towards myself or my manager, when in fact, we have no control of the situation.

The entire time I was at Games Workshop, it was a company in flux. That means that lots of things have definitely changed between me working there and writing this review.

That said, here's the lowdown: 

GW expects a high level of commitment from all of its employees. This can be a positive if you drink their Kool Aid and like the way it tastes. If you disagree with company policy or see a contradiction between the values that management espouses and their behavior, get out before you burn out. Follow those two broad and cryptic guidelines and you'll love working for GW. I certainly did, until I didn't.

If you’d like to work for a company with managers that play head games, GW is the place for you! Especially if you join the recruiting side! You will get called into a room with your manager only and have her say things to you and then have her lie about them later and present you with a write up. She will also proudly tell her staff she is a master manipulator and pry information from her staff and use it against them later. She thrives off of making her staff uncomfortable on a daily basis and has her favorites but it’s clear to her staff that she’s a miserable person and her staff cannot stand her will smile as if they do to keep their jobs. I’m not sure if her mom dropped her on her head as a baby to make her such an angry person or if her divorce made her this bitter but you know what they say about karma.

A really fun environment where you are compensated for stoking the imagination of children and adults.  My typical day consisted of running trial war games for customers who had no idea what a table top strategy game is.  Teaching adults and children how to paint miniature soldiers and creatures.  Assisting customers with planning their modeling projects, and running events for them to compete in.
During my time of employment Games Workshop had several stores in high traffic mall locations.  With the transition into smaller plaza stores, the staffing has been cut down to a single manager in each location with no additional employees.  Wages are also even lower then before the transition.  The Job was joyful but unprofitable.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Store manager 1 salary reported	$40,000 per year
Account manager 4 salaries reported	$50,250 per year
Sales assistant 1 salary reported	$13.00 per hour
Order picker 10 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Gaming manager 1 salary reported	$40,000 per year

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