customer service representative

retail sales associate

sales lead

stocking associate

retail sales leader

WHSmith

A typical day when I work there I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. Drive to work spend 20 plus minutes getting through security to then clock in at my store. I would spend the next 14 hours in a store alone, making sales and attempting to manage. 

On average I would work 56 hours a week salary for nearly a 1000 hours a year unpaid because I was salary. Anytime we would hire somebody to reduce my hours something would occur and someone else would be let go or find a new job.

We were not allowed to overstaff for proper coverage unless we took hours away from our existing employees reducing our full-time employees down to part-time. This would also reduce any possibility of overlap and coverage for breaks.

In the 4 years after covid the closest thing I had to a vacation was a hospital stay and jury duty. 

Since my resignation the hiring restraints have been lifted and my replacement was offered over 25% more than I was making. 

You will not be valued by this company. There are great people here but so many have been beaten down into complacency. Not realizing there's so much better out there.

The airport has so many other options for employment if you want to work in the environment but if you're looking for a sales job that pays commission. You can make a lot more anywhere else. 

Outside of the day-to-day struggle of working at the locations, the company as a whole also does not care about its employees and really only does the surface level things a business is supposed to such as email newsletters about holidays and the Mass market birthday cards. 

I truly miss what this company used to be as I thought it would be a place I could see retiring with but they would as soon run me into an early grave then to see me retire. 

And before I forget, the prices are so inflated. Even with the employee discount, you're still spending more on the product then you would just buying it full price from any other store. So even if you love electronics, just buy it directly from the manufacturer. 20% off some products with many exclusions.

401k is 50% of the first 4% takes 5 years to get fully vested.

Door raise will average between 1.6% and 3% And the more you're paid, the lower the raises

Health insurance is fine. 

PTO accruement based on hours work not that you'll get to use them. I had so many hours banked that I couldn't get anymore. 

There are so many restructures in the districts and with upper management that you will probably not have the same boss more than a year. Coming back from covid. I had 13 manager changes.

If you have worked for this company in the past, chances are your favorite bosses are gone. They went through a huge restructuring where they fired everyone and MOST the people they kept... I'll just leave it there.

I’m not going to lie this is one of the worst jobs I’ve had in a long time. Management? Not great people skills. I genuinely believe great managers are proven when you see how they react to you making a mistake, or doing something wrong. When you’re having a tough time as an employee and maybe you’re late twice in one week because you have external things going on. How a manager responds in those kinds of situations really let’s you know the kind of person they are. I truly believe the management team there just aren’t about their people, it’s about the money and the store and if it opens on time. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the importance of a store being opened on time, especially in an airport. However, again how you address me as an employee when I make a mistake is equally as an important, and I never felt respected there or heard. Also it’s pretty boring. I spent majority of my time literally just standing there. It’s not a lot of recovery because it’s a tech store everything stays locked up. Not like you can clean because they don’t really keep cleaning supplies anywhere to do much. Maybe dust which takes all of 5 minutes. They make you stand at the register and do your training, which to me is counter productive if you really want me to be engaged and retain this info and not just skip through. You’re not allowed to sit, like at all, even if you haven’t had a customer for 5 hours. There’s no work/life balance because of the hours and the fact that they’re understaffed and getting call outs so they always need people for one reason or another. And there’s always drama in management. I say get the money you need. But long term it’s a very unhealthy work environment for anyone beyond what I’ve listed. 

my onboarding process was sketchy and there was a lot of red flags going into this. I was excited about this new job at first, but after my first week it became apparent that the company wasn't as good as I thought it was. being in the DIA, I was assured that it would be a typical job that was really corporate like walmart. I was mistaken.

the training was spotty and I didn't get a lot of details about how they do everyday things. I did work at walmart for a year so I was familiar but I didn't get a good grasp on their process. if I made a mistake, I wasn't talked to about it but instead my mistake was posted in the company chat. it didn't feel like my success was important to management or the company.

I was also disappointed in their break/lunch system. its really hard for you to get a 15 minute break here. you really need it sometimes because of how long you have to go without sitting. the place is understaffed and they won't allow you to put up the "be back soon" sign if you need a break. the lunches are unpaid 30 mins, but I usually got my lunch 2 hours later than scheduled. usually around the 6 hour mark of me being there. that usually lead to me not getting my last 15 minute break. this impacted my joints in my knees and feet a lot. 

the pay is good for Denver CO, $20 an hour. you can also get A LOT of overtime if you'd like. you just have to be adjusted to standing up for hours with minimum breaks. management has poor communication skills and a lot of the time, information is telephoned/scrambled. I feel like this is a good temporary job while you're still finding a better one. 

The managers exhibited a combination of laziness and strictness when it came to granting emergency or personal time. During a family emergency, I made the difficult decision to quit in the middle of my shift as they refused to allow me to leave. Unfortunately, instead of showing concern for my family's well-being, I was accused of dishonesty. I rarely left early unless explicitly instructed to do so to accommodate overlapping schedules. The high turnover rate among new hires was a direct result of the poor management and training methods employed. Although there was one manager who was more understanding, her presence was minimal. The expectations placed on employees were disproportionately high considering the compensation offered, and there were instances where lower-level employees were burdened with management responsibilities. Despite being repeatedly promised a promotion, I patiently waited for two months only to be left disappointed without any advancement. Additionally, the quality of the employees hired often fell short, leading me to shoulder the majority of the workload in the store. Due to the scarcity of hired staff, it was challenging to take breaks, and most days I found myself running the entire store alone. Furthermore, the workplace environment was marred by unprofessional gossip and conversations. Management would engage in negative discussions about other employees, causing me to question the validity and integrity of their remarks about me as well.

On the  surface this is a terrific company. It is growing  and  expanding  with    seemingly  loads of opportunities  for advancement. After a super fun and informative  Orientation (with lunch and snacks) it went down hill  from  there. I got three training  days and told your  on your  own  for a week  while  the SM went on vacation. I was told how  to  do things  once. I constantly  had to have a notebook  in my hands to capture what my SM said. Asking questions  or asking  to repeat was greeted  by  an eye roll. Most of the information in the Policy and Procedures  manual was outdated. I was told not to waste my time with  that or the Employee  Handbook. For instance, the dress code is completely  different  from  what  people  actually  wear. After 3 weeks I was training other employees  when I  barely  new my job. About all I had down was the register and company  history due to the great Orientation. After about  3 months  the SM would  leave  the  store after chatting me in. She would  be  gone for hours and  then  then come back  in time  to  clock  out  with  no explanation  as to where  she had been. The Associates had a base pay + commission. Only one of them really understood  when  commission  would  apply. The goals  were so high it was close to impossible  to  earn commission  on their  sales. The "Commission" also allows  MRG to not pay cost of living raises. So the  only  way  to  get  a  raise  was if the federal  government  raised the minimum  wage. The team of associates I worked  with  were all really nice  and warm. This company  chooses good  people, and then leaves them with  SM's and DM's that are just collecting a pay check.

A typical day at work, was making sure that most the locations were opened on time, touch base with opening staff, check in with ASM to review daily shift assignments and sales goal, review sales statistics report/file, file daily receiving paperwork per location, checking and responding to emails, process deposits at each location, walk thru visit to each location etc. Repeat most of the processes for 2nd shift. The company/management had no knowledge of airport retail, lack of transparency to their ground teams, which contributed to the downturn of poor product selection, a huge decline in sales, low employee morale, and the overall trust and integrity of the brand suffered. Management did not allow the managers to operate within the normal means to meet the needs of the business.  Alot of unnecessary daily paperwork, reports, emails, which prevent the managers from coaching and developing their teams. The hardest part of the job was the lack of trust with upper management, who evaluated an employees performance based on here say, not on facts, interactions and actual observation. I made everyday at work phenomenal. I had a strong passion for what i did, my team, the stores productivity, and the overall work environment in the airport.  The best part of the experience was the opportunity to work with a  great company the predecessor of MRG, and being apart of the airport culture and community.

Good enough for a first job. That's about it. Everything is good to be honest, people are great, its a fun and relaxing environment even during busy periods, and their system is easy to learn. HOWEVER, for the amount of things you do, the pay is just horrible. Over 18 and on £6.80 an hour. It just isn't livable especially when you're part time. Luckily they easily provide overtime and managers are nice - however, often young and inexperienced. In the year and 8 months I've worked there I've had bout 2-5 different managers, 90% of people I started with have long gone. I feel they in a way exploit hiring young people to pay them as little as legally possible. I'm now on a hunt for bigger and better, and the experience from working here has already bagged me a few interviews. 
Weirdly, I feel sad about possibly leaving soon, the regular customers, the nice colleagues and leniant managers... OH and really good working hours.. I've been offered a manager job at another place for £11 an hour, which is quite a step up from £7, however the hours are 6am onwards... At WHSmith I never started before 8:30, and never finished past 5:30, it is ideal. I would stay in a heart beat if the pay was better. 
OH lastly, the breaks are also good, unpaid unfortunately, however if you work over 4.5hrs you get a 30 minute break :)

Typical day at work for me was completing all assigned admin tasks and any other busy work they could give me. Management had zero communication skills and were actually intimidated by my skills. The assistant buyer could not engage with me about any constructive criticism. Instead that person would say I am doing great and tell the buyer a completely different story. When the buyer would meet with me one on one, that person would also inform me I am doing well and be 100% lying to me. No documented formal training was accomplished in my short time there, but they will hold you to a perfect standard, while the assistant buyer and buyer will make a ton on mistakes. The VP of that division is a tool in my opinion, instead of talking to the person she hired, she will just follow blindly what the buyer will say. Oh and if you get the pleasure of being terminated after a month, HR which said you would get an exit interview to better improve the overall process, well they are lying too!

If you enjoy working with poor management then MRG is perfect for you. If you enjoy working for a company that properly trains their employees and takes care of them, the run away from this company!

The management is terrible. From Corporate to DMs and store managers. I’ve never ever had a manager who talks about associates behind their back like I did here. Very inappropriate things at that. They may say there’s an “open door policy”, but there is not one person in this company I’d feel comfortable approaching. I have never  gotten as much hate mail before. There is a “$300 sign on bonus” supposedly after 90 days that I’m still fighting to get. I feel like I will have to fight for my PTO as well. I ended up leaving the company after about 11 weeks. I was working at an airport and my manager expected me to get off at 1030 pm and be back at 5am with an hour commute on each side.  They plain do not care about balancing your work and personal life. When I got hired, I put full availability which was a huge mistake. People were hired under my and got weekends and evenings off. It took 10 weeks to be scheduled off a Sunday.  I wasn’t allowed to change my availability. I never ever felt supported and rarely respected here. It just became too much for only $17/hour, especially as a supervisor. The environment is the opposite of fun, there really aren’t any incentives for people to want to work here. 

Please do yourself a favor and don't work here, there is a high turnover rate for a reason. Management will treat you poorly, and will speak to you in such a condescending, disrespectful tone. They don't approve of days off that you request weeks in advance. They're even too short-staffed to even give breaks. They'll put you on a shift, without even notifying you that they added it to your schedule. They all play favorites, and won't hold the correct one responsible. They micromanage everything, and will speak to you in such a disdainful way if it's not done the way they want it, it needs to be absolutely perfect. The only good thing I can say about this job was that the job itself was simple just like any other retail job. But, you receive multiple boxes of shipment that they expect you to do by yourself. And as I said earlier, they hold very high standards even though you're by yourself. You'd think they would've changed the way they run things, because of how many people they're losing each week, it's literally hilarious. But, I guess the pride and ego runs high (especially with management)! Also - extremely toxic workplace. So, please steer clear of this place! If you want to work in the airport, don't choose this shady company!

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