team leader

store manager

deputy manager

retail team leader

assistant store manager

Home Bargains

From someone speaking with experience from having worked other jobs, working at Home Bargains was an absoloute nightmare. It was vile.

I am 20 years old, and my previous job had good breaks, everything was pretty fair for everyone, good perks to the job, and all in all an alright place to work. It was a bit difficult, but it is like that with every job.

The reason I started at Home Bargains was because I was looking for more pay, which Home Bargains offered. The mananger seemed okay and friendly, and from what she said and shown on the induction it looked like a fun and busy place to work.

I couldn't have been so wrong:

1) You get given a cage to stock the store with, with an unrealistic time of 45 minutes (the cage has a lot of stock on it).
2) Some managers were okay, but a few were very horrible and overworked you. If you're not a customer, they don't care about you, they own you so they feel they can speak to how how they like. It is not good when you work really hard and it shoud be time for you to go home, no, they will just give you others peoples jobs that have not yet been completed.

3) There's a thing called "Fill Finish". this is where you don't leave until you have finished the tasks given to you, which is fair enough as it was the same as Odeon, but like I said, they seem to want the impossible and really work you until your feet bleed.
The thing about this is, you are usually meant to finish at around 1pm - 3pm, but they won't lose any sleep by making you stay until 6pm, without giving you a break.

4) Breaks are terrible, and the company is doing something illegal. I have worked for 8 hours with no break, the law states that I should get at least a 20 minute break, and for people under 18 longer, which did not happen. In a work place like this, trust me, you need a good break if you have one. Also, you don't get to have your full break anyway because you get told to start your shift again a few minutes earlier than you should.

5) If you are older than 20, don't bother applying for this job. You are going to be surrounded by 17 year olds, who judge you just because they haven't matured yet, they act like school children. They won't try and start or keep a conversation with you, whereas more matured ages would.

6) Training was bad, even though the manager said it would be good. I went for an induction, it was paperwork for 2 hours, then shown around for 15 minutes (but not told much of how to do anything), and she lacked telling the truth to us of what it is really like. So when I started and needed training I got put in the store at the beginning of my shift and got told "Okay, get to work". What the? I didn't know what to do, and I tried to get as much help as I could by asking the people there what to do, but because of there age they sort of pointed, mumbled it and carried on what they were doing, whereas when I asked a couple of ladies who were around 30 - 40 they were very helpful, told me what to do and what not to do. For the young adults though, I have to admit, after 3 weeks of me been there they did get more used to me and help me out a bit more which made it a bit easier for me to cope.

7) Managers and Lead Sales will say how difficult there job is and how easy it is for us, they are lying. Imagine this; you are a sales assistant and you can't talk to anyone in store, as you are not allowed, and you just stock up, because that's all you do. You have nothing else to do, nothing new, no little 'to do' notes in your head to keep you going, you are just getting normal wages for stocking up cage after cage, whereas managers and lead sales don't have to stock up and help sales assistants (unless they want to) and they have different things to do, which is actually nice rather than just working like a robot. 
When you stock up you are constantly stretching, bending, carrying, heavy lifting, and it does kill your back.

8) You get this with every workplace, I know that, but there are some vile people working there, and these are the people that want to become more than sales assistants, so to try and prove something, God knows what that something is, they go out of there way to be rude to sales assistants by telling them they have done something wrong and completely belittle them. I noticed two people doing this.

9) One thing I didn't get, which I still don't get, is you can't purchase anything before your shift, or on your break, from the store. I really don't understand it. This is similar to not been trained, but the manager seemed to fail to tell us a lot of things within the workplace. She failed to tell me that I couldn't purchase anything on my break, so when I was on my break and tried to buy a Dr Pepper I got told I couldn't.

Without the employees Home Bargains would be nothing. Here's a litte fact; you think the products in the store are cheap because they are bought cheap? No. Home Bargains would actually pay more products, and the only reason they are cheap in store is because less employees are hired on shift, so they run on less man power, which is why the managers try to give less breaks. It is really hard work.

I have noticed that a lot of reviews on here are saying it's great, and fun, and they love it. And I have seen the odd few where people say the same as me. But here's another fact; 95% of the people I worked with at Home Bargains were ages from 16 - 18, the managers and Lead Sales were at a mature age. So these young people who haven't had a job before have nothing to compare Home Bargains to, so as it's there first and only job they don't know how a workplace should be, so they think it's great. It's horrible that these young people don't know they are been taken for a mug.

Now, I have never been someone to ever quit something, that just isn't me. I worked at my previous job for 3 years, and even though it was difficult for me I still powered through each day, each month, each year. Not just my previous job, there have been other things I haven't quit, and instead powered through it.
But at Home Bargains, I was there for 4 weeks, after each shift my eyes blood shot, blisters on my feet, back pain, ankle pain, only having a 15 minute break that day, after working 8 - 9 hours. I tried to enjoy the job, or even cope with it. 

On the Friday I went to start my shift (9am). We sat in the staff room when someone got sent up to get us who was in fact rude about it, we got moaned at by the manager that we were late coming down (8:59am) and that we are meant to come down 5 minutes early.
A while through the shift the staff got called into the warehouse (where managers want to talk to us), and we got told we were going to slow, and we had a lot more cages to complete. 
Back to work, I'm stocking up, I had 8 boxes of tea bags, so instead of grabbing just one or two boxes to take them to where they need to be stocked up, to get down on the floor, to get back up again and do the same thing, which would kill my back and not be very practical, I decided to take two at a time and put all 8 boxes in front of the shelf so that I can just do it. I got moaned at by a lead sales that there are too many boxes and walked off when he'd finished moaning, then a lead sales approached me and complained about the boxes that were on the floor (in a pile), to which I said what I just explained earlier, to which he said "Don't do it again". 
I'd been treated like dirt each shift I worked, no matter how hard I worked, and these little things were really getting to me, I felt the blood boil inside of me, while also upset how I could get treated like this. 
So I went on my break, and I quit. I didn't go back. I didn't care that I wasn't going to get paid my last weeks wages, no money to me was worth staying the whole day, so I left. Went to the staffroom, told a sales assistant that I'm quitting, to which she laughed to because she thought I was joking, and I got in my car and drove.
Something like this was very, very out of character for me, and I admit that it was selfish to everyone else who was on shift that day, but I just couldn't do the rest of the day. God knows what time I would have stayed till. And I thought 'They have no right to talk to me how they do, I don't need to put up with this'. 

This job was a living nightmare. The pay seemed great at first, until I find out that what you do there you don't earn half as much as you deserve. By the way, people under 18 at Home Bargains get paid just above £4.00.

Working for Home Bargains has been genuine, good honest work. I have learned a lot from this job and the people within it. I would recommend this job to anyone searching for work or anyone interested in the world of retail. Don’t expect it to be easy though, there is a bit of graft involved.
The Retford store has an amazing culture of friendly and compassionate staff that have successfully created a warm, lasting atmosphere that is great to work in. They are honest, decent people with great senses of humour that are open to questions and always willing to help you. They set a great example all around and hopefully you will learn by following their footsteps. If you have a growth mindset, you’ll fit in perfectly.
Customers are 50/50, but this is really to be expected when working in a customer service environment; the customers can’t be changed. Some customers are remarkable individuals with great stories to tell, pleasant senses of humour and are a delight to serve. But there will always be the few that are rude, obtuse and not very understanding. Simply rise above rude customers and think of the positive ones.
All the managers were excellent people with genuine retail experience and dedication to what they were doing. They are open to questions and will help you with anything if you are struggling. They set a good example in both customer interaction and respecting the Home Bargains method of properly putting products out. Although it was rare, some managers (I stress “some”, not all) had an odd culture of discouraging, deterring and ridiculing staff from going on their breaks behind their backs. These instances were semi-understandable sometimes (e.g. the delivery was almost finished but some staff were hungry), but it’s a bit rich when you are watching them enjoy coffee and biscuits whenever they feel like it. It is the sort of behaviour I’d expect from a far less civilised workplace.
Training left a lot to be desired. The work is split into two main sections, till shift (operating tills) and fill shift (unloading cages and stocking shelves). You are taught how to operate a till, but you’ll learn most of it through trial and error until it becomes muscle memory. For fill shift, you are taught basic handling and safety procedures, rightfully so. But that is it. You are then expected to unload cages (some of which are very densely packed) in under an hour and get everything right the first time. The extent of fill shift training was asking your manager “What exactly does this entail?” and being told “You’ll be alright.” And then proceeding to not be alright. I saw this teaching technique used for many new employees on fill shift. Despite this, you can learn pretty much every aspect of the job with some degree of experimentation so learning through experience is good. You can also become very competent at these aspects if you have the right mindset. The only issue is that you do feel like you are being thrown in at the deep end which can be a bit stressful.
The career progression is definitely there for those that want it. If the applications for promotion are open (they mostly are), those looking for a career in retail may well find it at Home Bargains. As someone on the outside looking in, the responsibilities seem feasible and the red and grey uniforms do look really nice.
Timetables are randomly generated. Whether you’re on tills or fill is decided by what you’re most competent at and/or what contracted hours you’re on. Also, what days of the week you work at chosen at random unless you specify otherwise. Shifts are broken down into 4 hours. If you are on tills, once you have done your 4 hours, you can go. Although fill shift says it’s 4 hours, it never is. It depends entirely on whenever you and your team get the delivery finished. This could take an extra hour, or an extra 4 hours. You are given enough days off and holidays are lenient too. Just don’t plan anything in the evenings if you are on fill shift. You won’t be done it time for them.
An overall good job that is great to be a part of. I can’t say what other stores are like, but I can say for certain that the Retford store is in a great place for a plethora of reasons. I sincerely hope this store makes it through the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The single worst place I have ever worked and just progressively keeps getting worse due to both bad business practices company wide and absolutely appalling management at the store level.

Health and safety no longer exists. Cages of stock overtake the shop floor even when customers are around and they are stacked so incredibly poorly that they fall regularly. The fridges/freezers have been constantly breaking for months now, often leaking and causing large puddles again endangering employees and customers alike. Speaking of the fridges they have not been cleaned in months, perhaps over a year at this point. There is old cardboard stuck on several shelves and several instances of mould, including black mould.

There is a distinct lack of consistency regarding management of staff. Evening staff ignore all basic tenets of the job and have absolutely no consequences. They leave prices to be done by the morning fillers. They leave "tidied" aisles a complete mess. When they do bother to tidy the spread items out on the shelves without moving price tags. Meanwhile the morning fill shift are expected to magically break the laws of physics in order to complete their tasks.

If you are on the morning fill shift you are expected to put out a case of stock every minute, therefore 60 cases every hour and 240 over the full 4 hour fill shift. That sounds doable at first until you realise that you are expected to do this whilst simultaneously ensuring your aisle is priced and tidy, as well as having to walk all around the store to put out items that are not on your aisle because cages of stock come in more mixed than a tub of hundreds and thousands. Additionally you are expected to help customers and support till staff all whilst still hitting that case rate. This is made even harder by the fact that the company does not use bay plans. You can't just look at a bay and see immediately whether an item will go out or not, that would be too easy. Instead you have to waste your time moving stuff about just to fit one box out because we don't have a proper warehouse. Yep, this company is one of those where you have to get out as much as possible rather than using the warehouse as a, you know, warehouse.

Now, onto pay. The company frequently engages in illegal activity here. Unlawful deduction of wages is rampant. It is often expected that you stay past the end of your shift to finish a job but any time you have spent past your finishing time will be taken off your pay. The manager will literally alter your clocking out time so it appears that you clocked out exactly on time. The company does not care about this either and allows it to happen, after all if someone has 5 minutes removed from their timesheet it saves the company a whopping £1.

This is also one of those places where you are expected to book your holidays immediately upon the beginning of the new financial year. We can't have any staff having the option to book holidays later in the year, no we need absolute control. Additionally if you have excess unused holiday at the end of the year, even if it totals just an hour or two, it will not be paid. Again, wouldn't want the business to have to pay meager sum to the people who ensure their success.

Finally for now anyway (might update this review at a later date), as is typical of a retail environment, how you're treated is entirely dependent on popularity. One person not managing to finish a task is an absolute failure but two people failing that dame task when they're both working at it simultaneously is somehow perfectly acceptable. It's one rule for me, one rule for you. Several staff members are made to show their socks during a staff search because they shouldn't be wearing any socks that are not black. Meanwhile some staff are allowed to wear white or green trainers (uniform policy is full black sensible footwear) and the manager feels it is acceptable to walk around in gigantic heels and a coat.

There is absolutely no proper management here. The in store management are worthless and so too are the regional management.

As a customer Home Bargains seems like a wonderful, even relaxing place to be. I foolishly took this to mean that working there would be similar. In the interview this was certainly how it was portrayed. Friendly teams working together, doing the best for the customer and creatively designing the shop floor and products...It only takes a few shifts to see the mistake you've made in signing that contract. For a start, forget everything you agreed in the contract because the managers quickly will.

Whatever hourly contract you've been given is not even the bare minimum that will be expected of you. Expect to be dolled out and pressured into several more shifts and countless more hours that you didn't ask for and possibly can't work into your schedule without so much as a quick conversation from management to see if its ok. You're expected to meet the 'needs' of the company... Which loosely translates to do what we say when we say. You're expected to plan your life around the company. But don't plan anything because if you think you're getting out of there when your shift is scheduled to end, think again! Delivery shifts end whenever they end, sometimes taking 4 hours, other days 7 hours. You don't know when you'll leave. When you're not on a delivery shift you'll more often than not be asked to 'just do this' or 'just do that' before you're allowed to go home. Yes, allowed. You have to ask permission to leave at the end of your shift (or even way past when it should have ended) like a naughty school child asking to be dismissed. Overtime pay? Nope. Ridiculous. 

And trust me, you will want to get out of that building as fast as you can after a shift trying to do the job of what should be 2/3 staff. You're expected to put out a cage worth of stock in around 45 minutes which might be doable if they employed or retained enough staff to do the countless other jobs you'll be made to juggle at the same time. Rearranging shelves and products so that the delivery can go out because you don't want to deal with the condescending response when you suggest the shelves are too full for an item, whilst also tidying up and fixing the chaos already on the shelves, whilst ALSO spending time on the tills which aren't properly staffed AND dealing with customer enquiries. These are supposedly three separate shifts. Delivery, tills and rebuild/tidy... But sure, I'll do it all whilst management hide away in the office or in the warehouse on their phones or chatting. 

The most time you'll spend with the management will be in your briefing before each shift which I truly thought was a joke performance on my first day. Gathered around in a circle we were asked to recite the companies four 'priorities', followed by questions about age restricted dates and products and covid regulations and condensing questions about 'what we should do when we're doing x y z' which is really just a way to tell you you're doing something wrong. I felt like I was on an episode of greys anatomy doing my daily rounds not in a part time summer job where the chances of anyone dying if I forget priority number 2 is slim to none. 

But surely, that 10% staff discount makes it all worthwhile. The odd 10 or 20p you shave off your shopping bill will ease the stress. Maybe... But even getting that is a midfield and a stress. Each time you want to use your discount you're forced to wait awkwardly as the queue behind you builds for a manager to come over to the till, eyeball your purchases to make sure you're not buying anything for anyone but yourself (yes, this 49p toothpaste is for me I promise), before they grant permission for the measly pennies to be taken off your bill. Most people don't bother to take it which is probably the intention of the whole charade. 

I almost forgot to mention the (unpaid) breaks... Much like the managers will 'forget' to give you them! 

Truly, find another company to work for and save yourself the hassle of having to hand in your notice a few shifts in. 

I used to enjoy my job until the assistant manager became our manager- then it all went down hill.

 You can not rely on your hours, your rota can change while you are doing the shift they have changed, you can be demanded to stay hours after your shift officially finishes- with no regard to your plans, family or appointments. Then when you tell management that you can't stay behind (as they give you no warning)- they say (shout) in front of customers things like 'You are letting down your team' and 'we wont be giving you any more overtime '.

Then your Rota can change so much during the week that you cant make plans before or after your shift because you will probably have to cancel them.

If you book weeks or days off - the management team can grant them- but then change their mind and make you work them- with barely any warning. 

Every 3 months or so there are stock takes that are optional for you to do to get an extra 4 hours wage and the stock take in the shop you work in is compulsory. Except in the place I worked in- where they put the names of the same 10 staff to do all of the stock takes in other stores (sometimes without asking) and if you had plans the night of that stock take (stock takes are always a late finish) and ask to have your name taken of the list-they will threaten to take all of your over time off of you and cut you down to your contracted hours. 

I was accused of lying about my disability in one stock take by a manager of another shop.

If you say no to doing a stock take in another store- the manager that asked you will be off with you about it and explain that if we don't help other stores with their stock takes- then we wont get help for ours- so rather than the usual 5 hours it takes to do the stock take in your shop- it'll take 7. Which is fair enough. Except that they only ask the same 5/10 members of staff each time- and the other staff that plain refuse to do them don't get any guilt trips or judgment from managers.

When the shop is busy and you are on the tills/fill shift if you're shift is a 10am-2pm then a 3pm to 7pm and there are queues - they will make you cut into your break. So your hour break could turn into a 30 minute break because you are forced to start your next shift of the day on time- no matter what the situation. 

The manager in the shop I worked in does not care whether you’re ill or not. I asked to go home ill half way through my shift- and the manager said 'You can go home ill if you like- but I will cut you down to your contracted 20 hours for the next few weeks if you do.' I decided to bare the pain and continued with my weeks work (because I was stuck for money) on the shop floor though every time I tried to walk- I doubled over due to the extent of the pain. The week after this I was called into the office and was told that I was too slow that week I will ill and I would have to go back on the tills so I wouldn't slow the team down.

If you’re a young person and you are ill in work- they will instantly accuse you of being hung over. They will not believe you and they will not change their mind.

I have been told on several occasions that my disability is causing me to go too slow to be on the shop floor and that my disability is preventing me on progressing in my job to the management team. 

To summarise- the management team have no trust in their staff (you are on cctv in the staff room) they talk to you like children - even if you are a grown adult, the manager, assistant manager and supervisor control the shop and if they dislike you- you will know about it because they will pick at every single thing you do. The work to personal life ratio is awful.

The hardest bit of the job was the management team and trying to predict what they could come up with that day to get people in trouble and not being able to have any life out of work what so ever- because even when your clocked off and in your spare time- customers will report where they have seen you and what you are doing to the rest of your team without any consent from you.

Glad I quit when I did.

Where do I even start? Out of all the jobs I've ever had, this was by far the worst.
I was totally mis-sold the job and culture in the interview; the place is amateur. 
Processes are inefficient and out of date. They are also not willing to entertain suggestions about working differently despite having lots of experience in that area.
Technology is crying out for investment; the 1980s are calling and want their tills back!
Everyone would tell you to work a different way and not say it was them that told you.
The store was filthy with no clear cleaning schedule. When there was a spillage with glass I was given a rusty bucket and tatty mop to clean it up with as there was no glass specific cleaning equipment. That mop is now contaminated with glass shards to be spread around the store. Very basic health and safety!
Along with being dirty, the place is a jumble. Yes it's a discount store and their ranges change daily based on what they can buy cheap, but store standards were awful. They also have a strange system of whatever is delivered is made to fit on the shelf despite it being likely the shelf was already rammed with the product. This meant putting out one box resulted in you rearranging whole bays and condensing othee products more often than not. One box could easily take 10-15mins so you would never hit productivity targets.
Training was pretty much non-existent; as I said, everyone shows you shortcuts and management insist that doesn't happen.
Uniform provided is only a top so you wear through your own trousers. (Most supermarket style shops provide trousers.) They also charge you for uniform if you leave within a year.
The management were "all in" when it came to Home Bargains strange, ineffective procedures and consequently would be out of their depth in other better run companies. Working too long at this place will harm your future job prospects.
The worst part is the contracted hours and working hours. They don't offer full time contracts for customer assistants, but instead flex everyone up every week to do overtime. This way when you take holiday they save money and only pay your contracted hours. For example, someone working 20hours would regularly work near 40.
They also don't give you finish times for your shift so planning your life, journey home, lifts, public transport etc is impossible. You are there theoretically on a four hour shift but you aren't allowed to leave until the fill shift is done. This is despite other workers arriving for their shifts who could take over. This meant I would work over the four hour shift, which they said you would get a break after 4hours in the induction, and be left with no break. "You work until the fill is done." I have worked for various retail companies, including supermarket food retail, and this is not how anyone else does it. It is truly awful and not good job security at all, especially when you don't know what hours you will get or how much you will earn. I really don't understand how open ended shifts are good for any employees; the financial insecurity of your pay changing daily makes life very difficult. Try explaining that to your bank manager for a mortgage! They also pay weekly, which is great for your paper round as a kid, but a joke for budgeting as an adult. My pay would also not be correct and was rounded down. Due to finishing at random times, you would swipe out at strange minutes like 3:12 for example, and the extra minutes seemed to disappear from my pay.
Overall, I was absolutely desperate for a job due to Covid-19 but I still walked out. That should be enough to explain in itself to you that you shouldn't touch this company with a barge pole. Seriously, please please please don't. 

I wasn't really sure if I should post a review. But I convinced myself this is worth talking about.
For a company that's worth over £3 billion, you'd expect there to be a smoother operation. But it's not, it's messy and with all the new protocols that the management have to follow it makes it seem far less... human? 
You'd think they'd at least be willing to pay for security guards in the stores worst affected by shoplifters. But no. They'd be thousands better off each week if they did pay out, but no. They'd rather put either their youngest or oldest members of staff at risk on Aisle One than have someone who realistically wouldn't be earning much more than the top paid Store Assistants.
Kronos is a mess, especially when your store has just implemented it. It needs some serious work, and only really works for you if you're fully flexible. The random start times are bad, the random finishing times are bad. It's just… bad.
Speaking on behalf of my management alone, they did a good job overall. You hear so many horror stories about the management being the scum of the earth, and y'know what I believe that really is the case in some Home Bargains. Mine were good, still a very childish, classroom level of drama sometimes though. Some had clear favourites, but still treated everyone else fairly.
The rest of the staff were lovely, but again any gossip spread like wildfire across the shop floor. People grouped off but I don't really hold that against anyone. It's human nature to want to be around the people you're more comfortable with. Still a good level of teamwork despite that, that had never really been a problem. If you know how to deal with different types of people on a daily basis, you'll be fine.
It's a boring job, it's not bad, just boring. The people you work with will make it or break it. Good for a first time job, they usually don't hesitate to offer work to young people (because they can get away with paying them peanuts) even of you have very little experience. They prefer you to be fully flexible, honestly your life will be easier if you can work any hour of any day.
Don't expect to get formal training. The 'training' I got was half an hour on the till. I didn't get taught how to properly move cages, how to stack cages, how to properly fill shelves, how to do rebuild OR how first aisle is supposed to be tidied. It's not hard to pick up, especially if you already have shop experience. It's just not really the best if you were expecting to be trained properly.
They tend to throw the youngsters on either late shifts or put them on permanent weekends, so watch out for that if you or your kid is planning on applying, make sure you specify when you can and can't work. Don't just let things like that slide, they'll assume they can have you working the shifts frankly no one else wants to do. 
28 days holiday a year, 10% staff discount only in the store you work in, annual Christmas parties that, to be fair, are always a good laugh. Selection of contracts, anywhere between 4-20 hours a week, you'll end up working more (watch out for the fill shifts and the closing shifts, especially at this time of year). There's also a one week notice period for resigning for the first two years you work there.
It did alright, there is job security if you work hard. The company is growing constantly. Just make sure you read your contract properly and keep on top of any issues you have. Don't let them push you around.
The reason I left was because I was no longer fully flexible and that seemed to make me expendable, they stopped caring, they stopped listening. I enjoyed my time there, but it was definitely the right decision for me to leave.

Home Bargains consistently fails to provide you with even the basic human rights that you are entitled to for simply being alive.

I have spent three years slaving away in this company as a Lead Sales (a fancy title which basically means absolutely nothing) for approximately 10p more an hour than sales assistants.

Every single job you are given to do is effectively meaningless, pointless and a giant waste of time. Every single time you spent hours merchandising areas of the store, another manager will often (in the same day) be told to move that section to another area of the store. Thus making your entire shift pointless and a waste.

Your entire point of existence as a Lead Sales is to promote sales, yet you are expected to follow a planagram for the "Starbuy" section of the store that often goes against your job role and makes you display stock that doesn't sell, but the warehouse has too much of it. So it "HAS" to go on starbuy.

The company will constantly pay you for holidays that you HAVE NOT taken, making it impossible for you to book actual holidays. It will consistently FORGET to pay you, leaving you without money. And if you ring head office about any issue, they will allow the phone to ring for almost an hour before they bother to pick up.

Senior managers spend all shift on their phones talking about fantasy football leagues, showing each other baby photos, or spending hours (not an exaggeration) walking around the shop ignoring staff and customers to talk to their mum, or cousin, or brother, or neighbour. 

When senior managers aren't wasting their own time, they are wasting the staff's time by talking to a select group of sales assistants. Often for hours on end. These sales assistants will then not be working delivery, answering till calls or helping customers and me (as a Lead Sales) will be left to pick up the pieces and shoulder the store by effectively doing my job, my supervisors job, my assistant managers job, my managers job and some of the sales assistants jobs just to try and keep the shop afloat and running smoothly. This in turn gets you absolutely nothing but negative responses and even PUNISHMENTS if one little thing doesn't get done because i'm too busy doing 16 other jobs at the same time for what is effectively the same wage as a sales assistant.

When the store hits all targets (which Lead Sales are the ones to hit them) the Senior managers get a 3 bonuses every quarter of up to about £6000 because us Lead Sales have kept the shop running, sales flowing, staff motivated etc. And us as Lead Sales get £50. And thats it. After tax it usually ends up at about £30.

This company will suck the life out of you, drain you of blood, sweat and motivation, leave you a withered husk of your former self. Make you drop to your knees, beg God to take back your decision to work here in the first place, and then get kicked in the face and told to get back to work by lazy, ungrateful senior management who have never lifted a finger besides to wipe their bottom from sitting on the toilet for upwards of an hour.

Oh and just so your aware, no matter how many times you raise these issues with your area manager, they will simply look at you as if your stealing their precious air, defend your senior managers and make you look like your in the wrong.


DO NOT EVER EVER EVER WORK FOR HOME BARGAINS.

First of all I would highly recommend staying away from this place. I’ve worked in a couple of retail jobs in the past and this is by far the worst. I would just like to say that the other store assistants (the ones who wear blue) I worked with were lovely and I enjoyed working with them but that was literally the only good thing about the place.

When I interviewed for the job I was told everyone had to do a bit of everything, so tills, fill shifts and rebuilds, this turned out to be untrue and it was the same people doing the same things all the time.

The fill shifts are ridiculous, you are told that 45 minutes is the expected time in which to work a cage but they don’t take into account the fact you have to move stock around to get things out, 45 minutes is simply unrealistic. Management make out that it’s a chore for them to help you get stock out but if you put something in the wrong place because you’re not getting any help then they moan and lecture you. You’re not allowed any cardboard or back stock on the floor and are expected to keep them on the cage but then it’s a struggle to work your other stock. You don’t know when you’re going home so it makes it difficult to plan things and they expect you to plan your life around the shop.

The tills are not adequately staffed, resulting in long queues. For a shop of it’s size (16 aisles) it’s constantly understaffed meaning the few staff who are there are having extra pressure put on them and are expected to do numerous jobs at the same time leading to a stressful working environment.

Tidying at the end of the day was a joke. You were expected to be on the tills, be a store assistant and tidy 5 aisles by yourself by 8 o’clock. You’d never go home on time and one time I was there until 9 o'clock at night and then expected to be back in at 6:30 the next morning (which is actually illegal).

The management are rude and have no people skills and go out of their way to make life difficult for you. They act as if you’re an inconvenience to them if you ask about your break that you are legally entitled to. They force people to sit on a till for 8 hours or longer. They stand around in the back talking but if the staff do it they are taken into the office. They speak to the young staff like dirt. Numerous staff members went on the sick with stress because of the way that they were treated. High turnover of staff because of the way they were treated. They expect you to work your home life around the store so you can’t plan anything and change your shifts at 24 hours notice, sometimes not even telling you that they’ve changed it. They don’t give staff adequate breaks and constantly forget about people. Staff members feeling sick and anxious about coming to work because of the management. Management get bonuses for doing nothing whilst the staff do all the hard work and don’t even get so much as a thanks.

Also would like to point out that you were watched on the cameras (which is against employment law) also watched whilst you were on your break.

Please stay away from this place, it’s not good for your health, it’s an extremely stressful working environment. They treat their staff like dirt and it’s run by a group of people on a power trip.

Typical day 
You would have to review CCTV, what would be reviewed would be decided by field managers or on the very rare! occasion you might be able to do some of the exciting investigation work yourself. 

Learning/Training
I learned a lot in the first 10 years of my career I met some of the nicest and most helpful colleagues and management and was helped by some well experienced and knowledgeable people, but then in the last 4 years of my career due to the change in management the training learning and the excitement of being in work stopped mainly due to the way the department was ran the inexperience and poor skills. The only people who would be trained or promoted is the ones who fit into their circle. 

Management 
I found the latest management in Loss Prevention apart from one, was very unprofessional towards work and towards colleagues, wether that be making immature comments about people or even customers on the cctv. They would watch the internal cctv to make sure you was working and make it obvious to everyone in the room also would make jokes or snigger about the person they was reviewing on cctv, and making you feel very paranoid. One occasion where they pulled me for going the toilet “saying you’re going the toilet to many times…. Ridiculous. It’s a real shame because I loved the job and the company but the management just made it a horrible place to work so I had to leave to protect my mental health. Previous management I found very professional and management throughout the business also professional helpful and kind.

Workplace culture
Outside of Loss Prevention it was good place to be and the atmosphere was brilliant and seemed like every other department was going in the right direction having great team work and going on courses etc. In loss prevention there was no trust, respect or fairness towards staff. The only time there was fairness was when you requested a annual leave. 

Hardest part of the job

Having to sit there watching CCTV with my back to the whole office feeling secluded and isolated, then listening to immature/snide comments about people sometimes just seconds after they had left the room and would have have to bite my lip and not say anything because if I did, I would be targeted. 
Work wise would be when you have to finish an investigation and you would have to collate all the paper work cctv and put evidence together very rare occasions. 

Most enjoyable

Was mainly the earlier years training thousands of new starters on security related issues, more regular investigations catching staff who were being dishonest. Brilliant relationships with management throughout the business and outside the business. Help management reach bonus’s. More towards the end was probably just working with a few colleagues which I enjoyed. 

Overall brilliant company to be apart of and thoroughly enjoyed working with every department. I take my hats off to The owner who made the Home bargains empire, it was great to grow up being apart off the family for so long just a shame about the end. I would say If you’re thinking of working for Home Bargains I would say yes do it! just don’t go for a job in Loss Prevention unless their is new management.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Team leader 1 salary reported	£29,079 per year
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Deputy manager 3 salaries reported	£33,344 per year
Retail team leader 5 salaries reported	£28,893 per year
Assistant store manager 60 salaries reported	£25,210 per year

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