shift manager

manager

shift leader

kitchen manager

bartender

J D Wetherspoon PLC

From viewing numerous reviews of the company, it is apparent that everyone's experiences vary. I honestly do believe it is whatever chain you work at and how you adapt to the role and the problems that have been thrown at you.

I have worked for two chains within close proximity, and have worked for the company for nearly 6 years taking a 2 year break to work for another company. I have worked as a full-time Bar Associate, a part-time Bar Associate when I had gone to university, a full-time Team Leader and am currently in training to become a Shift Leader. The pubs I worked at were complete opposites. One was extremely small and quiet, the other is large and busy. Small pubs are relaxing, but can feel time consuming, and larger busier pubs are a lot more challenging, but time really does fly.

Your benefits:
1. 50% off of food - you can receive this one hour before your shift, during your shift, and one hour after your shift.
2. Staff drinks - only soft drinks (including Pepsi, Monster, coffee) and they can range from 50p - 65p (the current rate for 2015/16, it may change).
3. 20% off of food for your family - providing you are eating or sitting with them, and that there are up to 3 meals within your order.
4. 20% off of food when visiting other chains of Wetherspoons - you will need to log onto myjdw.co.uk to prove you work for the company, and be served by a Team Leader or anyone higher.
5. Bonuses - but this all depends on the performance of the pub, ie. how much wastage you produce, the net profit made, etc. Bonuses can vary depends on a lot of factors, so no consistent amount is guaranteed.

In terms of flexibility, as long as you are very coherent with your communication about when you can and cannot work, and approach management in a mature and formal manner, then you should be guaranteed cooperation. I would strongly suggest sending a formal email requesting days off or hours/shifts you cannot work as evidence when you are rota'd to do a shift you cannot actually do. If it is physical impossible for you to do that shift and you give the official 4 weeks notice, given that you had sent that email, then you should be very much in the right. 

Whenever I have asked for specific days off, I have been given them. When I had left to attend a university in another part of the country, I was given shifts for whenever I came back for holidays, and this occurs until this day for other university students I work with. Even after leaving the company for approximately 2 years, I was welcomed back. Yes, the shifts can seem pretty awful when you have to work most - if not all - weekends, but this is to be expected if you work part time in a busy, social-orientated industry. The demand for part time workers is predominantly during the busiest days of the week, ie. the weekend. I strongly suggest that if you want weekends off every once in a while, then have a chat with the managers who write the rota, and if that doesn't help, write an official email, and if that doesn't work, then book weekends off every once in a while. One thing I have noticed, is if you go to the management moaning at them and treating them as if they are purposely ruining your life by making you work certain shifts, then they are more reluctant to help you. After all, running a business and meeting demands from people above them is more important to them than an associate complaining about shifts that they are expected to work, when they had applied and accepted to work a job that is very demanding, working the busiest periods.

In relation to weekly hours, being a Bar Associate or Team Leader does land you with a 0 hour contract, but if you are looking for a job with many hours, then you are better off working for a busy Wetherspoons where high numbers of staff members are needed. When colleagues do call in sick, it gives other members the chance to pick up extra hours too! Thanks to the clocking in system, you will definitely get paid for the extra hours. I would advise you to photograph the weekly rotas as well as keeping a record of your shifts and writing them down, if you should ever have any problems.

Regarding tax codes, the company cannot change it - that is a HMRC job. How much you are getting taxed is your responsibility to resolve. You can fill out a form online or call up HM Revenue and Customs. It is pretty easy to do and you only need your current tax code, payroll number (your employee number) and your NI number. This is all provided on your weekly payslips which you can access by logging onto myjdw.co.uk. This is something only you can do, so you're better off taking this particular matter into your own hands.

I am one for complaining and voicing my opinion when I am not satisfied with something, however I believe it is within us as individuals to cooperate and understand that at the end of the day we are all collectively trying to get on with our jobs and make ends meet. Wanting to go out and drink during the weekends isn't a high priority to management and we should respect that, so in order to get what we want once in a while, such as a weekend off, we must communicate and do it the official way if management aren't handling the situation properly. Associates and Leaders do rely on management as we should, but we cannot always guarantee that people will also do their jobs properly and correctly, and we cannot always rely on people to not cut any corners. However, it happens, and because of that we have the freedom and choice to either adapt to it and work around it in a way where we voice our concerns, and if that doesn't work out, then perhaps it is time to move on to another job or perhaps transferring to another chain.

Training is a sketchy area as you are expected to sit there and fill out a book and take online tests, and yes you do pretty much rely on the people you work with regarding perfecting your service etc. but it isn't that difficult. I worked one bar job (my first ever job) for only 8 months before I started working for Wetherspoons, and I picked it up just fine, and had even been awarded 100% in several of my CQSMAs and £5 cards for my perfect serves. It's a basic job that is easy to succeed in. If you want to learn, ask questions. I only know half the things I know, because I ask a lot of questions. If you do not have the right attitude and do not actually want to work and do the role you accepted, then this job isn't for you.

All I can say is that everyone's experiences will always vary, and if it is awful in the chain you are at, then transfer or leave the company, but at the end of the day, it is what you make of it. I've had my fair amount of trouble working for the company, and sometimes I still do, but I make light of it all and it gets me by. I do not wish to pursue a career within the company, but I do not undermine people who do; it just isn't for me. Working for Wetherspoons can be an informal and relaxed environment regarding the great social aspects of it, and in comparison to other industries factors such as short breaks do suck, but it is a business and their main priority is to generate profit. This is the situation for every business. Profit is needed for a business to carry on, and it is always the main, number one priority. Some management can be awful at aiding staff morale, but wherever you go, you cannot guarantee zero issues. Remember why you are at work; to earn an income so you can pay to live, pay to survive, save. Whether it's a part time job whilst you are studying, something in the mean time whilst you are looking for another job, whatever it is, be thankful you have the opportunity to earn a living for yourselves, and remember why you are there. Look at how it benefits YOU. You will always learn something from wherever you go and whatever you do, you just need to open your mind and willingly want to learn. Personally, working for the company has allowed me to discover a lot about my independence and I have become a stronger person, even if it was learned the hard way. If the job doesn't sit well with you, then it is time to move on. No two experiences are ever the same, and to not try out for a job based on someone else's experience, is very silly. Even from the worst experiences, we learn the most. Every experience in life can be applied to any given future situation, completely un-Wetherspoons related too ;).

Good luck! I hope my review helped.

Before I start, I would like to say that not all pubs under JD Wetherspoon are going to be exactly like how I describe. I am just writing from what I have seen over the past few pubs I have worked under the company, and stories from other Pubs when meeting other Staff. There are some that are great to work at and ran to high standard, which is probably what keeps the business afloat these days. They have employees that are staples of the Hospitality Industry working for them, split between all these pubs that continue to work day in and day out for the public's entertainment. They will train the new starters up to learn the meaning of CQSMA (Cleanliness, Quality, Service, Maintenance and Atmosphere) and what it is to be a Bar Associate (even when it's not their job to train people), deal with 'lively' events that break out in the pub, protect their own staff and get abused on a regular basis with hardly anything extra in return. Managers, Team Leaders, Associates and Kitchen Staff.  All that deal with this harsh environment and don't get any praise or reward unless they break their backs for it. So please, if you read this and the next time you go into a Wetherspoon? Be patient and respectful with the staff, most of them are likely to be fresh starters who are getting into the job world or some who have went through years of stress under the companies' name.

So, let's begin.

Pre-Covid: 

I would of suggested this job to anyone cause it helps people step into a massive career path of opportunities cause you're doing so much in one go and making connections with other people all at the same time. Managers where focused everyday, working along side the Associates to run the ship through difficult shifts to keep CQSMA to a high standard to get their staff the bonuses at the end of the quarter which kept morale up. You'd be rushing around with many of you on the floor/bar, working at another gear to clean tables of plates, glasses and filth. You had to be quick like everyone else, even when it came to serving people and ideally getting them served and out the way within 3 minutes. CAYGO (Clean-As-You-Go) is what people follow so you'd be expected to carry plates, glasses etc, on the way to the kitchen to scrape plates, wash your hands and run more food and drinks then repeat, repeat and repeat. During this time, the bonus scheme was remarkable when they had all the staff who enjoyed working for it too cause they had incentives like: "Drinks on Us", up to 19% profits for bonuses (which came up to hundreds of pounds extra on-top of your wages), and discounts to enjoy with all that spare money. The benefits they had were amazing and you would always be able to reap them. It actually deserved the UK's Top Employer of 2020. Everyone was constantly grafting to get the bonus and happily did so cause it would come back in return for all the hard work they did. Of course, issues were had with the shift's hours cause some people were doing 10-11 hours on a weekly basis, a 9 hour was your standard if anything but there was always something in return to show for it.

And then 2020 happened, the "Company Person" (we all know who) said what they said and tarnished the business' reputation. Not to mention printing booklets in for their own pubs to defend the company, rather than take it on the chin and apologize to the public for what was said.

Post Covid:

All the friends I made working alongside with faded into new jobs due to the stress that came with Lockdown ending, or between the Lockdowns, where they had to expose themselves, table to table, taking orders from customers then bringing it over. There were protections up to make sure no one passed on anything during this time but when they started to lift, a lot of people got sick from being in there cause the Company had no reason to keep those protections up either. So, yet again, more people would leave. More stress follows, more managers start aiming for other jobs or work other jobs in the background as well, meaning their focus is now elsewhere so they are uninterested in being a proper full-timer anymore. (Obviously cannot be blamed for that though when a lot of perks have been taken and during a time of crisis too.)

You will always find enjoyment and have plenty of fun with your co-workers and get along pretty well, not to mention meeting the customers which is always fun to lighten your day but many who will bring you down too. There will be many days of people in bad moods, and peers who are stressed out from the shift that you will get the receiving end of that stick for no reason at all. Despite their years of experience of bad shifts to maintain their stress.

The staff now are mostly filled with Part Time students, who have just moved into the cities and got their first job here or transferred for University after less than a year's experience in their own pubs, which were very quiet/less lively. And, Full Timers who might as well be Part Timers cause they work less than 5 days a week and on weekdays only since Set Shifts but only allowed for certain people. A lot of what they say on paper does not happen in the actual pubs, most of the time. Like I have said, you will run into certain Management who will use the excuse of their longevity with the company to not progress their goals. Not to mention the way their dismissal of staff can be long too. You would have to do something really, really dangerous to get sacked in one go.  Otherwise, get used to hearing about getting investigated or disciplined a lot of the time.  And as for the benefits? You won't see those like you did Pre-Covid anymore. Some have been removed.

Reality is, if you want to work here? Go for a Part Time position and look to work for another job. It is what the company is good for at the moment, just a way to get money every week into your account if you have spare time. Refuse any full time position cause you will come to the conclusion that you will be putting so much of yourself into the job on a regular basis that you will have no time for yourself, and find yourself being stressed out a lot from the environment around you. And if the Pub is ran well? Then continue your path working for them if you are set to it cause next year will be different to the industry now, I imagine.

And if you are from JD Wetherspoon and are reading this? To improve your Companies' position now, it's best to start at the top now, not the bottom and lead by example. It's the 101 of Leadership. 






I am a more than competent barman, with good references and a great deal of experience. Having worked on-and-off in hospitality for ten years, I have been unimpressed by employers on a few occasions but working for Wetherspoons is the first time I have been appalled.    

On applying for what was advertised as a full-time bar position at the Standing Order, I was required to complete a mandatory and rigorous personality/aptitude test. I received an email within a couple of days - inviting me to attend an interview. The gentleman who conducted the interview was well-mannered and courteous. The position, as he described it, suited me well. I'd assumed that he was likewise impressed because, at the end of the interview, I was asked to attend an induction the following day. 

Conducted by a manager from another Wetherspoons outlet, the induction was professional, thorough and well-natured. 

The job itself defied any reasonable expectations. Even the uniform wasn't what was advertised. A 'shirt for every day of the week' had been boldly promised. Yet, upon arriving promptly for my first shift I was asked why I hadn't brought my own. I was, seemingly reluctantly, given one shirt from a reeking cupboard.  

'Bar training' consisted of a brief walk-through and being given another member of staff's workbook to directly copy out. 

'Fire safety training' consisted of a rushed chat at the end of my first shift, whereupon I was told (not shown) where each fire door could be found within what must be the vastest pub in Scotland.   

Everything was rushed to the point of farce.

En masse, the management in the Standing Order seem to have taken short-cutting to the absolute extreme. Duty managers appear to find it unnecessarily choresome to even acknowledge new staff. They actively avoided answering my questions, either about personal details like tax, or simple matters relating to the job. 
 
Any forthcoming answers were evasive: I was told several times that my P45, at the ready, would be taken and processed 'tomorrow'. Eventually, it was revealed that I was on an emergency tax code, and would have to phone HMRC and sort the matter out myself.    

The Team Leaders were helpful enough, as would be expected, but even they were strangely impatient and terse. It was as if an intimate knowledge of the company's brand standards was expected, despite the fact that I had at no time claimed to have worked for Wetherspoons previously. In certain cases their impatience extended to sniping about other new starts, while they were out of earshot. I assume it extended to sniping about me, too.

A general sense of cliquishness pervaded among the established staff. The general attitude seemed to be: 'We're throwing you in at the deep end; we'll see if you're up to it.' 

At one point a Team Leader asked me why the member of staff who'd started at the same time as me had already left the job. 

"Couldn't cope?" he asked.

That seemed to be a recurring mantra: "Some people cant cope." 

I've worked in nightclubs. 

Busy pubs are ten-a-penny; some of the people working in this bar think they are marines.

What was the worst stint of my working life culminated on a Friday night bar-close. Having accidentally cut my hand on a fragment of chipped glass, I was bleeding profusely but unawares. A duty manager, pointing the fact out to me, was unimpressed that I was bleeding on the tray of clean glasses I was carrying. He groaned and began discussing with another member of staff how he was going to santise them, seeing as they'd having already dismantled the glass-washer. 

I had to break him from his deliberations, ask where I could find the first aid kit. I plastered my hand and in a state of shock/anger. 
 
I came to work the next day and quit in person, willing to give notice.   

"I'm quitting," I said

"What was your name again?" asked a manager whom I'd worked shift with several times. He might have actually shrugged.

I gave him my till key and asked if they required anything else.

"Did we give you anything else?" 

I took my one shirt from my bag, left in on the bar top and left.

Goodbye.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It must be that the Standing Order makes such gargantuan sums of money (up to £250,000 p/w, supposedly) that it doesn't matter how they treat people. Perhaps it is that high staff turnover means the management can't be bothered welcoming new starts? 

I was never even introduced to the General Manager; could only point him out based on assumption. I'm sure he's hot stuff and above recourse.

Wetherspoons, as a broader company, might want to take heed of a hospitality cliche, though: 

'A satisfied customer will tell 2-3 people about their experience with your company. A dissatisfied consumer will tell ten.'

An appalled employee will...

As a bar associate, typical shifts are 6-8 hours long and range anywhere from 8am start to 1:30am finish. Having worked in two Wetherspoons pubs (the first I was under 18) the general workplace culture is based on friendships and this has an influence on promotions and shift patterns. Shift patterns are generally inconsistent if you have very flexible availability, and in your first few months you can expect to be put on shift to “fill the gaps” rather than because of your strengths. If you apply for a bar staff role it is almost guaranteed that you won’t receive any bartending training for the first few months in order to get used to the environment and become skilled at working the floor, i.e. delivering food and drinks and clearing tables. 

The pubs I have worked in closed at 12am and 1am, and the company recommends a closedown should not take more than 90 minutes, but if you have an adept team who know what they’re doing, most nights it can be done in 30. A bonus is that you get paid £1 per hour extra for working between midnight and 6am, so you get a little extra pay to close the pub. 

The company procedures are there to make pubs work like a well oiled machine, and all documents about the correct, acceptable way to do things are available on the internal staff app for reference. Procedures are standardised across all pubs, which means if you can work in one wetherspoons, you can comfortably work in any. Transferring to pubs in other towns and cities is a simple process, so long as the pub you want to move to has space for you, and most transfers can be done within a few days of request. 

Logistically, it is an excellent place to work, however specific pub management can be a little shoddy. Pub managers usually promote their friends over others who may be able to do the job just as well, and new staff seem to get forgotten about because they haven’t been trained to work the bar yet, it sometimes seems as if floor staff are invisible to management. 

The actual staff/associates are usually lovely and willing to be your friend, and in my experience it is easy to become part of the workplace culture. Customers can be either lovely or horrible, and depending on the pubs location you can expect fights to break out on the odd occasions. This comes with working at any pub I suppose, however cheap food and drink attracts a certain type of people so you can expect to be dealing with problems most weeks, whether they be full blown fights or simple complaints. Customers also very rarely give tips so don’t rely on them as income, card tips are also unavailable. 

When I first started with the company I was under 18, which meant I was limited to what I could do. I could only take out food and clear tables, and could not deliver alcohol or work on the bar. This is obviously down to the law which is perfectly acceptable, but it might not be suitable for such young people if they don’t have a thick skin as customers who want to complain or argue will usually pick the first person they see regardless of age.

Pubs are audited and reviewed regularly, and “secret shopper” type customers will visit the pubs to see how staff deal with regular customers. Management will receive scores on how the pub is doing, and the scores affect the bonus you receive each month/quarter. You basically only receive a bonus if you gave perfect service to a single customer who you don’t know who they are. It makes sense that they are anonymous, but they don’t take into account if the pub is very busy and staff might not have time to, for example put a slice of lime in their drink, or food takes longer than ten minutes to arrive. Bonuses are used as an incentive by the company to work hard (and also used as an incentive for people to apply for a job) but they are negligible amounts and are difficult to get.

Wetherspoons is a decent company to work for, so long as you can immerse yourself in the workplace culture, however the pitfalls of management can make the job difficult sometimes. A fast paced environment isn’t for everyone and you need a thick skin to work there

1. First and foremost is the managers. They have no respect for the staff at all, especially if they come from another pub. They will and still are trying to do their best to make you want to leave (constructive dismissal). they have done this by changing our work circumstances to make life harder whilst working. 

The attitudes of the managers are disgusting and are brushed off has ‘banter’ when really it’s just them in a bad mood and taking it out on you and your fellow colleagues. That swear, degrade and embarrass you in front of other members of staff and customers. 

They ignore a tone of complaints regarding how we as staff are treated and then they constantly blackmail you into coming in on your days off because some lazy team me ever couldn’t be bothered to get up and work that day. But if you don’t come in and help they will threaten you to give you hours you don’t want and  times and days you hate doing just to wind you up. Our new pub manager is not a manager you can approach and discuss like adults about circumstances. If you ever do want to talk they will ignore you and tell you to go to to leave them alone.

2. The hours are never consistent but they are consistently messed up and all over the place which means when we get our rota up for the next week, the entire empires are swapping shift around and messing thing up even more. 

3.  Wages are diabolical for a man and company that worth more than £200million. When I first started, I was on £6.60 per hour and now I’m a team leader it’s £8.65 something; but now all associates over age 18 get £8.45 odd so my pay has increased by a staggering 15-20p big whoop!! As a Bar team leader associates in the kitchen get paid more than me (because it’s more dangerous) yet I have drew more blood working in a this pub thank I have working in a warehouse.

4. Booking holiday has to be 6 weeks in advance considering the rota is up 1 week in advance. Two if you’re lucky, which actually makes planning time of 1000 times harder.

5. Uniform was apparently softened so the company didn’t have to pay a uniform tax... that’s hilarious as we are not allowed to wear black trainers or any trainer or for that matter and associates have to wear these rags, that have a massive Wetherspoon app logo which is technically uniform if you want to wear it.

6. As Team leaders we want extra responsibility in order to progress so far we have not got a bloody clue what we are doing and we stand in terms of authority. We have had 0 training, 0 meetings, and 0 changes from being an associate.

7. We’ve had 2 members of staff homeless on 2 separate occasions still coming into work making the company money whilst they are struggling to make ends meet and one of whom had no choice but to quit her job

8. Head office, who get paid to sit there 5 days a week, 9-6 on 30-100 grand a year pay packet, have the audacity to say “We will look into this further as we take these things seriously” whilst I’m struggling to pay bills.

We have had no cleaners in the pub for about 2-3 months which means on a close we have to now Hoover the whole pub which one was an old cinema. Also, we have to clean the toilets thoroughly every night which means touching peoples bodily fluids and solids. You guessed it we get paid no extra. 

I do care about the company a lot and I love being a Barman but my skills are wasted their and the company doesn’t care about me or any other human being working for them. Head office seem to forget we need to live and survive too. 

Overall the the the company has nothing positive to go by. I can’t live on a maximum of £250 a week when rent is £100 and other bills are £50 a week. I may as well be on the doll.

In Wetherspoon a you don’t make money, you loose it.

I have worked for this company for many years and progressed as a shift manager.  After all these years I can tell you that this is the worst possible business model ever created. 
If you are seeking a real career turn around now this is not the place for you. If you have started at this job or progressed and thinking hey this actually might be OK, it will not be turn around and run like there is a fire!
The issues I am talking about here are not dependent of your pub manager or area manager or all the people you see day to day, the main problem here is the HQ so everything applies to every employee.
Headoffice makes new decisions everyweek sometimes change their minds in a couple of days and as the bridge between customers and them you end up having to explain why something has changed so suddenly. Information is completely lost with so many stupid, irrational decisions.

EXAMPLE:
The hourly paid ( non managerial) staff gets +£1 for working after 0000 which is a great idea to motivate them for late shifts (since nobody wants to work them and will come up with any excuse not to)
However at the same time they have decided to order the annualy paid managers ( no pay for extra hours) to reduce late working hours to save money. So all these staff that are encouraged to work later shifts are being pressured now to hurry up and finish early. 
So is the Headoffice trying to create conflict between managers and staff? YES they are because when the staff is not happy with HO they go on strikes (like what happened in london) whereas if they are not happy about their line managers, it is their fault.

This is a tiny little drop of water from a vast ocean.

Lets talk about progression:
Once you have progressed your way up to TEAM/SHIFT LEADER you will be expected of everything and every little mistake you do will be treated as the end of the world! You will constantly be reminded that you get paid more than others so you should put more of your time in to the business because the business needs you, it needs you so much that you ll have to do 60+ hours weeks. and guess what if somebody clocks on to this from head office you get disciplinary because you have done so many hours. So figure out how that makes sense to anyone...

So say you ve made it and now you are a SHIFT MANAGER you are annually paid and are pretty responsible holding cash and all that jazz. You will have a contract that says you will only be paid for 40 hours so that is what you should be doing, however that will never happen since it is a pub and you will get no extra pay when you do 10 hours extra and trust me you will do 10hours extra very often.
On top of all this your performance will be based on your staff, your staff who are generally 16-20 year olds who are just hanging about to figure out what they want from life. That means they will never have any sort of will or need to work and perform well whatsoever. So to be able to perform well on this job you have to have the magical ability to motivate a 16 year old (that gets paid a fiver an hr) to run at max capacity and perform 5 tasks at the same time.

Now I can go on and on about what is wrong with this company however I do not have time.
If anybody here reading this is thinking JD Wetherspoons can be a nice place to work just please do yourself a favor, turn around and go somewhere else.

I currently started working in spoons in Lisburn and within the first two weeks I encountered many of problems with untrustworthy management. Lack of training, being left alone without being trained while managers went out for numerous smoke breaks throughout the day, however on my legally required break which the law states ‘every employer is entitled to at least 20 minutes interrupted’ I was asked to come off mine and that I had been timed and told I had ran over my break, yet still have 10 minutes remaining. I then raised this issue with further members of staff and according to other colleagues it isn’t in usual to miss out on breaks however managers ensure they get theirs? Within the first month I was clearly being given the low end of the jobs which nobody else wanted to do, being new I expected it to be the case, however as days progressed I realised it was more a case of people not wanting to work and clearly pushing it onto the new person. During my review yesterday I was told numerous things where I had gone wrong,
1- not wearing appropriate uniform, however not backed up with any evidence. I wore exactly what every other member of staff wore. 
2- I complained to other management that I felt I wasn’t happy with training?
Should this be an issue? I think not. Not being trained is a lack on management part. So to discriminate and terminate ones employment due to raising a complaint?
3- begging for tips? Now this is one that really baffled me due to being one of the only one who refuses tips and will only accept if left for me. When asking for elaboration or evidence it couldn’t be given.  This is a large and not only hurtful but dangerous route to go down. One member of management and a shift leader have occasionally asked for tips from customers so this is making me more inclined to take this accusation and investigation further. 
4- In my interview I stated I was fully flex. - however the rota in work was changed and the day it went live I made it clear it couldn’t be done and I was told I had no option to do it and if I didn’t I would be marked unauthorised?
5- injury at work, i require surgery for my finger due to an accident at work. I’ve been told I need doctors, hospital notes, asked for personal information.... such as, what infection is it? What hospital was it? Information my nurse and doctors have made clear that it is at my leisure to disclosure such information and that without these I would be at risk of my job. Due to the way I have been treated after this injury is clearly them trying to get rid of me so I cannot take this further. 
6- member of management coming out for drinks, asking me to go on trips to McDonald’s and Tesco with him, or a drive? Inappropriate? I think most diefinitely. With text messages to back this information up. 
7- banned for 3 months from the premises.
8- I raised a complaint recently about the service of alcohol to underagers, spoons in Lisburn are one for not selling alcohol to underage’s unless the staff are friendly with those trying to purchase drinks illegally. 

I will definitely be speaking with employee relations regarding some allegations and investigations.

I worked for two and a half years at The Crown Wetherspoons in Worcester. Although stressful and tough times were had, the first year and a half was more than fun. Socially, making a whole new bunch of friends was a huge benefit, the majority of people I worked with - I adored. Management changed, and friends left, but still a 'family' type feel was still there. With the management change came a looser feel, less strict, more comfortable, but investigations took their time ( I know from personal experience after having two people investigated in my work for saying nasty things about me at work). Best advice I can give to an employee is: keep yourself to yourself, don't share personal information and be kind. A typical day at work would be dependent on your shift. You either do an open which is 7am onwards, a midway shift which can be anything from 12pm onwards, or a close which would be 6pm till unknown as you stop serving drinks (at 12pm or 1am in my pub dependent on the day you work) and then you close down bar, floor and glass wash and not to mention bottling up (unless you have an overnighter who does that from 12pm - 6am), coffee machines etc. You deliver a fast service of either being on the bar and serving drinks, doing iorders, or jumping on glass wash to get through trays of glasses, or on the floor to which you run food and clean tables. I have learned to not stress myself out on the job, I always out-did myself and tired myself out in the first few hours of every busy shift and then I had no energy left. Always pace yourself! Don't let managers talk down to you, or make you do 1,000 things at once just because you can do it all! I am leaving with a tougher skin because of Wetherspoons, I have shed many a tear from either a work colleague or a customer bad experience, but this helped me toughen up. Same with management, as I have had some bad experiences with them, but now after working there for a lot longer than others (because there is this revolving door in our work place where people constantly leave as I am doing now - thank god!) you grow friendships with them and you get there by doing hard work. Most enjoyable part of the job would just be the laugh you have with your colleagues, there are some good ones in there. I only stayed because of them, they make it worth it. Well, that and the decent pay of £8.46, due to be increased come September time along with free food & drinks on breaks! 
Overall, don't join this company if you think it'll be an easy job, its hard work and you literally sweat the majority of shifts. But, you make great friendships and good pay, decent food & drinks 20% off shift and currently its 50% on shift but soon some meals and drinks will be free! So, be prepared to work hard for the one and only Tim Martin.

A great deal of the staff are in the same boat as you. They want to turn up. Get paid. Go home. Nothing wrong with that at all. The problem is that correct training is not given to the staff that are hired. One of things that the company likes to do is hire people under the age of 21, so they will not have to pay them as much as the older staff. This results in a bunch of young people who are afraid of their own shadow and are worried that at any minute, they could be sacked. Staff are not told what to do and are then admonished for not doing it. They are given their rota at VERY short notice and management will complain if they dont turn up for their shift, despite not giving them ample amount of time. This results in staff being "Punished", by their hours being cut. The company employs a Guaranteed Minimum Hours system, but the amount are a pathetic and nom human being could live of them. A great deal (NOT all) of the managers, only care about the bottom dollar. This resultsin staff being spoken to like garbage from several of the customers and because the management are too scared to admonish the customer for fear that they wont return, the staff are told to ignore them or to "Suck It Up". In what job is it acceptable to be spoken to like dirt?!

Mangement had its ups and downs. When you have a very organised team, who have been trained properly and you have their backs, it can be a really fun place to work. Unfortunately, not everyone in management shares that idea. They will do the bare minimum and will delegate almost everything because, "That's below my pay scale". Very few people in management will ascend up the ranks due to merit. You will witness a lot of people work hard and do everything the right way, but because they didn't go for drinks with the right person or wouldn't drop everything to come in at very short notice on their day off, they will inevitably be "Sandbagged" and any progress they have made will stall. One of the only sure fire ways to be promoted is to transfer to a pub that is desperate for managers, at which point you will be fast tracked up the management ladder, but they will take their time increasing your wages, because reasons.

Rotas are hit and miss, depending on whom is doing them. When I myself did them, I made sure that staff had them a MONTH in advance. But the majority will do them at the last minute, despite the fact that they are supposed to be done 2/3 weeks in advance. There will be numerous times when you are told to ignore the rota on the wall as it is only up because a Area Manager is coming in and not having the rotas done would make the pub look bad. Why not just do the rotas then?! They will also be changed at the last minute and due to the fear tactics that are employed against the staff, they will inevitably go along with this and not speak up for fear of repercussions.

By far the worst job I've ever had. Used this job as something to pay the rent and nothing else and after working there for 5 days I'm handing my notice in today.

As somebody that has never done this type of job before I had no clue on how anything worked. Training was non existent, more of a 'heres a thing, do it' kind of program. Every single person I spoke to in the kitchen hate their job and hate the management. The management are an absolute joke. They hire trainees yet don't train them. I had some hint of 'training' yesterday by a manager in which he said I lacked common sense as apparently common sense now includes how to prepare a full gourmet dish with no training.. Whenever I messed up one of his 100 demands he would snap. Constantly belittling me too and somehow expects me to be Gordon Ramsey after 5 days where only the past day I actually got wetherspoons equivalent of 'training' 

One colleague took it upon herself to mentor me for everything despite having her own things to do while management just sit back and do jack. The one positive thing about all this were a select few of my colleagues, my 'mentor' in particular. She trained me in a way that wasnt just 'heres a thing, do it' she took time to explain everything throughly despite not having to do so and she is an associate too! She deserves to be in a much better job in my opinion.

The majority of my colleagues just expected me to learn everything in 5 seconds and was generally just a really depressing and sh1t place to work, there is no team spirit at all.

The one good thing I can say about management is about one of five managers. She was different and fantastic as she actually mucked in and appreciated our efforts, she once stayed until a 3am close to help me and a colleague out and even dropped us off home! The rest of the management couldn't care less. This particular manager is always in the kitchen doing something to benefit us, she's a real credit to the team.

But another negative about management...I received a quite amusing/disgusting email the other day from the boss of JD W citing bonuses and basic salary rises for every single staff member on management/team leadership etc. But nothing for us associates. All we are in management eyes are money making machines. And yet every single employee was included in the email!

Overall it's a terrible place to work, nobody wants to work there besides from the bonus snatching managers and I'd rather just be on the dole than do this.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Shift manager 17 salaries reported	£29,121 per year
Manager 12 salaries reported	£42,346 per year
Shift leader 13 salaries reported	£13.30 per hour
Kitchen manager 7 salaries reported	£30,949 per year
Bartender 3 salaries reported	£13.00 per hour

Working at J D Wetherspoon PLC: company overview and reviews

J D Wetherspoon PLC

J D Wetherspoon PLC ratings

Popular jobs at J D Wetherspoon PLC

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected