trading manager

customer service representative

manager

software engineer

trade assistant

J Sainsbury Plc.

Please note that this was my personal experience and it may largely differ from most, as I applied to work night shifts.

There is a lot of negatives present in this job. Issues with management, general organization and the implementation of IT systems that will eventually replace what has always worked fine through pen and paper. 
To this, add the fact that if you are experiencing a problem with your contract, personal information submitted incorrectly or any other situation you might need support with, you will not be able to reach anyone until the morning after you're done with your shift because Sainsbury's HR has a very narrow window of being contacted, precisely and solely during office working hours ranging from 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays.

To simplify reading this, I will break down my experience in the suggested paragraph titles provided by Indeed's reviewing guidelines and add a few of my own.

A typical day at work

Days are all the same. I was on a 39h contract and you have to switch the night with the day. This means getting up at latest 7pm (depending on where you live) and showing up for shift at max. 10pm sharp or possibly 15 minutes before the start of it. Delivery gets loaded onto the roller cages, brought up through the lifts and taken from the buffer room to the shop floor, next to its designed aisle.

Every worker is given an estimate of how long they should take on each aisle and you will be working alone, learn different aisles every night and be pressured to meet their very high expectations/impossible time limits. Some aisles will be in terrible conditions from the whole day of customers shopping there and putting things back on random shelves or knocking over products without bothering to right them again. This can cost you a lot of time in terms of restocking and making the products presentable; that is, if you are a hard and dedicated worker like me.

What I learned

I learned that dressing the aisles became optional. You will not have the time to do that if you have a big delivery or if you want to reflect their estimated deadlines. You will easily be overworked and overwhelmed, with little to no support, depending on which manager is on during the night you're working at.
I tried organizing the rubbish to make recycling faster and easier, tried to stop caring so much about making it look nice, tried rushing while shelving items. The first few weeks, since I was employed just before Christmas, were hellish. I came home with cardboard cuts everywhere, bruises on every part of my body and shredded hands. 
Wear gloves. At all times. It doesn't look like it at first, but the packaging and continuous repetitive tasks will tear at your hands like nothing you've ever experienced before. You are on your feet all night, 9 hours and 15 minutes, taking out the 45 minutes break. If you are not used to physical exercise, this job is not for you. I went from doing nothing to this 360 degree turn. Puked my guts out after the first 4 nights in a row. It happens to a lot of the new colleagues so I assume it's the norm.

Management

Management is a touchy subject. 
Let me begin with saying that everyone is or tries to be very nice and it's a good working environment. What I think happens is that managers get pushed around a lot by their superiors and consequentially get asked to push us around too. It is in no way their fault. This is a pyramidal company structure that I've seen far too often in retail jobs. Since the role is competitive, either you accomplish the job the way the supervisor, superior or CEO planned, or you can kindly walk out the door and return your uniform. This leads to a lot of managers just quitting out of stress (burnouts), not being able to keep up with the demands and responsibilities thrown upon them or them having to reprove you when they do not really feel like it. It affects the workplace's morale as a whole and demotivates all of the workers from doing their best. 
My suggestion is that, maybe, if you see your employees making an active effort to make the shop look presentable, you take that into consideration in the infamous time estimates for aisles and allow us to go slower. It's not slacking, not in any way. This change could also prevent people from getting nasty back pains, unsteady knees and swollen feet, not to mention injuries deriving from stock falling on you when badly stacked or rushedly shoved onto a shelf.
Side note: I learned that if you do not surpass shelving times given to you, there is no chance for you to progress on the job, You will be stuck in this position for the rest of your work-life without any raise or thanks at the end of the day.

Workplace culture

Sainsbury's, like any other retail shop, will try to brainwash you with their corporate goals and slogans. "The customer always comes first", which sometimes makes me wonder where they put the importance of their workers and blue collars. But hey, we are all very well paid slaves. It's a job, not a vacation after all!

This job is repetitive, redundant, stressful and brain numbing. It will eat away at your sanity and deteriorate your mental health on the long run.

The hardest part of the job

Making ends meet and generally surviving the physical and psychological wear this job unleashes upon you. 

The most enjoyable part of the job

Breaks with colleagues. You are all on the same boat so you won't feel alone in your misery.

Interview and Induction

This is a topic that particularly upsets me.
The interview went fine, it took them a long time to reply but I assume it's normal when there is a lot of applicants. 
What really made my blood boil was the terrible, terrible IT system you sign up with and are supposed to know well once hired. Previously MySainsbury's and now renamed OurSainsbury's, if you were to submit your "on-boarding" personal details even just a day past their deadline, this would cause the system to stop working and not send you any updates on your induction date, time and location. This is what happened to me.
The email asking me to complete my application details, for some reason unbeknownst to me, landed in my spam folder instead of the inbox, where all my other previous Sainsbury emails were. I had not seen this until it was too late and past the deadline by a day. Filled it out regardless and got a confirmation that everything went alright, even though it evidently didn't. My interviewer, who is usually a day time manager, called me up a few days before induction to ask me if I was attending, to which I obviously replied that I was. He should have investigated if I had, in fact, received an email concerning this, because when I asked to confirm the time of induction it was pretty obvious I had no clue about anything regarding it.
Needless to say, this resulted in me arriving at the store I was interviewed at, only to be stared at with confused looks and told I was at the wrong place and induction was taking place on the other side of town. Never before in my life had this happened to me, but midway on my detour to the induction shop's address, I had a panic attack, thinking my inevitable lateness would cost me the role.
I'm not even sure I was paid the full amount of hours for the induction, since, with the odds against me, I was forced to arrive 1.5h late.

Since they were planning to upgrade the shop for it to work entirely through their splendid IT system in a month... I am a bit concerned as to what this would imply, should there be a fault in the system. You wouldn't be able to clock in, access your payslips, access your account, your planned holidays, anything at all. 

The OurSainsbury's login website has a really terrible design that is not at all intuitive, host on Microsoft Office 365 for whatever reason and altogether hard to use. Why is there the need for 5 different applications, platforms and systems to complete induction material training tick-boxes and access your schedule for the week? Wouldn't it be easier to design a website that had few but very compact and simple sections? To view payslips you have to go under MyHR instead of MyMoney and all the other My stuff... which beats me, honestly. Also, despite your account name having an @ in it, there is no direct line of communication between you and your superiors, as this is not a functioning email address you can send and receive emails from/to.

And that about sums it up. What is it like to work for Sainsbury's? 
Not a job you would like to have if you work night shift. Day shift does not pay anywhere near as well and is only suitable for students or people who are married and dependent. Daytime would be a nice part time job given the difference in work load but unfortunately, I have a dependent person to look after and with no full time, well paid job, our apartment goes bye-bye.

Its not all bad...Ive been there a while now.  "Most" of the staff are friendly and easy to talk to, this really helps pass the time.  The money is alright, (do check your over complicated pay sllips) the work is easy enough if a little monotonous (although that was to be expected).  I do this job because currently it allows be to do the other things I need to do, but now i dont think thats enough, hence I'm looking for jobs!  If you dont want to care/think (doing so will drive you nuts), and want something casual might be worth a look but i cant recommend if you.

There is plenty of overtime available, i have been told, "if you want to work, just turn up"  that being said you can find your self on the rota for the same nights in the following weeks, and having to explain why you didnt come into work on a night off.

OMG the management. Any manager here that is even 1/2 decent doesnt last long in this place.   This is because it doesnt matter what they do its always wrong or never good enough, helping staff is seen as weakness.  The result is managers that, dont care, are incompetent or that are company yes men (or a combination of).  Management teams dont/wont effectively communicate with each other, acknowledge issues or failures.  This means you are going to face the same silly issues all the time, that said its unlikely to be noticed if you dont put it right, if you do sort it out  (because you like to actually do your job right) you might get questioned on why you took so long to do your job, but you wont be allowed to criticise.

This poor cummunication can also lead to members with in same team, being instructed to working in different manners.  Such as dress, dont dress, dress like this or like that..(Dressing is basically making the shelves look nice).  Staff get asked to "gap fill", shortly after you have to remove and entire shelf of stock just to fill the correct item that was out the back anyway! 

Most managers seam to love the company. The companys needs come first.  You are in hospital, almost dying/broken bones it doesnt matter you will still be expected to ring in sick they WILL still ask you to come in anyway.  When you return to work dont expect to be asked how you are, you can expect a disciplinary warning.

Annual leave and holiday entitlement. Why would you want time off?  
Ultimatly this is why most people leave management will be inflexible. (other than it was just a temp job)  
The "official" way to book holiday is via a mobile phone app  The app is clunkly to use and can be unrealiable and can give false information on how much holiday you have left.  Block booking a whole week at a time "is not permitted"  and will be denyied out right.  You need to book each shift in turn, making the process long and tidious. This is a management issue (not the app its self). 

Getting the dates you want off is almost impossibe, (you need to book way inadvance) you can't book a last minute get away.  The store is so poorly staffed even when work is light they are still dependant on staff coming in on overtime.  I believe this is partly intentional to keep costs down, but exacerbates with the holiday issue and results in high staff turn over) good luck trying to get time off.. That week you booked, when the request is answered, dont expect to have been granted all the days you asked for.   However, its also not uncommon to arrive at work to be told you're "booked as holiday tonight"  yes they will book you holiday and not tell you....

PPE
You will eventually be issued some uniform, it may or may not be new.  Most people chose to where their own black trousers, company issued ones can be a bit "thin".  Other than being dark there is no requirements on footwear, but I strongly recommend a pair of safety boots.  I dont understand how they are not required here tbh.  Other than the cost/logistics of supplying them.  You can get these supplied but the ones ive seen didnt look comfortable.

Glove and box cutters you really want these, even hard hands will pick up small cuts from opening boxes all night.  They will supply these but you many need to ask a few times as likely they wont have any in.  The gloves will lose thier grip and develop holes very quickly.  Kneeling/sitting on the floor to stack the lower shelfs can be painful after a while bring your own mat.

Training  this is basicaly watching videos and answering a few questions.  It takes about  4 to 5  hours it is tedious and will turn your brain to mush, doesnt really tell you anthing useful but that doesnt matter as you wont remember anything by the time you hit the shop floor.  As far as management are concerned you now know everything you need to. Although the work is simple you will need to make frirends with a experienced member of staff to show/tell you the information you need.  

You might be asked to "engage" on their own internal soical media, but not on company time of course!  You recieve a poorly stacked pallet, heavy boxes of bleach have been placed upside down on other softer products, of couse its all collasped and the bottle are broken.  Its a big mess, posting this to yammer will result in removal and censorship.  Criticism is not allowed on yammer, it is merely a place to say how much you love sainsburys.  Posting else where will probably get you sacked.

They have a "great place to work" policy,  I cant help but think if it truly was a great place to work they wouldnt need the policy.

I could go on...

They have a "great place to work" policy,  I cant help but think, if it truly was a great place to work they wouldnt need the policy.

I could go on...

TLDR They only care about ££, you are easily replaced.
They care greatly about how the company is seen, but have no morals

I worked in various departments during my time at Sainsbury’s. Prior to leaving I was a team leader on the checkouts.

Unfortunately just a few months into my new role the management restructure was announced that completely wiped out the entire team leader level of management. They offered for us to stay and drop back to a colleague role (but still be expected to carry out our team leader tasks) or apply for a new “department manager” role that we wouldn’t get due to favouritism from the store manager. None of us wanted to stay anyway so we all left.

Whilst I worked as team leader, I was expected to do everything the manager did plus more! Including covering staff tea breaks and collecting trollies and baskets.

I’d also be expected to mind the department, note take at disciplinaries, interview new staff, train new staff. All the while receiving absolutely no support from the store manager, deputy manager or other department managers across the store. They constantly complained about one thing or another and you were personally responsible for the fact that a colleague from their department  was having to sit on a checkout to help get the queues down. During busy times you’d be forced to serve on a checkout so that So-and-so from clothing could go on her own tea break, whilst the entire management team swanned about at the back of the checkout area chatting and not assisting in any way shape or form.

Twice daily “huddles” were held that only managers or team leaders could attend. During this time the only question that really mattered was “How many tills do you have today at X Y and Z time?”. Every department had to provide a colleague to be called to aid with queue management but half of the departments would always have some excuse for not providing a nominee and this was never challenged by the store manager.

Lunch breaks would be cut short due to having to attend a “rumble” (removing cardboard from shelves). Also when working an evening I’d be pulled off the department to replenish loo rolls leaving the department unmanned and queues to build!

The store manager and his side-kick (deputy manager) were both bullies and only cared about meeting targets so they’d get their bonuses. They’d both expect you to drop what you are doing to assist them with some menial task such as putting some more paper into their printer or showing them how to reply to an email. They’d pull you off your department to go and assist somewhere where you were not trained rather than spend money on getting extra staff in. If someone on my department called in sick they wouldn’t allow extra labour and you’d have to struggle without them. On various occasions I was left with just 1 checkout at around 6pm. Which went down well with customers!

The department scheduling moved to a new system prior to me leaving and it was extremely time consuming to set up, especially with colleagues who couldn’t (wouldn’t) do self scan or serve in the kiosk. It took up many hours each week yet you’d still have the upper management expecting you to be on the shop floor piloting customers to the nearest empty checkout as their eyes clearly don’t work. I ended up doing the scheduling at home to ensure it got completed in time. All time I didn’t get paid for or even an ounce of appreciation for doing.

Also prior to leaving they rolled out a new checkout system. This was the second attempt to roll it out and the first time round they allowed us a generous allocation of hours for training. The project was then pulled due to issues with the system. When it was decided to try again it, over 300 colleagues from the checkout department itself and across the store needed to be trained over a one month period which was quite difficult as many of them couldn’t use a computer and the training materials were on the computer. iPads were provided to assist with training but were very unreliable and incompatible with many of the training materials.

When the management restructure was getting closer and people were due to leave the following week, it was an expectation that I as team leader would sit on a checkout and serve customers whilst existing customer service assistants were trained to do my job. At the end I couldn’t wait to get out of there and the place has well and truly gone to the dogs since they got rid of good members of staff with years and years of experience.

Overall a job that was made only slightly bareable by the great colleagues working in the store, on the same level or below team leader level. My department manager was great and very supportive but the same cannot be said for any of the other managers across the store. A job that I probably would still be at today if it wasn’t for the management restructure despite the annoying members of management and their unrealistic expectations.

I stopped working for Sainsbury's about a month ago after being there for 2 years, so I thought I would write an honest review about what it was like there for me.

At first it started off really good. Was hired as a trading assistant for a brand new store and everything went well. Managers were amazing, knew what they were doing, extremely friendly and could have a laugh with them. My colleagues were exactly the same. There really was a big family feel at my store, I really loved working there.

The training was fairly good however it was tedious, as a good 75% of it was simply watching videos on a computer. However it was still good enough to prepare you for the job.

If you work a lot of hours in a week with different shift times, you will most likely be doing something a bit different everyday. This would make most days go by quickly as there was always something to do along with people you can talk to. This leads me onto the customers. 90% of the time customers were lovely, however you will encounter rude people but unfortunately it's expected when working in retail.

For what the job is, the pay isn't bad. At the time of writing this it is currently £12.45 an hour outside of London and is expected to increase to £12.60 in August. Not the best pay in the world, but like I said for what the job is you can't complain much. Overtime availability was a bit unpredictable though. Some weeks there will be tons of it to make extra cash, whereas other weeks there won't be enough for even a second more at work.

Things started to seriously decline after being at the company for about a year and a half. All the good colleagues and managers started leaving one by one and were being replaced with some unfriendly people, especially in management. Some of the new managers we were getting in were just rude. Constant snarky and sarcastic comments to staff and making them feel like they were nothing but a number even in front of customers. My store started to become very understaffed. Every job you had to do became a two person job. Multiple people (including myself) brought this up to management and begged them to hire more people, but this never happened. However at the same time these same managers kept questioning staff asking why jobs weren't being completed. You would think these managers would come onto the shopfloor and help, but they never did. Instead just sitting in the office drinking tea and talking smack behind people's backs.

Not long before I left, Sainsbury's became a lot more strict on the thirty minute rule. This is when you drag a cage out from the chiller and you have thirty minutes to complete it before it must go back inside. This led to fresh, meat and produce never being fully completed which led to a lose in profits as items were going out of date. Additionally management would only put one person on it to complete it. They couldn't put anyone else on there as we were so understaffed, yet management wouldn't help. They need to realise  just because you're a manager, doesn't mean you can just sit back and relax all day.

The last 6 months at Sainsbury's drained me physically and mentally and I am glad to no longer be working there. Looking bad I get a bit sad. Like I said above I used to love working there but things took a turn for the worst since all the good people started leaving. It goes to show that it's the other people you work with that makes a job good or bad.

Overall if you're young and looking for your first job around college for example then I would recommend Sainsbury's. It really just depends if you get good managers / colleagues.

I was so excited to start the job as an online assistant as I thought the shift patterns would suit my lifestyle (4am -8am), however after a few weeks of being there I realised just how exhausting the job was, mentally and physically. I was so exhausted all of the time, including my days off, as I had to catch up on all the sleep that I had missed due to previous shifts that week. Although you do have the rest of the day to yourself, you spend most of the day either sleeping or too tired to move! You then have to be strict on yourself to go to bed extremely early the night before your shift, aiming to be asleep by 7-8 just to have 6 hours sleep. Although that may seem enough sleep to get through the day, the fact that you have to get up during the middle of the nighty messes with your body clock and restricts you doing a lot of things, especially if you’re young. The management are okay, they don’t really guide you that much, they are there when you need help and are very pleasant; although they are very patronising and almost belittling when it comes to your IPH (items per hour), and cause members of staff to feel uncomfortable. The iph rate is based off of your total shops that shift, which is ridiculous as some shops take a lot longer than others to complete (such as a frozen shop), meaning that if you are given 6 frozen shops in a row, your iph will be significantly lower than if you were to be given 6 chilled shops; an inaccurate and utterly stupid way to measure your ‘progress’, especially in comparisons to other members of the staff. Half the staff there spend their time dawdling, whilst the other half run round for the duration of the shift trying to achieve a high iph, in order not to be scrutinised, however it always seems to be the ones who put the lost effort in, often the new starters, who get penalised the most. When you first start the job they explain to you that you are given a probation period, essentially to prove that you are good enough to work there; i.e reaching the iph target of 175 each shift. However for a lot of new starters, this probation period is extended due to not reaching this target consistently (each week), taking no consideration for the different factors that may affect this score; such as a busier shop, lack of bags, heavy trolleys, and  issues with the handset. The heavy trolleys make this job a lot more difficult, as the more items you have the heavier the trolleys get, meaning that you aren’t able to move as fast. However this is not taken into consideration, and I don’t believe that they treat everyone fairly when it comes to their IPH and probation period. The only good thing about the job is the pay and staff, and the fact you can pick and choose when you want to do overtime (although one member of management is quite forceful when it comes to this)All in all if you are a night owl this may be a good job for you, however I considered myself to be one and soon realised that this job was just draining the life out of me! You can make it work around your life, eg uni, college, childcare due to the early starts, but just be prepared to be tired for the rest of your life!! 

I worked in two different locations. Working at Sainsburys was very frustrating for me. I didn't find many advantages. There are many disadvantages. There are always a small number of employees, also at weekends where there are many more customers. Equipment (stools, safety knives, uniforms, devices to check prices and availability of products) was very often missing or out of order.

Sainsburys doesn't pay for breaks, as if staff do not deserve it for their hard work. Managers seem not to be professional (unskilled and uneducated), often arrogant and selfishly having a problem to say hello to their employees (this also applies to store managers). Often you  feel like a slave rather than  a valuable employee.

The hourly rate in London is low. Also, if you do overtime, you don't even get a penny more. It is difficult to find motivation and it is difficult to work among people who are unmotivated, complaining and dissatisfied. I see a ten percent discount on purchases excluding alcohol as a slap in the face.

The company spends a lot of money on campaigns and advertising to show how fantastic the company is and it  has nothing to do with reality. I would like them to show commitment to care for  their employees.

For the 150 year celebration, employees received a packet of the cheapest tea and biscuits. it did not cost the company more than 20 pence. This is how the  company showed the importance employees are to them. Personally, I didn't accept the gift because it insulted me. Also, some customers got the same "gift", which they mostly put  in the food bank baskets.

Customers are asking for items  all day long, which can be quite bothersome. Not everyone is nice. They will ask about prices and availability of products but unfortunately you will not be able to help them because the company does not provide any electronic stock checking devices for staff. You will be criticised by them and faced with their dissatisfaction.

Rather than reduce the price of products, the amount of products and food that is thrown away) is shocking. I  do not understand why all unsold sweet buns, pastries, muffins go to the trash every day and not to the canteen for employees, for example.

As with most businesses, Christmas time is extremely busy. Managers expect us to work longer and do extra shifts, but the staff will not receive anything for Christmas; the most busy time in the whole year! You can't even expect a bar of chocolate from the company.
You can feel more like a slave rather than a valuable employee.

Most managers are arrogant, uneducated and untrained. 

We were informed by managements that is it would not be possible to take a day off in December. The company earns millions during this period, but employees receive no reward. It is unbelievable how a huge company with such profits treats its employees.

Money is the most important thing to Sainburys ; much more important than employee or customer satisfaction. Be ashamed. I can't recommend working for this company, Unless part time and temporarily when you are desperate.

I think experience will differ between stores for sure. Practical training is given by other drivers, my experience was quite positive in training I got on well with the trainer and felt fairly well equipped to go out alone. I liked the other people I worked with - the GAs especially were the backbone of the operation. When all goes to plan the job is great, customers are generally friendly and you're essentially just doing 5-10 mins of driving sandwiched between manual handling of grocery crates.
On to the downsides - my main difficulties were with the days where not everything goes well. There is essentially no leeway for you to be behind on your timings. Deliveries are tightly packed in to a slot many with the first being at e.g 9:01 and the last (potentially the 6th) being at 9:59. Therefore a setback (often due to traffic or refuelling or other issues on delivery like improper loading or spillages) can set you back just a few mins and leave you delivering to a customer late. This leaves you vulnerable to a bit of abuse from customers. This also just prolongs you then being late for every subsequent delivery. You then have completed a shift for much longer than you had thought you would be that morning. 
Another issue is about finding toilets. You often have 4 hours of deliveries before a break in which time you may risk making deliveries late if you decide to make a toilet stop. This is also sometimes impossible if you are in a rural location delivering. 
My last issue was simply with the management. There were far too many managers and it was unclear to who you were to report to or go to with questions. They were often unhappy and would lash out at staff when staff got in the way of the managers hitting their own KPIs. I will credit them to having practical organisation on the day but a lot of this was reactive problem solving as opposed to proactive. This was also the case for scheduling and the administrative side. Schedules were poorly written out not taking into account any requests given before the time. Myself and others often had to have multiple conversations in order for a swap of shifts to happen. No doubt I saw the level of stress this had on other drivers who had commitments with their children or ill family members. 
Another issue is sacrificing a wage when you are ill and cannot work that day even after 6 months of working for a company. Hopefully the new Employment Rights Act can do something about that. 
In conclusion, the job is acceptable to some who don't have too much of a life outside of work and who do not get emotionally invested into their work. By far the best part was the other people I worked with, they were brilliant and were the ones to listen to me and to help me with any problems. Yet the job took its toll over time with issues of communicating problems to managers who would essentially say 'leave it with me' and then forget. So arguably take a chance on a store and use the probation to decide if the managers seem okay. I can't speak for others in other stores, they may get on better. 


Worked for sainsburys northampton, temp 1 month, they refuse to make contracts so they hire temp 1 month, and after 1 month next one! We had everything from payment problems to beeing sent to work ar -25 manual job even if you say you cant! The trucks we had were closed cabin and warmed, the last 2 weeks had to be lucky to get a truck so what they said was you work on open cabin or go home but told them im not someone who can stand in cold. The last week i was there was eastern, was forced to work on eastearn even if my religion wont allow, dont belive in church but believe in God and never here someone from where o come from to work on eastern, this is called religion discrimination, anyway was sick because was put to work in cold and worked 4 days that week,, 1 day was sent home because just camed from sick leave and was asked to work at -25, and there had to get payed 3 days or 4 because wasnt my fault as didnt had a truck and 2 days bank holiday or holiday  but last payslip instead of 780 got 150!  We were to many drivers but we were all kept till the end, work what we give you or go home is what they said, instead of letting me go home to look another job! The drivers had an agreement with morning shift so no mater what i did i didnt get a truck as they were occupied already! the last 2 days same thing no truck work in cold freezed but said i stay because need money, big mistake as i was sick 1 more week could not go to work after, knew i had to get money but i didnt get them, now stay here with 150 pound for 1 month, dont have from where to take 200 pound to insure my car so cant drive to work! Had been allright if they let me go home instead of keeping me and cant work as im a driver and dont stand for cold!!!! Did they get it what i said to them? Of course not , i got payed the last week only the days i had a scanner and scanned , 1 day, i told them then let me go home they said, no stay anf freeze, i did it and im in serious problems now as cant work and didnt get payed! They promised us the money we spend on petrol, week after week been there few times a week and asked about that money and got told the payment dont go on payslip but we solved it till tonight the money are there, then day after day we hear same thing! After 3 weeks and half got it payed finnaly after was sick but they took the money away on my last payslip and lot more then that! My colleague worked 60 hours a week and they got payed for 37 they needed more then a week til they get theyre money back! I think what happened was they seen is to much money what they have to pay  , about 1050 brutt a week and they tried not to, after seen this i gaved them revenge and was sick right on eastern had to stay home so they payed my petrol so i go  1 more week so they dont pay me!  They will be sorry for this they didnt had to keep me and not pay me jobcenter wont be happy but they tried with every single one of us!

Of all the jobs i have worked this company was by far the best in terms of perks. The pay was way above min wage and other companies, 10%, 15% and 20% discounts in stores and Argos so was a great help with food shopping and christmas shop for my little ones. 4 weekly pay i can say sainsbury's was the best company i have worked for

In terms of the job, a shopper its good for hours before the school runs but its just a job, part time , no room for advancement, overtime but that's another day of coming in at 4am or staying on with no notice. If you're happy to just have a job and thats it then its good. Any promotions in the department will mot be advertised it will be mentioned quietly to the favourites and they will then have it. 

Personally i found this job soul draining, targets are ridiculous . Shoppers are blamed for every issue that arises in store ( issues that are out of our control) and have more workload added that isnt in your contract but its to use your labour on shift to help mainain shopfloor instead of hiring more staff. Fresh products that just came into delivery but go out on same day the customer then complains - you guessed it, shoppers fault.  Empty cardboard left on the shelves by the twilight team (9-1am) we get the blame at 8 am for leaving it. If totes are in use as drivers haven't scanned them as empty you'll be using your iph time to sort it and again - shopper is at fault.  When you bring issues to their attention they'll ignore and when that issue escalates they will act like they had no idea and again push the blame on shoppers to avoid being scolded by their manager

The bad part - as always good staff don't quit good jobs they quit management and this is exactly that. If you're not part of the clique then don't bother pushing yourself and stressing over hitting and smashing your daily iph. It is the perfect hours to work part time but with so much negativity it doesn't outweigh the good. Very low moral on shift, toxic work environment- if you're a favourite you can stand around chatting, do the bare minimum and nothing if not they are on your case even if youve exceeded your iph for the morning.

If they hire 4 people, by the end of the week there will be maybe 1 left or 1 no showing. New people don't stay as they soon see the red flags om their first few shifts. Again, it's a shame because not all sainsbury's departments are like that but when you have the bully school mother's working with you it can get negative. It wasn't always like that but with management that are toxic then it's allowed. Having you stay on and never paying you for the break that will be deducted from the system. Free labour 

Holiday - i would say its decent but due to having low staff if you book a week off one day AlWAYS gets declined. Want a weekend off? No staff it'll get declined. Not all departments will be the same, just like every store is different. 

If you have good managers the department will be a lovely place to work. 

A typical day at work involves a lot of customer interation, and believe me its different behind the till! EXPECT RUDE CUSTOMERS along with good, but no matter what you think (or want to say) my advice is DONT SPEAK YOUR MIND - MANAGEMENT DON'T SUPPORT YOU against customers.

I learned that as simple as the job roles can be in Sainsburys, its INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL, the BAD ADMINISTRATION was a constant nightmare, the requests to work later hours after you'd finished were constant and if you are dissatisfied with your department then changing your roles takes years - I know because I've done it.

MANAGEMENT were a pain here and the cause of a lot of stress, the bad administration led to CONSTANTLY CHANGING BREAK TIMES where one day you might be asked to take your break after an hour into the shift, and another day it might be five hours into your shift when you were really getting peckish and asked to go on break only to be told 'right yeah, just give me five minutes' which means you'll be waiting at least 30 minutes before you have to remind them again and they say 'they forgot' - you get the idea?

Also when it came to support, as I said earlier, forget it. They can SAY THEY'LL SUPPORT YOU as much as they like - you can be sick, you can be having a crisis, it can be your friends engagement but IF YOU CAN'T GIVE THEM MORE THAN A WEEKS NOTICE THEN FORGET IT.

The co workers were actually really good people, they were just like anyone you would meet day to day - because they were! But largely you can get on with all your co workers because they're all in the same boat as you and they all understand that,

The hardest part of the job was probably when the novelty of the job wore off and you had the days where you got up and asked yourself what the point was?
You feel like you're forced to be someone your not when you work in retail - you have to smile at every single customer in the shop that you meet, even when they're complete strangers or else you'll get TOLD OFF FOR NOT SMILING. Yes I'm serious - they will tell you off if they catch you looking like you aren't happy to work there.

And ask yourself this before you apply for the job - if you weren't in a uniform then would you really say 'thank you. Have a nice day' and pretend to be happy about someone who literally has been complaining and swearing to you because they can't find something in your shop like its your fault?

The only upside to Sainsburys is the staff around you. But you aren't there to socialise, you're there to work.
If you can handle high stress, poor administration and feeling like you aren't appreciated by the management for what you do, then apply away and good luck to you.
Otherwise I would think very carefully about making a career at SAINSBURYS a long term job.

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