truck driver

warehouse worker

merchandiser

customer service representative

sales associate

Next PLC

I'm the person who wrote Lies, Lies, Lies and I'm here to give an update.

My contract is supposedly due to end next Saturday and working here has been extremely tiring. First two weeks were okay, my manager was very nice and she asked me what I knew and what I didn't, however, I was put on front by a different manager on my very first shift but had someone show me how to use a radio and how to open the shutters. The team talks in the morning and absolutely useless and all they are doing is telling you how much money they're losing. I did get in trouble for talking to another member of staff while I was working but was confused on my second shift because the two girls I was working with kept sneaking off to the stock room or formal wear to have a nice sit down and chat leaving me to deal with a lot of customers on a Saturday on my own -  they were nice girls though.

Second day of working I was put on shoes and was given a tour of the stockrooms and everything and she was a very nice girl, if you're lucky enough to come across nice people then working there will be easy. Help was provided when I asked.

A manager kept moving me from formal wear, to accessories and then to shoes, she sent me on my break and when I came back, I continued as I was at the accessories, she came across me and told me that I was supposed to tell her when I came back from my break, no one had told me this before and managers and a rare find there, it's impossible to find a manager there but you're always in the wrong. When I was put on shoes, I wasn't told the stockrooms were changed around so I had to figure that out on my own, the bigger and furthest away stockroom was due to be changed and I only knew that because I overheard another member of staff giving a tour of a new person. I was talking to a few people and I said that you don't know anything in this place, everything is all hush hush and if you don't know what's going on then it's apparently your problem, other members of staff immediately agreed. I was asked numerous times by the same people if I was till trained to which I replied with no, apparently somebody was supposed to come and train me but never did, I personally think the online training is useless and makes me think the company are lazy. Managers talk to you as if you're a child and stupid.

Fast forward to the last two weeks, I made friends with a girl there who sat with me on lunches we had together, the main person on shoes was a lot "softer" with me and talked to me more. Problems began to occur when I was given a 7am til 1pm shift knowing full well that I live an hour away meaning I have to wake up at 4am. I recently worked a 7am til 1pm shift only to rush there to find out security don't start until 6:50am and that "they won't come earlier because they don't get paid for that time", eventually the security person came dead on only to take his time doing the alarms and we had to wait outside in the freezing dark while he did his job, from there we had to rush to the top floor to go to the staffroom which is 12/16 flights of steps and make it back down to Home and clock in. When I finally arrived at home, I was told by some girl who I had never met before that she had switched with me and I was on childrenswear, I had no say in this and no one had told me until the very last minute. I proceeded to make my way up to childrenswear only to be made to scan items because the original childrenswear staff were behind on their work, I was showed how to scan however. Throughout the entire shift I was doing things I had never been shown to do before and had to learn on the spot, the staff were getting extremely tired of me because I was constantly asking them questions, the manager that was there was abrupt and constantly vanished. The people who I worked with on that department were extremely immature for their age, they were swearing excessively and acting like children because they don't like what their manager was doing which was sending them for their break individually and two of them insisted on "having a word" with the manager because they didn't get their own way. I absolutely hated working on childrenswear and don't intend to do it again as I'm assigned to work on womenswear, staff on womenswear are a lot more mature and friendly.

I still haven't been paid for my induction which was on the 26th of August but I'm trying to get as many hours as I can. I still haven't received my discount card and will try to get hold of a manager to arrange one but I don't see any point because my contract is meant to end next Saturday. I was due to start Sep 8th but started on Sep 11th which is not on, I am looking for other jobs and if I can't find any, unfortunately, I will re apply at Next because I cannot afford to live without an income.

This is such a horrible company they treat you like your absolutely nothing.

My contract was 9 hours but I was made to do 20 which I wouldn't of minded if I had a say in what times I could do BUT they would give me random times and expected me to drop everything to come in. Also they always gave me the closing shifts I only ever had a early shift a few times even though my contract hours where not the closing shifts. The managers gave their favourites the nice times and gave the quite new people like me the late, closing shifts as the older staff never wanted to stay behind and also the public holidays like Easter and bank holiday. One time they called me but I never answered the phone so they decided to just stick me on a shift the next day without even telling me. When I saw it I told them I couldn't do it then they started asking me personal questions like "what are you doing why you can't do the shift?" Even though that day wasn't my contracted day. When I said I had to go somewhere they said that if I didn't answer the phone then they would automatically put me down for a shift they wanted me to do as they will assume I can do it. What??? There was another time when I wanted to change a shift and do a morning shift instead. They put me down for a shift (Not on my contract days) at the last minute. When I called up and said if I could do it in the morning instead of the evening as I had to go somewhere later that day I was asked where I was going? And when I told them my manager said he was not changing it and that I had to come in and he also said if I didn't come in I would get disciplinary and I would lose my job. So I had to cancel all my plans and go in. When I did he came up to me being really sarcastic saying "oh so you came in then?" and laughing knowing that I had to cancel my plans.

You get really short breaks despite working more than 8 hours. I done a shift that was over 9 hours and I only got an hour break which I thought was not a lot at all as they treat you like slaves and your on your feet all day. When I worked at other companies and I did long shifts I got at least 3 breaks.

As they are short staffed a lot (not surprising) they put a lot of pressure on you to get things done. They would gave you a whole section to do without any help and expect it to be all done in 30 mins and when you didn't they would start complaining saying "your too slow" "faster" its ridiculous.

The managers talk to you so rudely and if you were something under their shoes. I was spoken to like a child and disrespectfully by my manager. Your also not allowed to talk even if the store was quiet and you were working. Its like your in school. My manager was just a bully and he definitely had favourites. Also one time I was put on the stockroom department because they were short staffed and the manager there spoke to me so rude I was about to walk out. They gave me tasks to do which I have never done before so obviously I wouldn't be super quick and when I asked for help I got shouted at and told I "don't listen" and he made me feel useless. I was then made to put out two, big, full, rails of clothes out on the shop floor in 30 mins. I knew I wouldn't of got all of it done in that time as it was a load of clothes. When apparently 30 mins was gone I was yelled at by the manager saying I should of "finished by now" That day I was working the full day and they actually tried to not give me a break. I had to ask can I have my break.

When I was working last week they came up to me randomly and told me that this would be my last shift. I got no notice nothing. I said to the manager "why didn't I get any notice?" and they said that they didn't have to as I was only temporary staff but I had a look at my contract and it says I was meant to have one so I'll be making a complaint to the head office about it. My contract was until April BUT they kept me on and never told me how much longer they were extending it for. Very unprofessional and unorganized company. I asked my manager why I wasn't being kept on and he just made up a bunch of excuses saying I was "lazy, slow, and just didn't work well" which was a load of rubbish. I made sure I defended myself and told him what I thought why I thought he was getting rid of me and said basically what he was saying about me being lazy was BS.

This is a VERY VERY BAD company and from a lot of the other comments I've been looking at they have had very similar problems too working there. Its not only one of their branches its all of them. DO NOT apply for Next only if you want to be treated like dirt. I made a comment on here because I want to let people know how awful Next is and how they treat their staff and to avoid going through what I did and a lot of others too. I hope my comment has helped.

I worked here for 2 years while I was at college and the rest while I was looking for another job. The average day consist of the regular retail gig. serving customers, putting out replenishment, tidying the shop floor, stockroom etc 

When I started working there it was my first job, I was new and a bit naive, I wanted to speak to people and make some associations but was rejected by most people which in turn made me anti social to others. The managers and supervisors form cliques and will exclude you. The mangers spoke to me like I was stupid but I was more qualified than them! They also asked a lot of you, told you what to do beyond and suitable work context and were very rude. I was once told by a manager to clean up sick but I refused. 

The discount you get is 75% for uniform and 25% for anything you want standard procedure. However you must have your uniform authorised by a manager which feels very degrading and often they want to dress you much older than you actually are nothing formal in a young, quirky, different type of way. Girls are allowed some freedom in their uniform and not men, boys always have to wear standard suit and ties with black shoes, I was even told off for wearing black boots.

The staff room there was the most depressing place I use to always go out for my lunch and rarely ever sat in there. While I was there I met several nice co workers that I could happily have a conversation and laugh with but they were mostly all on my department, there is this weird thing but people think they're better than others because of the department they work on even though we all work in the same store earning the same wage. Sadly the good people I met there weren't a good enough reason to stay. 

The hardest part of the job was sale season every member of staff had to come in to prepare the store so the managers thought it was a good idea to turn off all the air conditioning and it became a sweat shop. You are allowed no holiday in December at all and must work at least 2 days of sale. You work unsocial hours and bank holidays but do not get paid extra (time-and-a-half) unless you are a senior member of staff. You get given a contract no higher than 16hrs unless you are contracted full time. But however you are expected to work extra hours whenever they want you to and they become annoyed when you can’t and what feels like an interrogation when you say you can’t work, they give you no notice or call to see if you can work. They would give me a morning shift the night before but wouldn't tell me and then became annoyed with me when I didn't turn up because I wasn't informed. 

It pays minimum wage currently £6.21 over 18 and around £5.50 if under 18, senior and merits ear £7 per hour. Managers only earn a little under 14k assistant managers earn 17k and the store manager ears 23k per annum don't work here if you have expensive tastes. It says they pay 'competitive rates' but how can you compete with minimum wage? 

While I was working there I was never late and always did a good job and got on well with customers I had a very good track record. I became ill with a respiratory tract infection and was bed ridden for a week losing almost 10lbs from not being able to eat the worst I have ever felt. When I returned to work still weak no one asked me how I was but I was however told I hit "trigger point" which resulted in a meeting and a letter basically a warning which if it happened again I would receive a disciplinary when I explained my illness one manger simply said "just come in to work in the future". It really showed me I was not and never was going to be valued there, very rigid full of politics. 

every new member of staff is given a temporary contract to start off with this is so they can fire you if they don't like you it doesn't always relate to whether you do a good job or not. after that then you are given a permanent contract this will only be 4-16 hrs and you can’t work more than 20hrs when you are a part timer. The turnover of staff is EXTREMELY high you'll likely see a new face each week, it's not a place if you like stability.

Overall it's a standard retail job that pays minimum wage and leads in pretty much a dead end, it's a job but it's not much more than that if you do work there I advise you to not stay there for too long or else you'll become stuck. It’s the typical over worked, underpaid and mistreated type job, very cliquey and gossipy place to work.


This review will talk about the objective merrits/faults of the company. Staff friendliness, management etc varies from store to store but I'll relate to my own store in those regards.

Job Work/Life balance
I think this is good. You get contracted hours which are always fixed and according to your available hours (which you register on their site) you will be allocated extra shifts. Additionally,via the site, you can pick up extra shifts in the 'shift marketplace'. If you have other responsibilities in life like family, study or other jobs, simply make sure these time of unavailability are reflected in your availability record and you'll never have any conflicts. As other reviewers have noted, Next may change your shift times on shift day with NO notice. They expect you to live on the portal. I have experienced such a change once and was able to get to work earlier as per the change but if I ever don't I'll let them know that it's unrealistic to expect everyone to pick up same day changes.  

IMPORTANT! The EU has a law in place called the Working Time Directive. This states that you are entitled to 11 hours off between shifts. I've heard anecdotal evidence and personal evidence that Next doesn't observe this. I think this is due to the availability times that you register when you start. If you have 00:15-23:45 Monday-Sunday you seemingly waive this entitlement. Once you join the company, make sure that you go onto the website and allocate yourself those 11 hours (e.g work till 21:00 at the latest and start at 8:00 at the earliest). Last sale some staff worked till midnight setting up the sale and started 5:30 am for the sale day.

Salary/benefits
The salary isn't anything to write home about, it's minimum wage but it's retail so you can't really complain. However, there are some pretty nice benefits to working at Next. You get 25% staff discount for one, but you also get a uniform allowance a few times a year where you can buy Next clothing to work in, and you will only pay 25% of the cost (e.g get £100 worth of gear, pay £25). If you work at a counter that deals with parcel pick ups, you can earn 15p if you retrieve it within the set time. While this doesn't sound like much, you could earn upwards of £20 a month or more just for moving quickly at work. There are also lots of other ways that you can get extra money, such as customers praising your service to a manager or writing to the company. If you always work in a speedy manner and go the extra mile for customers, you can get a lot of extra benefits.

Job security/advancement
I haven't been at Next long at all, but it's clear that there is the chance for advancement for those who really want it. Show yourself to be proficient in many of the store disciplines and get to know the company and how it works and you have a chance. There is a staff portal that has a retail academy where you can learn about the different roles within the store. If you apply yourself and work hard I think you can move up. Take the minimalist approach and you probably won't. As far as security, so long as you don't slack off you're safe. They are quite patient with you but if you fail to take training, advice, orders, suggestions to heart etc that's on you.

This brings me onto another point. Reviewers who have said there isn't any training probably haven't followed the instruction to go onto the learning portal. There you can learn how to use the till digitally with activities that allow you to click on the different parts of the till to accomplish things such as returns, gift card sales etc. Naturally doing this online and in store are two different things but you can most definitely become familiar with the till and its functions before you start or while you're starting out.   

Management
The managers at my store are nice enough. Not going to elaborate much here as this varies from store to store. Will be a lucky dip for new workers joining the company. I think so long as you work hard and are friendly, there shouldn't be any issues. I personally make it a task to build good relations with the managers. 

Job culture.
The store I work at is a generally friendly place where everyone gets on, supports each other etc. In the staff room there are many social events written on the board. I haven't been there long enough to give a more indepth review on this aspect of the business but it will probably vary from store to store like management.

I worked at next for a few years, including throughout university and they were always really good at working my hours around that. Overall, it's an enjoyable job as far as retail goes and you'll always be busy. It was an overly lovely team of employees and a nice atmosphere most of the time. Customers are mostly really lovely. 

However, as per any retail job you will get the odd rude customer, which can be stressful in a busy store like the one I was in, not helped by management often being incredibly slow to come and assist a dissatisfied customer when called for. Countless times I found myself alone at a till point with a queue of people's eyes on me while frantically paging over and over again that I needed a manager for the customer I was serving - same with staff shortages, as you'd be told to page for help from other departments if it got super busy, and it could be pretty embarrassing when no one came and you were left floundering. 

Most staff members were really friendly and made for a good working atmosphere, however, it's been mentioned in other reviews and I can definitely confirm there has always been a certain group of those who have worked there "forever" and seem to therefore hold the attitude that different rules apply to them than others (considering I was there for a few years, it took me being there that long to feel that by the end I was taken as a bit more acceptable/on their level). 

Management was very 50/50. I had some absolutely lovely, supportive, understanding managers, and then I had some that were often rude, inconsiderate, made inappropriate comments to staff (including towards one of my lovely managers, who was reduced to tears by the almost bullying in the end and it eventually drove her out of the job), showed some strange and obvious favouritism towards certain staff etc. We went through a number of store managers whilst I was there as they often got moved around, and aside from a couple of them being pretty great, the store managers were almost always particularly unfriendly, overly demanding, clearly didn't care to spend more time on the shop floor/amongst the staff than the bare minimum of an end of day sweep around each department, on which they would conveniently fail to praise all the good tasks you'd pushed to complete throughout a very busy shift whilst happily letting you know what you'd failed to get to yet. 

Whatever contract is advertised when you apply, don't expect that to be your fixed contract. You'll be allocated shifts outside of that and unable to argue them, and you'll most likely as a new starter be regularly thrown in for shifts on days entirely out of your contract that you are unable to decline on the employee portal. Managers can be a bit difficult about when you physically go to then dispute them on your next shift. I quite often found myself bargaining when doing so, like "I'm really sorry I can't make that Wednesday you put me in for, however if it possible to change it I can work another afternoon if that helps?"

Equally, don't expect your contracted department to be the department you'll work on every shift. You'll find yourself put in for random shifts on an entirely different department quite often, for instance randomly finding yourself put onto delivery or home, despite being contracted to womenswear, and then finding yourself a bit clueless as to the ins and outs of that particular department (i.e. being the only member of staff on the home department when you are not trained on home loans etc). 

That's a really honest review of my time there. It was great as a part time retail job in many aspects, and as much as the above all sounds off putting, it was overly a nice atmosphere the majority of the time and I did have a very good experience there overall. All the above was made up for by the mainly supportive, friendly, helpful staff members, the fact they were good about changing my contract when my uni rotas changed, the majority of nice customers and the fact that I was rarely bored because there was always something to do, something to tidy, an area to phase change, an order to pick up. 

Before starting at next I had read so many horror stories of staff members hating their job and wondering why. I can safely say now, I know why. 

I applied for a “Christmas Temp” role at Next last October as a way to have a little income over the Christmas period. As a recent graduate I’ve found it difficult to find a full time position in my fashion degree field, so thought working within retail would be a good filler. The application process was fine and I actually applied by filling out a form at the front of the store physically one Saturday afternoon when shopping with my mum. I had heard back from the store within a week and was contacted via phone for a brief phone interview before being invited down to the store for a face to face interview. This interview consisted of me working on the shop floor for an hour before going back to the office to answer questions. I know my situation here will probably be different to others, but my interview was the first one ever for my interviewer. Something she made clear to me on many occasions! Instead of me answering the questions she told me what she was writing to speed up the process. I left being told I had got the job and was given a £10 gift card for my time. 

Fast forward to my first shift and I was completely thrown into the deep end. Considering this was my first retail job, i was expected to work from 1-10pm with no training and no experience of retail. I found this hard as there was no support to new starters at all. Throughout November and December my shifts were all or nothing. I went through a period of being given awful shifts, often on the days I specified I couldn’t work, working 10-8pm with a 30 minute break or 1-10:30pm with little thanks or appreciation. It’s probably worth noting here that the whole online rota system is frustrating. It’s extremely impersonal, especially when shifts are changed without you being notified by person. The amount of emails I received sayin “thanks for agreeing to change your shift” when I haven’t even had a conversation was ridiculous. 

Working over Christmas as a Christmas temp I knew I would be given all the rotten shifts, however I don’t think they truly take into consideration that their staff need to have a life too. I was expected to work 10pm-10am on Christmas Eve in preparation for the stupid Boxing Day sales. Then expected to work Boxing Day 5:30am-1pm with no extra pay or thanks for doing so. 

Post Christmas I have been employed as a “full time” staff member. Full time being the key word here as I have actually been allocated holiday for most of January and February. Now in March I have found myself another full time job in my degree field so am about to hand in my notice. 

Overall, Next would be a fantastic company to work for if they were more considerate of their staff and the time they do. 

- The pay is very little and there are no benefits for those working the long unsocialable hours, bank holidays, Sunday’s or over the Christmas period. 
- The break period for a sales assistant is terrible. 30 minutes for a 7 hour shift when you’re on your feet all day? There’s hardly any time to grab food as you have to get bags checked before ever leaving the store, which brings me onto...
- Any company that doesn’t trust its own staff needs to be questioned. It you don’t trust your staff to not shoplift then why do you even hire them in the first place? Before stepping a foot out of the store you have to have your bags checked/pocket searched. I understand why, just don’t think this is right. 
- When starting your job you are given hours that you work. You also are giving the option to tell your availability around these hours. This whole process is pointless considering they ignore it anyway and give you shifts you can’t do that they then make difficult to cancel. 

If you’re going for a job at Next, amazing! I’m sure everyone has had different experiences and I know it’s probably got a lot to do with who your manager is. However one thing I wish I did differently was how “available” and “friendly” I have been. There’s no point trying to do people favours, as at the end of the day you are used when it suits them.

Absolutely awful company to work for, and management are only interested in turnover, treat all employees like infants, and have no regard for staff welfare. 
On a positive note, the shop floor/stockroom staff are always friendly and mostly fun to work with (although wiht such a high staff turnover it is difficult to feel part of a team) and the 25% staff discount is generous, as well as getting first dibs on sale items.

Staff get disciplined due to flaws within the HTT scanning system - when you are scanning items to put out onto the shop floor, you must 'pick' the clothes within the order they appear on the HHT, and select 'not found' if you cannot find the item (usually because it has been put in the wrong place). There is no way to then go back and scan the item if you later find it. You must 'pick' so many items per hour (105) and the 'not founds' are not included. Management then look for the items you have 'not found' (which they can do at their own pace, not at 105 units per hour) and if they then find them (even if you explain that you did find them but had no way of scanning them) you then get disciplined!

I am only contracted to 4 hours a week, yet am still expected to be available for up to 20 hours per week, which they can distribute whenever they feel the need with no proper prior notification. Coupled with the fact that as a Next employee, you must keep the entirety of sales weeks free (but do not know which dates you are required until sometimes just a week before), makes it impossible to hold another part-time job. Also, all staff are required christmas eve and boxing day, but don't get paid any extra and face instant dismissal if they cannot work on those days.

I have missed several additional shifts now due to their incredibly flawed system and lack of communication - when you clock out at the end of a shift, the next shift you are required to work is listed. However, this often differs to the actual requirements and no notification is given (other than by checking online in your spare time). 
All holiday leave must be requested online, and the company will instantaneously provide email notification of this pending leave, yet they cannot provide notification of changes to shift patterns, or extra shifts.
I have been told that it is the employees responsibility to check their rota online, for any extra shifts/changes (which can really only be done outside of working hours). My store has even removed the paper rotas from the staffroom, meaning that the only way to find out when your next shift is, is either through the clocking out process (which is often inaccurate) or by going online outside of work hours.

Pay is two pence above minimum wage, despite being termed as a 'competetive salary', and the amount of sick leave is determined by percentage of how many hours you are contracted to (not including the 20 hours you must be available for). For instance, I can only take 5 hours and 50 minutes off in 12 months, which isn't even two full shifts! Meaning I can only be unwell for one shift!

The resignation policy states that a minimum of 4 weeks notice is required if you've worked there three months or more (seems silly for such a menial job!) and also states that any uniform bought within a month of leaving must be paid for in full (with the 25% staff discount) and any uniform bought within two months must be paid for at 50%.
So not only do they force you to BUY your own uniform every season (even with the 75% uniform discount it works out as about 3 shifts pay for me) but when you leave you are expected to pay for it in full!!!!

When I first joined a year ago, I was told about all the training I'd receive, all the additional hours I'd be given and how I would be able to make a career out of it. Thus far, I have learnt nothing - till training hasn't even been offered since the initial promise (I'm told this is because I'm contracted for very few hours), I've received hardly any extra hours, and there certainly is not mention of a career advancement!.

I'll be handing in my notice as soon as possible!

Honestly if I could give this a lesser rating than one I would. 

I traveled an hour to get to this work place using the public bus that ended up being quite difficult so luckily next offered a staff bus. You would think that’s great but the bus never turned up to work on time, you would exit in the car park and make it to your seat with about 30 seconds to spare before starting. But if you could not be logged in and signed into the portal dead on 9am they deducted 15 minutes of your pay.  This bus was meant to support me and was one of the reasons I felt confident about getting to work but it ended up docking my pay by the 100s. 

What did I learn… definitely that I can hold my own peace for a number of months while I felt let down by my career.  That I can keep calm when the managers would create such uneasy situations. And how to reboot my computer about 20 times a day  (this was the solution to all our tech issues) 

The management is probably the poorest part of this whole set up, some of these people have been managers for so long they are unwilling to hear about changes that needed to be made. They performed a meeting to hear what we all had to say and there were so many points they ended the meeting early and nothing actually changed out of that. Sounds ridiculous but it was heartbreaking  that they never took simple changes on bored that would have boosted the mood in the office. They are also such a close group of friends that reporting one manager for poor behaviours such as rolling eyes at you, making horrible comments about yourself, or just slacking in the support department it just never got you anywhere. They would advise they don’t think it’s out of malice as they know each other well and the managers are just hard at work, it never actually get’s properly reported and then they all gossip about the issues you have raised and become even more cold towards you. 

The training was intense but these were probably the kindest people that you would meet during your time at next, they are so supportive during your 3 weeks of intense learning. I would say that after I left and went to the call floor they then became more honest about the work environment with you and would do their best to help. Unfortunately they themselves are not supported as much as they should be and you can see they are so worn down and shared many of their struggles. 

Management also put a ban on staff members talking to each that had strong opinions on the way they had been treated. They would never seat us near each other, allow lunch times to collide and finally informed us we are not allowed to go to these people for anything at all.

Those that work the phones work tirelessly to support the customers, fixing simple messes that would never happen if more money was put into the next services but that’s a whole other issue. The resolutions should be so simple but we would 8/10 be advising customers the item is lost and they would have to wait again. 

 Those who worked the phones all had an understanding of how that place was and would support each other as much as possible but it would be often you would see crying on the call floor due to the extreme pressures. 

The canteen for us in phase five served the same food day in and day out with little to no variation and after working such long hours and only having basic freezer style food being served it makes you even more sluggish. 

Another side note was I had a zoom interview link, I joined and waited 20 minutes and no one turned up, I had to call around next services trying to find who was meant to be my interviewer. Once they got hold of them they didn’t join the link until I had waited just under an hour, I felt more prepared then they showed themselves to be.

The last thing I would probably mention is they constantly monitor your calls and spend 70-80% of management time listening to these. They would then sit you down and make you listen to yourself and ask you to pick out what was wrong, this process made so many of us feel like children. 



If I could give this company -5* I would

It's taken a while to get around to doing this - but I walked past the store other day and it sent shivers down my spine. 

I worked for the Highcross Store back in 2008-2010, worked my way up from a temp to a Stockroom Manager in roughly 12 months. Those were the days when it was fun, enjoyable and there were inspiring leaders to work with had an team focused attitude! I looked forward to my day

I left the company to pursue other interests however returned as the Menswear Manager in 2013 - biggest mistake of my life. The culture was horrendous. By the time I had left (5 months later in 2014), another senior manager had left, one other followed shortly after, another after that and then another....staff turnover says it all.

I have never been treated in such a childish way by anyone in any employment. I was never trained once, in fact training overall was a joke - a simple tick box exercise. As a 'manager' I was never trained however expected to carry out training with other employees and then harshly reprimanded when it was not completed correctly - go figure!

Leaving on time - forget that - even leaving 15 minutes late was not good enough - usual week would be at least 10-12 hours of overtime un paid

Lunch......forget that - maybe once or twice a week

Getting any over-time back - forget that too - I worked a 16 hour shift over Christmas, not that I was asked to things just needed to be done, and never once thanked or even a smile from 'senior' management 

Having to leave in an emergency when your 2 month old daughter is ill and needs to be rushed to hospital - you'd think there would be some sort of compassion, nope, I was simply made to feel as though I should not leave and then never once asked by 'senior' management if my daughter was even ok....who does that?

I worked there for 5 months and not once did I have an appraisal, not once did the 'senior' manager sit down and ask 'hows is it going' or offer support, or even ask...well....anything...

The culture of the store was lead by fear, not passion or excitement for the product or for the brand - just the results!

Hours were cut so severely that in the mornings and evenings there were only 3 team members working on my floor, including me but still expected to do the same amount of work when I had double the team - and of course then reprimanded when it was not complete. I had no full time team member so no one had any commitment to the job and I do not blame them with rotas being changed daily without notice

I could write a book about what really went on but to be honest I just don't want to waste my time, I now have a lovely job with people who you can actually approach to ask questions, where you actually can enjoy your work take pride in what you do.

I would advise everyone to avoid this company like the plague - do not enter, do not progress, do pass go as you will not collect $200

Sickening place to work for - although I think this was down to the particular management in our store - though the company ethos was pretty shocking in reality, cut hours, cut contracts, make people redundant whilst the company has the audacity to put up posters in the staff room showing how fantastic the sales results are - disgusting behaviour in my opinion.

Oh and expect to be spoken to as if you are 10...even if your in your 20's...or 30's....or 40s....

avoid, avoid, avoid - an opinion held by pretty much every team member in the store.....simply everyone was looking for other jobs...says it all really.

Don't touch that application form, it will be the biggest mistake you could make...look at all the recent reviews on here..and take heed

I was informed about how terrible Next was to work for but when you need money, a jobs a job! I am currently a student and started working for the company last year, I found that around 50% of the people there were my age.

I've read a lot about lack of training etc, I was till trained on my first shift and could do all returns by a month in, unlike just clothing stores, I work on the Homeware department so the environment is slightly more chilled, a lot nicer than a clothing. 

I'm fortunate to get along with nearly all my co workers minus a team coach and a very Mrs Trunchbull manager! Talk about keeping you on the edge everytime you hear footsteps coming!
Homeware consultants are expected to know a lot more than clothing - such as selling sofas, living furniture, home loan agreements, general order enquiries and being 16 when I started this was a lot to take in - especially learning through some cards in a book or watching a slideshow on the learning portal, terrible training considering customers are investing from 400 up to a few thousand at a time with interest rates blah de blah! 
We are made to work like robots, assigned areas and they moan at you constantly about keeping that "natural approach" and "not be a robot" then every few months force us to hassle customers into their "first time surfers/directories" signups where if we dont get 10 to 15 signups in a day we would have to report to the manager why we didn't achieve this and then even threatened to explain to our regional manager why we aren't complying with their expectations! 
1) Not everyone likes confronting customers that clearly dont want to be bothered by one of Next's scams?
2) When we don't achieve this by chance, I shouldn't have to justify myself, let alone be forced to take directories home with me to force my family and friends to fill them out cause I wasn't good enough? HOMEWORK? Am I at school?! 

Lets not start about performance reviews.. If you're genuinely off sick for a GENUINE ILLNESS, for instance I was rushed in to hospital, this isn't good enough for next! Even with a hospital note, not worthy of sick pay and also drops you down to 3/4 stars in their system so that 4 star employees get priority of hours and you weren't good enough, HA! 

Next's biggest con of all is also Shifts, Shift marketplace, your availability and HOLIDAY PAY. You will always be contracted a SMALL amount of hours so that you receive very MINIMAL holiday pay, I am contracted 7 hours per week, yet given 20 hours and still put on the spot to do more, if you haven't got a reason not to work, you're forced to, even if its not your contract! So when it comes down to holiday, you can only offer up holiday for your contracted hours and no matter how much overtime you do, with or without choice, these holiday hours do not increase!! (My advice to everyone is to change your availability to only your contracted shifts as this will help stop those surprise shifts given unexpectedly).

If you like going out christmas eve, think again! You will be made to price up for the sale (which happens a few times a year) and forced to work boxing day as well, starting as early as 5am. You don't want to work these days or wanted to spend time with your family? You're fired! 

I also worked the exact same length of season as other permanent staff, they recieved £100/180+ end of season bonus and despite me doing more hours, being only a temp I received £20, HA!

The ONLY advantage is the discount card and the 25p coffee machine.

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