No respect for employees, poor communication and organisation, horrible exploitation. - Anonymous employee ground espresso bars Employee Review

I was really shocked at the lack of organisational skills this company has when recruiting new staff. Firstly, I was told I got the job in early May but didn't hear a thing for weeks about when I was starting. After numerous phone calls and feeling like such a pest, I finally began working in July but waited almost 2 weeks for the management to sort out my payroll and tax. It was unacceptable that I had to say to the manager on numerous occasions that I needed it completed. It is not an employees job to sort out a company's simple administration. Rather worryingly I was not provided with any health/hygiene/safety procedures. I was quite shocked at this considering I was working in a busy cafe environment, serving food, drinks and maintaining a clean kitchen, using hot water and chemicals. I think Ground really need to reassess how they manage and train up staff. As an employee working in a very busy coffee shop, I was trained very little and felt completely useless especially in busy spells . I was not trained on how to make coffee and was clearly only employeed to slog away in the kitchen and clean tables, even though I was told in the interview that I would learn how to make coffee and be a valuable member of staff. I feel like I was misled about my hours and was not told at interview that I would be on a zero hour contract. If I had known that I would have no guaranteed hours I would have never applied. How anyone can work for more than a few months on a zero hour contract is beyond me. I was told I would be working 3 days a week at least considering it is a busy shop. I was put on 4 hour shifts, working only 2-3 days a week max, which is good to no one and was told to go home early on numerous occasions having travelled a good distance. This was very inconvenient for me and I felt like there was no pointing working for sometimes only 2 hours. The overall vibe of the store I worked in was quite judgemental and unwelcoming. They obviously dislike new staff and training them up which is totally unfair to the employee. As much as I was a new member of staff, I felt judged on my lack of knowledge and general procedures in store. There is very little respect for new staff members and I felt that the business, like lots of others unfortunately, exploit their staff, especially younger employees.