Southern Co-op Reviews

Terrible management Promotion only if your face fits and some managers clearly promoted out of their depth. IT systems a joke. Badly chosen, no project management, unreliable, convoluted and negligible training from people who don't know the poorly integrated systems properly. HR overstaffed looking for new ways to make redundancies Head office morale low. Store staff distraught and clearly and understandably bewildered by the atrocious management. Managers overpaid and the higher managers on huge bonuses for incompetence. They are only looking after themselves.

Poor Leadership - many leaders within the business are personally motivated to an extreme extent, and this limits the opportunities and respect that you can achieve. Middle management lack the confidence to challenge the status quo, and as a result many people with great ideas and potential are overlooked. Package - The package offered was way below the market rate for my role and performance based increases were non existent - there was no framework to allow this. Workplace pension is very poor and contributions are small. Attitude/Culture - Pressure from senior management to deliver on short term goals, mixed with a lack of structure and development leads to a stressful environment, even for people who don't usually suffer from stress in the workplace. Personal Development - Development is talked about in leadership and is mentioned often globally, but the company very much reflects the fact that a large percentage of the workforce is part time, in that development lacks structure and investment, and cannot compete with larger corporate organisations. One-to-one meetings were essentially a 'to-do list' for the next couple of weeks, and there was very little focus on long term development. This may stifle ambitious employees. Work/Life Balance - Being available on a mobile basis 24/7 was an expectation for my role, however this was informal, non-contractual and not compensated. Failure to answer the phone was looked upon harshly. Unlike other similar roles at other organisations, hours flexibility/working from home was frowned upon.