WHSmith Reviews

Senior Management in the Commercial team, U.K. Involvement not understanding Aust retail, late conference calls, any involvement with franchise side of the business.

Everything. The management is extremely negligent, incompetent, irresponsible, and inappropriate with staff. Inappropriate and unprofessional comments have been made towards team members and concerns of harassment are not properly addressed. Important information is never communicated to the team and instead relying on information being passed via word of mouth to one employee off hand. There is no proper training, so all procedures are inconsistent or done improperly. Management clearly plays favorites among staff, favorable staff receiving more hours or receiving promotions. The working conditions are horrible and the health and food safety protocols are not enforced, ex: kitchen staff lick their hands during food prep, proper gloves not being worn, coffee equipment not being cleaned properly, cross contamination, things not being refrigerated properly, ant and insect infestations, etc. Staff work in extreme cold or heat without any efforts to make the working conditions more humane. Furthermore, due to poor business practices, such as making everything card only, customer facing staff have been on the receiving end of verbal threats and abuse from patrons, with no support from management on protecting or diffusing these incidents. The team is always understaffed and overworked, especially because hours are constantly being cut.