I feel that a small part of me dies forever each time I go to work
Pros
My pay is around £3 more than minimum wage. Progression into management role is fairly simple and plenty of opportunities to train in roles like store training mentor, freshness coordinator, alcohol license holder. 10% employee discount.
Cons
I have a 30 hour contract but am constantly working 45-60 hour weeks. The shifts are usually 10 hours long but can be stretched to be longer...I worked an 18 hour shift recently. The rota in my store gets changed without those affected being notified of the change (though other stores I've worked in do not do this). There are problems with the regional distribution centre, this contributes to stock shortages and problems with things not being available...which, according to almost every customer, is the fault of the in store management team. Legally workers are entitled to 11 hours between shifts, often I'll finish at 10pm and be due back in at 6am the next day. I can wait 7 hours for my 30 minute break. Staff morale is the lowest I've ever witnessed in any supermarket I've ever worked in (5 different supermarket chains in 15 years), everybody wants to leave and they all hate it with an obvious degree of passion. The amount of workers per shift is kept so low that, if someone is off sick, everything is almost impossible to achieve. This is made even worse when a district manager visits and blames the on duty manager for the detritus. I occasionally find on the rota that I've been put down to do several days in a row...at the moment I'm on the first day of a 7 day stint...I've done as many as 14 days in a row and they're usually at least 10hour shifts.