lovely people with a fast pace environment, very repetitive tasks with little to no change from day to day. can get boring and/or frustrating very easily

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Worst job

Restaurant Assistant (Former Employee) - Shepton Mallet, Somerset - 16 May 2022

Worked here for 8 years with no promotion or pay rise in that time. Short staffed so leads to taking staff of any standard on resulting in high staff turn over. The good workers are not looked after. You’re expected to do many different jobs that would require 2/3 people normally. Competitive rates means minimum wage you might get a pay rise of an extra 50p an hour after being there for years. Would No recommend working here very high stress

Pros

None

Cons

Large work load. Low pay. Poor management

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About the business not the staff

Team Member (Former Employee) - Atherstone, Warwickshire - 29 April 2022

Job was different to advertised and hours were more than advertised which were unachievable as a student. Other staff always complaining made me feel like insecure at work

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Fast paced but family feel

Seasonal Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - West Midlands - 28 April 2022

For school leavers you will learn the foundations of any job and the dos and donts of a work environment. Can be very fast paced but if handled in the right way you will enjoy every minute.

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Graet place to work

Assistant Manager (Former Employee) - Scotland - 21 April 2022

Great place to work, supportive management and good career prospects. Good work life balance. I have worked for the company for around seven years up to management level. I have learned a lot.

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fun, but unfair.

Restaurant Waiter (Current Employee) - Dunfermline, Fife - 18 April 2022

Although staff are friendly an unfair work load is given to some people. Breaks get forgotten about and pay is extremely bad. Older workers give all the work to the younger workers although they are working the same job.

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N/a

Restaurant (Current Employee) - Scotland - 16 April 2022

Good level of staff however more training required. Staff are under pressure due to sickness and covid and no one to support! Areas of the business closed as not budgeted correctly

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Fast paced, not enough training. Customer Services (Head Office)

Customer Service Advisor (Temporary) (Former Employee) - Midlothian - 11 April 2022

Not enough training given. Basically just stuck on phones constantly. Management wasn't too bad but when actual manager was on holiday and second in command was in charge, basically told your on the phones. Other people were getting training yet I was excluded from that. Not a good company to work for.

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Fine for first job or part time job

Catering Assistant (Former Employee) - Crossford, South Lanarkshire - 9 April 2022

Worked here a number of years ago as my first job. Was fast paced but relatively easy. Management was not bad. Can be quite long hours. If you are full time, they try and give you every second weekend off.

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Depends on the day

Operations Customer Advisor (Former Employee) - Swindon - 5 April 2022

Some days are very fast passed and busy but then some days are are very slow passed and and quiet.So some days can be very stressful or very boring!!

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Jobs at Dobbies Garden Centres

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Overworked and underpaid

Restaurant Assistant (Former Employee) - Ponteland, Northumberland - 19 March 2022

Very understaffed, people walking out after half a shift because of a couple of staff members who have been there since it opened. They are very aggressive and rude, shouting in people's faces, the manager knows and turns a blind eye. No one stays there long.

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Lovely people to work with but very poor pay

Horticultural Assistant (Current Employee) - Wallington, Surrey - 15 March 2022

The people you work with are so kind and helpful, and they hire lots of young people which is good for students in college etc. however the pay here is very poor for the work you have to put in.

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Avoid!!!

Manager (Former Employee) - Scotland - 12 March 2022

Nothing really positive to say apart from store team was a pleasure to work with. The company are a nightmare so please avoid at all costs. No work/life balance!!

Pros

None

Cons

Working long hours, stressful, no praise, job is all about getting loyalty cards, very task orientated company!!!

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Poor management, staff were friendly. You could only progress in the job, if your face fitted with manager.

Front of House Staff (Former Employee) - Cirencester, Gloucestershire - 8 March 2022

I worked in the restaurant, liked the job I was doing. Management in restaurant had no clue what they were doing. Rotas were given out 3 days before and on occasions one day before. You never new what you were doing from one week to the next. Spoken to like a child and in front of customers by deputy manager.

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Pressure to do more for nothing in return.

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - England - 7 March 2022

Basic pay, pressure to work overtime consistently, many staff subject to rude management and the company furloughed staff during the pandemic whilst profits increased and garden centres remained open to abuse the government scheme of payments to companies . All this was endured in spite of working incredibly hard and keeping positive.On the positive side, it can be lovely chatting to people of all ages about plants in a nice environment. So if you enjoy conversing with the public and meeting some lovely team members before they leave for a better job or company then this can be a suitable short term job.

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For part time it's fine

Sales Assistant (Current Employee) - Lichfield, Staffordshire - 27 February 2022

Start here un summer 21. Felt welcome right away. Even though I'm in 1 dept we all help each other out. There is over time if you want it. Family feel across all team from all team from top down.

Pros

Staff Discount

Cons

Not much advancement available

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Fast paced but good experience

Restaurant Assistant (Former Employee) - Inverness - 17 February 2022

Fast paced restaurant but good working environment overall. Helpful staff and management whilst I worked there. Benefits and wage weren't great, a lot of staff were on minimum wage.

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Avoid at all costs

General Manager (Former Employee) - England - 12 February 2022

Dobbies does not care for its employees at all, it is built around a culture of fear. If you work here you will get used to hearing ‘you’re going to get us the brown envelope’ this is in relation to the fact a senior member of management may come into the store and dismiss you from the company with no explanation or reasoning. They expect everything from you with nothing in return not as much as a well, done there is no work to life balance you can be on an 8 hour contract yet be expected to work 30 hour weeks when it suits the company but will only get the 8 hours when you need more, ‘needs of the business’ is what tends to be said, management can expect to work 80+ hour weeks and 7 day weeks again due to ‘needs of the business’. The company is built on fear where no one will take responsibility for having done anything wrong putting all the blame on stores yet the company can’t even get stock into stores. All in all a very broken system with broken management.

Pros

Car park

Cons

Long hours, horrible management, ages systems, disorganised and confused upper management

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Supportive Staff and a chill environment.

Christmas Temp (Former Employee) - Morpeth, Northumberland - 30 January 2022

Worked over the Xmas period and had a lot of fun. The staff are very supportive and don't hassle you too much, they just let you get on with it. Management are friendly too, they won't bite

Pros

Chill atmosphere, Dog friendly

Cons

Nightmare on public transport

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Great first job, even though it was temporary I learned a lot

Restaurant Advisor - Seasonal (Former Employee) - Stockton-on-Tees, Durham - 27 January 2022

FabFabFab Such a lovely place to work, they were all so helpful and took me under their wing Fresh from school I couldn't have asked for anything better

Pros

The people

Cons

Breaks times are poor

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Okay for first job/part time job whilst studying

Restaurant Team Member (Former Employee) - Gillingham - 19 January 2022

I worked in the Foodhall at Dobbie's for just under a year. It's minimum wage so the pay isn't great, but the work itself is straightforward and easy to learn so it's okay for a first job. I worked mostly weekends which were obviously the busiest times and it was quite stressful, especially as there often wouldn't be enough staff so you found yourself having to multitask constantly. Management were nice enough but didn't offer a lot of support/encouragement in terms of career progression.