Dobbies Garden Centres Employee Reviews
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Not the best place to work for. Has gone greatly downhill over past few years. Don't believe 'competitive pay' its minimum wage and no pay raises ever offered. Work shifts changed at whim of management with not even 48 hours heads up. Very 'clique' orientated especially management and their favourite worker per department. Be expected to be fobbed off another by management who always say they are 'too busy' even for customer queries.
Pros
50% off food in restaurant
Cons
Rotas constantly changing
Company itself have a get on the bus or get out attitude, this stops any loyalty to the company and demotivates even the most dedicated employee. But the Perth store has amazing staff that make it a nice place to work if you aren’t ambitious and just want a minimum wage job to pay some bills.
Pros
Staff
Cons
Wages, owned by greedy elitists
I joined the company seven years ago and it was a pleasure to go to work and achieve job satisfaction, sadly due to a change in the management team all that changed and over the last couple of years the store and company has drastically gone downhill. Due to the stock the store now holds and the way it is merchandised the store now resembles a cheaper discount store but with a much higher ticket price and the once inspirational garden centre it was is no more. The job became more about tasks and meeting unrealistic deadlines set by head office rather than service and selling, it was sad that there was no longer time to spend helping the customers. The store was terribly short staffed, as a salaried member of staff I worked many extra unpaid hours to help out. The company has recently gone through a restructure and it’s very clear that to the management team that makes these decisions you are just a number and your experience, loyalty and commitment to the job means absolutely nothing to them. Due to the restructure I was made redundant after a 30 day consultation period. Sadly the way HR dealt with the redundancy process from start to finish was appalling and left me feeling like I had been sacked rather than made redundant, and that was a very sad way to end employment from a job that over the years I had loved and put so much time, effort and loyalty into !!!
Pros
The team of people that I worked with.
Cons
Extremely short staffed
Would not recommend working here. Store i was in expected the earth for min wage. No chance of moving up in the company. Terrible management overall.Only saving grace and the reason i stayed for so long was the team. They are the only reason dobbies stays afloat and management and head office do not realise this.Now company is handing out redundecies to the staff who have kept their buisness afloat during Covid-19 to make way for the staff that have been on furlough since march!
Pros
Friendly Staff
Cons
Wages, hours, stress. TPC!
Place is run very poorly management don't have a clue all bakery goods are bought in frozen the standard has seriously dropped but yet they still want top dollar for the product complete and utter joke the day I got made redundant the manager wasn't even in so tells you everything
Pros
None
Cons
None
Working at dobbies is busy and fast paced, you will always be doing a job no matter what as across the country there is a shortage of workforce at dobbies due to people quiting regularly as well as people working elsewhere. I personally work with a wonderful group of colleagues who have helped me settle into working there, they have also been great at teaching me the ropes to work quick and effectively. The management within the store and cafe is great but the further you head up in the chain the more lazy and careless the management becomes. For example it has been my first month working at the store and my pay has not been given on the right date i have had no contact from them to tell me what has happened and i asked my boss what happened but she was as clueless as i was because payroll didn't contact her as well. This is not the only time this has happened as i have heard that this happens regularly and i am still yet to be paid for my work.
Pros
50% discount at the restaurant
Cons
useless external management
I was there 11 years and I had 8 centre managers. Because of this there is no continuity and lots of confusion. Also there supervisors who took advantage of this and made other members of staffs life miserable by bigging themselves up at the expense of others and bullying was not dealt with. There was no opportunity for advancement and the HR department were ineffective. I submitted verbal, written complaints and formal grievances and ended up having a breakdown as I got no support.
Pros
25% discount
Cons
Awful management
When I started at Dobbies it was a lovely place to work in the restaurant and was a good team and brilliant lovely manager. Very fair and understanding. When he left and a new manager started it went downhill very quickly. 5 staff left in a month.
Pros
Good team work.
Cons
Bad manager.
No training or guidance, no walk around showing you where things are, no introduction to other colleagues, you might as well drop in from the sky, you have to find your own way and hope it’s right
Pros
No late nights
Cons
You are expected to know your job immediately and do the work of 3 people
Management at all levels treat the staff abominaly expect you to perform tasks such as heavy lifting which should need 2 or 3 people . Computer training on their systems is little or none
Pros
Can't think of any
Cons
Some staff work hard others get away with doing nothing
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I have recently changed my role in Dobbies and am enjoying what I do. My manager is a good manager and I get a thank you at the end of every shift. Which makes me feel appreciated .
Pros
Staff discount
Cons
Late shifts
Manu changes twice a year spring /summer and for autumn /winterAnd now incorporating gluten-free and vegan foods customer service is at the heart of the companys business as well as it's loyalty card with good benefits
Pros
Staff discount
Cons
Stressful days
You would think working at a garden centre would be easy and relaxed , if you have this mindset you will be unpleasantly surprised .
The hours of work are good 9-5 over 5 days , usually every other weekend off.
However Dobbies are disfunctional when it comes to its delivery process , everything has to be scanned in and you could receive over 70 plus deliveries a week . Combine that with only 6 colleagues in a day including the manager , it can be very stressful to complete the working of the deliveries once the the deliveries have been Authorised .it can be hard and hot work , especially inside the shop .staff are friendly and management are helpful
Pros
Sociable hours of work
Cons
No staff bonus, minimum pay, small contracts
Good place to work, good management staff, competitive wage, great people to work with, staff parking available and discounted meals at cafe are available.
Pros
Discount off items and good place to work
Cons
Can get busy
My time at Dobbies was diminishing and underwhelming. The Head Office was ignorant, lacked empathy, and the managers/directors did nothing to support me. At first, I was promised many things by the directors, with included fantastic job/skill opportunities to help my CV, but all this fell short, and I heard nothing back.
The overall communication and order from Head Office to the individual stores is terrible - they send us P.O.S with spelling mistakes and other misleading posters that confuse the customers. Dealing with upset customers each day due to the company's errors has taken its toll on me.
Most of our colleges are still on furlough (as of late August) because they don't want to go back. Sadly, I have seen a dramatic decrease in morale and personality since the company bought us last year.
Dobbies are also very tight with cash, with their staff budgets enabling the store to enter a rather dangerous state with just three employees in the whole building. If there were to be a fire, I dread to think about how we would cope (organising the quick escape for customers). From the outside, Dobbies seem to be a good company, but once you dig deeper and see the other side, you'll see their skeletons and incoordination.
If you're considering working for Dobbies, be prepared to feel quashed, walked-over and have minimal benefits or salary. I hope that Dobbies treat their store-employees better with improved support and communication, as the chain has some good potential.
Pros
Working with good colleagues
Cons
No support, poor head office, poor salary & false promises
The job itself was ok but there was a few employees that were just utter đź’© and useless but for some reason they kept there job. I'll just tell you how it is and when you tell management the truth about certain aspects and employee's which never went down very well with them at all. So again what happens is you'll either find yourself A- unemployed or B- final warning
Pros
Some brilliant staff ( great time when working together )
Cons
Some utterly useless staff that get treated like kings and queens while your treated like a minion
It's a stop gap job at best , you have to work your butt off for minimum wage only to watch certain management sitting in the restaurant drinking coffee/tea all day. But if you stop for a minute they will be on you like a shot .
Pros
Good shift patterns, friendly shop floor staff.
Cons
No career progression unless your face fits, management sit around drinking tea all day while the rest of us run around, Very clicky within management and departments.
Not a bad job, made some good friends whilst working there.
Management expect far too much and don't like you goong home even after staying late. All management can be found sitting in the cafe drinking coffee and chatting, says it all really.
Pros
Nice co workers
Cons
Poor management
My experience at working at dobbies was overall good as it is a low stress environment were staff are encouraged to work together on tasks. Also reasonable goals and tasks are given out to staff members
What was once a great company and place to work has sadly been degraded by numerous changes of senior leadership and direction, with poor oversight of store managers, leading to poor working relationships, lack of leadership and trust in teams. Ok place to work if you don’t want advancement or to learn on the job. You will need to leave to advance.
Pros
Free parking
Cons
Management
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