The business has changed significantly over the years, but under the current leadership there is a huge focus on change for the sake of change, increased targets and measures daily, Halfords claim to be customer first but in reality the business is focussing on data capture, unrealistic targets with a low labour volume when compared to the sheer volume of task and the retail side is now seen as less important than the garages by those at the top.It's still a good job and pays very well but it is no longer any fun, every day is firefighting and reacting to a remote head office that have lost touch.Hopefully a change at the top will bring back the better aspects that have vanished over the last 5 years.

Pros

Great salary if you move stores and support the area manager.

Cons

Horrific work life balance and constant knee jerk reactions from head office

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Avoid

Specialist (Former Employee) - Bangor, Gwynedd - 21 May 2022

Avoid if you want a stress free life, some people are great to work with others are awful, constant mood swings and wondering what mood you will walk in to, busy periods don’t expect help you ask for help on the headset and depending who’s on you’ll receive help other times you’ll just receive a “what’s up” welst a handful of them are in the back drinking cups of tea/coffee eating biscuits. Some peoples heads are way too far up their backside and think they are in a way higher role than what they actually are and think they can speak to staff however they want, also very two faced place to work nice to your face but slag everyone off in the back which various colleagues have heard, also a lot of favouritism going on and certain people get whatever they want off and get to select their days off welst others get what their given. A lot of colleagues dislike it there but keep quiet as otherwise they will just get bullied at the workplace, very toxic environment to work at.

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Insights into Halfords

Based on 194 survey responses

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Fair pay for job
Time and location flexibility

Fun workplace

Mechanic (Former Employee) - Frimley - 19 May 2022

Fast pace motivating place to work with good management at my branch. Worked around my family life. If you work well you get commission based too ups on earnings

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Under-paid, lots of targets, poor incentives

Customer Solutions Advisor (Current Employee) - South West - 18 May 2022

Lots of pressure to hit targets. Numerous targets to hit per day. Higher management is invisible and their communications are limited and not in touch with basic employees. Pay is very poor for the amount of skills, training and work you have to do. They have ONLY JUST raised the hourly wage to just above minimum (50p above!!), because the entire workforce complained. Good company if you’re a student looking for some money whilst studying or gaining knowledge in the motoring or cycling career path, but very poor if you need to actually LIVE on your wages!!

Pros

Good for students, ideal if entering into cycling or motoring trade

Cons

Poor pay, high targets, work pressures, invisible higher management, poor incentives, “naming and shaming” of whether you hit the targets or not.

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Good job ruined by management

Customer Service Advisor (Former Employee) - Chesterfield - 18 May 2022

The job itself was fun - helping customers with bicycle-related queries, assembling, setting up, and repairing bicycles and most of the co-workers were a great bunch to work with.But the managers. An absolute omnishambles.From the top level with ludicrous KPIs - almost none of which were actually "key". They clearly heard the term somewhere and just decided that to take every possible metric and relabel it as a KPI to beat their staff around the head with when they inevitably fail to any of them. How many bike tyres get filled with Slime (a puncture sealant) per week, for example, is not in any way "key" to Halford's success or viability as a business yet it is one of the 20+ "KPIs" tracked on a daily basis.To the middle managers who have no idea how anything at the company actually works but instead drive around from site to site to browbeat store managers.To the store managers who insist the staff must [redacted to conform with the review guidelies] and are unable to plan and execute something as simple as a monthly rota.

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Pays the bills

Audio Technician (Former Employee) - Oswestry - 17 May 2022

I enjoyed working at this company, sometimes customers could be difficult but that's a given in retail. Good team, generally very relaxed place to work, never got mad busy which was nice.

Pros

Relaxed atmosphere, decent hours

Cons

Retail.....not many opportunities to advance if you wanted to

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Underpaid for skilled work

Vehicle Technician (Current Employee) - Newcastle upon Tyne - 16 May 2022

Avoid this company I worked here for a year and you are underpaid for your skills and not appreciated by management halfords autocentres is fine for mechanics with no experience and very little qualifications

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Strong head needed

Manager (Current Employee) - Do not wish to state - 15 May 2022

A strong head is needed for sure, same with all manners of jobs, get the right team and support and it's all plain sailing, luckily I have this here and there is all manner of further training offered for career progression

Pros

Good communication, help and support at ease

Cons

Work/home balance can be hard dependant on role

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Sucks the life out of you.

Deputy Manager (Former Employee) - Northallerton - 12 May 2022

You don’t realise how draining this job is until you leave. You are a number. Not a person. You will never be appreciated and they will always expect more from you and give you nothing in return.

Pros

Learning

Cons

Never enough colleagues

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Great people, heavily target based role

Specialist (Former Employee) - Lancashire - 11 May 2022

I really loved my job initially but sadly due such high staff turnover it seems impossible to get a strong team that's committed. The constant head battering on target sales that most of the time aren't achievable is probably the biggest problem in store. Not just ours, I've heard the same complaints from other store colleagues across our region. Pushing 3, 4 or 5 metrics onto each customer at the till like a robot is not us "being all about the customer" it's embarrassing! There's an art to upselling, it needs to be worked into the conversation where necessary. I was sick of abuse off customers for wanting to take an email address and VRN number, can you give me feedback, do you want to join the vip club, do you want a 10 point check etc etc... they'd only popped in for a £1.50 sale! You lose customers that way and quite clearly staff too! Training is abysmal, again, being pushed through modules without the chance to soak in what's being taught then sent out onto vehicles with no experience (previous manager issue, not current). However with the pressure on managers to perform like circus animals and never a full team of staff I can see this being a wider issue than just our store. Over the last 6 months I've seen some of the most committed, passionate staff leave for these reasons and many more. Current manager - passionate to turn the store around, fair, great sense of humour despite the stresses of the job and I wish him all the luck in the world.

Pros

Met some fantastic colleagues and learnt a few little life skills

Cons

Rubbish work life balance, stressful, high staff turnover, training is poor.

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Good job security and work life balance

Customer Service Advisor (Current Employee) - London, England - 10 May 2022

Stressful job as it can be disorganised and you’re expected to pick up all the slack but rewarding especially if you feel like you e helped a customer. The pay isn’t the best but the job security makes up for it, recommend if you need a reliable source of income.

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Be a yes man

Technician (Former Employee) - Bellshill, North Lanarkshire - 8 May 2022

They want u to do all the work but not pay u to do the job . Then moan to u when it’s not right. The area manager isn’t nice to work for. His way or no way.

Pros

None

Cons

No lunch break

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Extremely stressful place to work, constant hassle to reach stupid targets and zero recognition.

Customer Services Advisor (Current Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 8 May 2022

Ive worked for the company for nearly three years and for the first one and a half it was pretty good. The atmosphere was relaxed, targets were easily met and the customers seemed happy with the company. Then things changed, jobs got cut, everyone got a different role, different hours and very hard targets. The job itself is complex enough and to say im a services specialist i spend a lot of time doing everything but. Having to get everything done on time is nearly impossible now. You have to ask unfair things of customers, always get an email, their vrn, cycle care and £35 worth of accessories. A lot of people can barely afford a bike let alone all these add ons. Then because you dont reach the ridiculous targets you get bollocked for it. The only reason i stay is because of my collegues, theyre like family.

Pros

One of the few available job roles in the cycling retail industry. Staff discount.

Cons

Ridiculous targets, barely any hours, stressful environment

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Dreadful.

Services Sales Advisor (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 3 May 2022

Very poor management, inadequate training, and labour cuts made it a very stressful environment to work in. The pay is about average for a retail based environment.

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Heavily target focused

Sales Advisor (Former Employee) - Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh - 3 May 2022

Heavily target focused Ask a lot from employees for a nominal wage.It's a main, well known high-street retailer so you get what you expect. Very busy periods and demanding customers. Would be suitable for students or people between jobs, but it's far from anyone's dream.

Pros

Job security

Cons

Long shifts

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Don’t apply

Halfords mobile expert (Former Employee) - Warrington - 29 April 2022

As soon as you find and notice faults in management and route planning they will find anything they can to get rid of you like they did me, also if your caught speeding they will purposely give the wrong address like that did to me twice, your always at fault unless you can prove yourself innocent and even if there’s no actual evidence of you doing anything they will terminate you because they “believe” you did it, you will work 12-15hours a day, they will harass you to do overtime on your day off they expect you to work 8 days week 53 weeks of the year! the vans are un roadworthy and not fully stocked with tools you need which is what’s promised when you join, other techs will take jacks etc off your van, you’ll be expected to wear complete full uniform in blistering heat and the temp in the back of the van is 10 degrees hotter, all in all it’s by far the worst company to work for, even after you’ve left they will still cause problems for you

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Bad pay, bad management, busy work day.

Automotive Technician (Current Employee) - Cardiff - 22 April 2022

Good to work for initially but management are toxic and often go behind your back. Pay is way below industry standard even though fitting charges constantly increase.

Pros

Different everyday. Hands on.

Cons

Toxic management. Low pay. Long days. Expected to do a lot with minimal training.

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Shambles

Tyre Fitter / technician / slave (Former Employee) - Paisley - 20 April 2022

Typical day at Halfords starts with taking out vehicles that stay over night, then there’s a “Team meeting” and then you start working on your customers vehicles, 9/10 your more than like to get pulled off your vehicle to do a light bulb change/battery check/wiper change, while your service is being left each time. The place is always over booked with work, and always understaffed, meaning you either get your lunch extremely late in the day or you miss it completely (especially on a Saturday!!) if you fail to make targets or bonus your classed as a failure!! Even though your doing your job to advise customers what there car needs. The only people that fail you is the front house staff that don’t get items sold or parts ordered are wrong!! Causing a delay in your work rate! If your supposed to finish at 17.30 during the week don’t expect to leave for 17.30 expect to leave at 17.45… 17.59… or even 18.15 and you aren’t paid for this time and get no time back in return.If I was anyone looking to go to Halfords for a job… DON’T!!

Pros

Working with the other Techs

Cons

Long hours, working over time, no work/life balance, always work a Saturday

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Worst company ever worked for

Sales Advisor (Former Employee) - Darlington - 20 April 2022

Check all paperwork they sign and especially check the pay they offer you is correct as they changed their mind after 2months even with a signed contract from a manger

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High pressure sales no care for middle managers or staff

Manager (Former Employee) - Essex - 16 April 2022

Pressured into selling things customers cars do not need. Target to find at least 2 things wrong to quote for on each and every invoice and then convert them into sales. Long hours and weekends. Hateful place to work

Pros

None

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A fun and rewarding experience

Cycle Technician and Customer Service Advisor (Current Employee) - Sutton-In-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire - 15 April 2022

Go into Halfords with the right attitude and you will find it to be a lot of fun and a great platform on which to develop transferable skills.The pay is relatively low for skilled positions, but this is offset by multiple employee benefits.

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