Holland & Barrett Employee Reviews
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Horrible place to work. No work life balance. Not enough pay for what you had to do. Terrible area manager. You couldn't even have proper breaks due to the lack of staffing.
Cons
long hours poor management
These people don't care about you at all, all the care about is profit at the risk of their customers health. As a store worker you have to give consultations to people and recommend products- easy enough until they tell you to recommend things that the customer may not need just so you can sell 3 or more products in a single transaction. If you have ANY health conditions at all, consider working somewhere else. They don't care and they will only see you as a problem.
Pros
No pro is worth it
Cons
Ableist
No chance of progression, all done by word of mouth. Benefits are awful, sick pay is awful. Health and Safety is awful. Communication is awful, no appraisals. Wouldn’t reccommend.
Pros
Pay was good
Cons
Poor benefits
Uncaring management about human rights, cold during the winter till the point you cannot feel your feet. Repetitive rat race. Does not comply with their brand agenda. Clear separation between nationalities and certain benefits being directed towards some. Almost no growth opportunities and treated as a robot/slave. DO NOT RECOMEND
Pros
free stuff way past best before date
Cons
not secure, cold
My store manager was great. The learning was intense and full on but interesting. The company is quite backward and haphazard though and doesn't encourage much thinking outside the box. Wages were often wrong and not paid on time.
Pros
Good staff discount and great training
Cons
Having to do training in your own time
Stressful & management only care about one thing their self & their bonus, the management treat employees like dirt along with no idea. People get promoted in secret. No benefits of any kind along with poor moral. I resigned due to stress from the management & incompetence. GREED is all that H & B care about.HR only care about management too.Management don’t have the experience or the training to deal with people correctly, employees are a just money earners not human beings with feelings.It is a shame as the employees are such wonderful people but all feel let down.I feel H&B will end up like the other company’s gone due to mis management & poor decisions.Head office should take a step back and realise what’s going on.
Pros
None
Cons
None
I enjoyed working at Holland and Barrett, there was a lot to learn and the staff were friendly and supportive. If you like learning new things and talking to customers you'll probably enjoy it here. Expect to advise customers on the products instore and do a little multi-tasking at times.
Very stressful, no communication with the manager. Supervisor trying to do all the rotas to her needs. No team work. Being used when convenient to certain members of staff.Blame put onto certain members of staff as another member of staff (supervisor) has made a mistake but blames someone else.Poor company to work for.
Pros
Nope
Cons
Nope
Theres so much potential here. You get qualifications in nutrition, learn about all the products, and each full course you complete in training, you get like 30p payraise per hour. By the time i left I'd gone from 7.50 an hour to 9.50 an hour.
Pros
25% discount on top of current promos.
Cons
Depends which manager you have, some employees are best kept away from, people come to the store to steal things of value, you get the occasional know it all customer who tries to teach you about your job
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There is a lot to learn before you become a qualified advisor but it is very interesting and rewarding work. It makes you feel good that you are helping people with their health and well being. You are encouraged to learn constantly as the products change; old ones go and new stuff comes in. I really enjoy my work.
Pros
Great colleagues. Great customers. Great atmosphere.
Cons
Pay is not quite up to scratch for what is expected of you.
Overbearing management, no room for progression, no respect for work/life balance. Initial training was v. good, but no time made for additional training. Not worth it at entry level as you have to pass a mandatory A level equivalent qualification in supplementation in order to pass your 12 week trial. Company only pays min wage despite having to have this qualification.
This company only cares about money, they will make you run the store on your own if they are short staffed regardless of a holland and barrett staff member recently getting attacked when they closed the store. If you have any mental health conditions do not go anywhere near this company, if you dont have any mental health conditions, working for this company will give you them.
Pros
Leaving the company
Worked for the company for 20 years. Good employer. High level of staff training and good staff incentives for hard work. Would recommend as and employer.
When i worked for H& B the manager there at the time was disrespectful,rude unprofessional. Definitely not a people person.If she didn't like you she gave you all the heavy jobs made you stay longer than your shift.was rude to some customers..The work load regards knowledge. They expected you to be almost like a doctor.it was very intensive .if you didn't pass the tests you got your bonuses stopped until you did.no support from the manager.Being supervisor you worked every bank holiday & sundays no time off to spend with family ..not a good place to work ..
Pros
None
Cons
No support from management.
Worked there as assistant manager then store manager. No communication between head office and managers Salaries are really low, too many courses have to done every month.Allowed hours shrink with less staff
Pros
Relaxed
Cons
Low salaries and increasing pressure
Company has changed since last take over, profit and compliance above all else. Training is full on and always on going, not easy to fit it in to work hrs due to the pressure and lone trading hours in stores. A non stop on the go place to work! I know that not all areas are the same but ours had an RBM who came from another firm and had no clue about actually working in one of our stores, it showed! Lone trading hours in Store are too high, expected to work at times for 7 days in a row when no cover available, 4 weeks in a row at one stage. You can put yourself out working in other stores when needed but struggle to get cover back in return as all stores struggle for staff. Everything is store managers fault even if the issues are totally out of your control, processes against you. Additional work added at no notice, and never any extra time allocated for it! The demands are shocking, stress levels high, turn over huge. Promotion changes are always a nightmare, and full of mistakes. Back of house was shocking in my Store, boiling in the summer (stock melted) freezing in the winter, with no ventilation. When money was tight the one staff perk we had ( free tea & coffee) was stopped! Hard to switch off from and you felt like you needed to keep up even when on holiday. No back up when needed, except for favourites. Pay was ok but loads of staff were always being paid incorrectly, never seemed to improve. Staff discount is now at times less than customers can get especially if ordering online when deals are available, and is therefore not the perk it used to be.
Cons
Lone trading, felt unsupported by upper management
I worked at Holland and Barrett last year and it was a terrible experience.It was stressful right from the start.They give you months worth of studying and expect you to complete it in 3 weeks, they have no consideration for you if you are shy or nervous , they expect you to sell and push sales straight away.I was treated terribly because I couldn't complete the months worth of work in 3 weeks.Bottom line is , they are an awful company to work for and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
Pros
discount
Cons
Everything
amazing people that work there. awful management however.the team in almost every shop are fun people, all different ethnicities making it fun to interact and learn stuff about each other. really positive colleague friendliness.however the management are shocking! I'm never felt so unvalued by such a pr*ck of a manager. apart from that really good place to work
Pros
A levels, good hours
Cons
delivery are big, management are bad.
pros - Store manager was fantastic, caring, understanding, approachable and easy to work with.cons - The level of training to undertake is ridiculous, they are not lying when they say the training is not for the faint hearted. It is intense, If you are really interested in alternative remedies, products and lifestyle choice this this may be for you. However if you just need/want a job in retail you will be very out of your depth, very quickly.I felt uneasy having to recommend products to customers. It felt like I had to have the knowledge of a doctor.Afterwork every night I would spend hours revising and doing online training.overall to sum up if you are interested in free from food and natural remedies and products then great go for it you will thrive there. However if you aren't familar with natural products and remedies and don't really have an interest in them you may find yourself out of depth and in an alien world. THIS IS NOT A NORMAL RETAIL JOB THIS IS MORE LIKE AN APPRENTICESHIP
Pros
store manager was fantastic
Cons
you need to have the knowledge a medical professional has
The training on product knowledge, ailments, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies is amazing aslong as you genuinely care, I feel we could do so much more to be the eliete in our field if the stores weren't so understaffed on a continuous basis, fully staff the store and kpis would be excelled and customers would always get the best advice
Pros
We could be the expert in our field, which is what the bosses expext is to strive for
Cons
Understaffed, supervisors being cut, over worked manager's, unhappy store teams
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