Questions and Answers about Howdens Joinery Co

4 hour naught for the good marketing

Yes you can be a bit flexible some people start at 7 and finish at 4 some start at 8 and finish at 5. Guess it's managers discretion.

At my store we have every other Saturday off but not in September and October. If we are having a bad month we might have to work 3/4 Saturdays.

Read some facts about the company, memorise a kitchen range and speak highly of it. Dress smartly, have a coffee. Complement the small showrooms. Try and be light hearted as it is a close nit environment and you need to show you get on with others. Don't be too serious.

Give them more time off. Randomly say you have worked hard this week get yourself off early.

Very proud

Massive bullying culture. Most depots are ran by uneducated, unprofessional managers of whom many are in that position because they are friends with equally uneducated and unprofessional area managers and regional managers. Nepotism is rife in Howdens. Several years I gave to this company and when it comes to career progression it literally is a case of "Its not what you know, its who you know".
Depot managers are actively allowed to recruit their children/siblings/cousins/best friends to work in the same depot as themselves and fast track and promote them up the ranks ahead of other more hardworking, loyal, deserving and long serving employees as well as protect them.
This happens all over the country, even though they have a Staff Handbook.
Has a depot manager ever rang HR to report a blood relative for poor performance or inappropriate behaviour?? I would bet my last dollar the answer is 'NO'. Everything gets covered up if its in their interests to do so. This scenario alone makes an absolute mockery of the staff handbook.
Depot managers are literally bullet proof providing they are not on the rob. They are protected by both their Area Managers and HR, meaning if your boss doesn't like you, he can deliberately tell lies about you to ruin your career and with their blessing and support, they will simply take his/her word as Gospel. One word that you are the bad for business is all it takes, when more often than not, it's the depot manager who is bad for the business. I worked for 4 depot managers in my time. Every single one of them was bent and corrupt to the core in their own ways and not one of them was intelligent, just pals with their superiors.

It's pretty much as follows:
imagine there are six candidates for a new job at a depot at Howdens Joinery or an internal promotion.
five of them have bags of experience in the industry, a fantastic CV, excellent references and would require little or no training in their new role. They are ready.

One has no experience in the industry, does know anything about kitchens and joinery, his CV is awful, but he is either big pals with the area manager or his dad runs the depot he's applied to work in and is also the interviewer.

Guess who's getting the job.

One a month

Helps if you know some one who works there