m&s café Employee Reviews

I worked a 35 hour week and it was one of the most stressful experiences I've ever felt. We were constantly understaffed and the manager did not allocate staff properly. I loved the talking and socialising aspects of the cafe however the poor management and lack of training made it too difficult to work long term.We were often times understaffed and though this is common, the managers had poor allocation of man power and disregard for feeling of the individuals. I was often times left as the only member of the team who was cleaning and clearing tables as well as unloading them onto the rack to be put through to the dishwasher while pushing a big metal stacker through the cafe which is both stressful feeling like the eye of attention of all customers but also physically draining if you are working 7 hour shifts and that's the only thing you're doing. Being at the counter serving customers is one of the besst experiences purely because then you aren't stuck walking 8+ miles every day. The managers don't seem to care about tedium as even when you do get the chance to work on the counter they will just send you straight back to clearing tables because you don't have experience (but how can you obtain experience if they keep sending you back down). You were also expected to do much more than members from other departments of the store which would be fine if the cafe member were paid higher wages (since you have to learn more skills and are required to do more in a more stressful position) but everyone is paid the same and in the end it just didn't feel worth it.

Pros

20% staff discount

Cons

Long stressful hours, paid the same as other roles in the company despite having a much more difficult job

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Fast Paced Environment

Customer Assistant (Current Employee) - Ballymena, County Antrim - 21 February 2020

Busy café where many people pass through. Full coffee training and health and safety given. Good customers and team cooperation. Staff discount card is good.

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Insights into m&s café

Based on 3 survey responses

What people like

Feeling of personal appreciation
Support from manager
Inclusive work environment

Areas for improvement

Clear sense of purpose
Ability to meet personal goals
Energising work tasks

Good pay, run badly

Café Customer Assistant and Barista (Former Employee) - Milton Keynes - 19 June 2019

The management was very poor for a company so big. The pay was very good and I received a good discount. The other workers were friendly. Too many hours and impossible to book holiday.

Pros

Gained experience

Cons

Set hours, could not change at all

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good pay but overworked and understaffed

m&s cafe (Former Employee) - Middlesex - 20 May 2019

Good pay and friendly staff but marginalized from the larger to store so treated as a marginalized part of the company as they were often understaffed

Pros

25% discount

Cons

understaffed, rota was constantly changing so hard to make plans outside of work

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Productive and fun

Customer Assistant (Former Employee) - Biggleswade, Bedfordshire - 15 April 2019

I enjoyed my time working in M&S Cafe and would consider returning to work there. The responsibilities given were easy to pick up and enjoyable. There was never a dull moment with easy to get along with staff, nice management and new challenges every shift.

Pros

High salary, long breaks

Cons

No flexibility

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Barista

barista (Former Employee) - Southampton, Hampshire - 28 October 2018

It was a good job because they gave you set hours a week. I would work in the evening and on the weekends. I enjoyed perfecting my areas of work. I struggled when it was busy

Pros

free coffee sometimes.

Cons

hard work

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Productive and varied workspace

Customer Assistant (Former Employee) - London Colney, Hertfordshire - 6 August 2018

Interesting and varied work which means you have to be adaptable to whatever circumstances arise. Sometimes very pressurised and busy. Great team spirit and meaningful relationships built with their staff.

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Productive, Fast paced work environment

Team member (Former Employee) - Blackpool, Lancashire - 10 April 2018

A typical day would start by cleaning yourself up and getting ready for the day, this could include getting tabbles chairs and trays ready. All snacks like cakes put back out on display and all the machines filled up with thier various contents, the day would then continue like any other typical day in a cafe, well a very busy cafe. It was hard work and fast paced but it was fair and the people working thier were great. They took care of thier workers.

Pros

several staff discounts over different departments

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Nice colleagues

Cafe Assistant (Former Employee) - Newcastle upon Tyne, ENG - 21 January 2016

Hard work in a busy cafe. Learned customer service skills. Lovely Co-workers. Hardest part was during peak hours. Most enjoyable was making customers happy.

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