Sainsbury’s Employee Reviews

This was a tough job with lots of time pressure to meet delivery targets and physically demanding as well as carrying heavy loads. Good if you wanted 'paid for' exercise.

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Nice place to work, stressful in a small store

Warehouse Operative (Former Employee) - Bristol - 28 September 2023

I had fun working here, as it’s nice in a Local store as you get to know regulars and to get to know your colleagues quickly and you become friendly quickly. However in a Local store, you take on the role of every department in a large Sainsbury’s store, and when you work long shifts this can be difficult. In my store we constantly needed shifts covered and although I had 14 hours contracted, only one week out of my 6 months there did I work 14 hours as I ended up working almost full time by the end. The rewards at Sainsbury’s are good and you do feel appreciated for your work at times. Vouchers and staff nominated prizes occur, and on regional manager visits I was awarded a voucher for extra work I had picked up. However in the end along with my own personal issues I ended up leaving 6 months into working there as this job I had taken up alongside uni had taken over and I was burnt out. It’s okay working there but you feel very responsible for keeping the store running even when you aren’t there, and a bit of pressure to pick up shifts compared to people who worked and never ever picked up hours and that was something that management had agreed with them.

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Insights into Sainsbury’s

Based on 4,064 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Ability to meet personal goals
Fair pay for job

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Support from manager
Energising work tasks

Great people and competitive pay

Counter Assistant (Former Employee) - Westhoughton, Greater Manchester - 28 September 2023

Overall would really recommend working for Sainsburys, they treat their staff well and pay is decent. Only drawback is the constant turnover of managers as it makes it feel overall unsettled, but as a whole, really liked it and met some lovely people.

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Poor communication and inconsistent hours

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Farnham Water Lane - 28 September 2023

Awful Management, Low pay, impossible to secure holidays, abusive customers, and often lazy colleagues who seem to get away with things due to ‘who they know’ overall unprofessional environment

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Easy Job Role/ Challenging Managers & Staff

Trading Assistant (Current Employee) - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire - 28 September 2023

Simple and straight forward tasks however it comes with the odd few toxic colleagues and mangers who don’t know how to divide work load evenly but apart from its a good and reliable job while being able to pick your hours.

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Average

Customer Service Assistant (Former Employee) - Swindon, Wiltshire - 28 September 2023

It was okay, can be tiring. Employees are genuinely very friendly and helped me a lot when i started there. Managers can be strict but over time you get used to it

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Good for part time

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 27 September 2023

My time at Sainsbury's as a part-time sales assistant during uni was a rewarding experience, honing my skills and connecting with wonderful colleagues.

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Sainsburys’s is such a big Retail company that is always looking for better ways to improve for the best of the customers and employees.

Store Supervisor (Former Employee) - Edinburgh - 27 September 2023

A typical day at work is always started with a huddle to keep us informed about achievements, news and daily activities. In the end they focus on employees any areas they prefer to improve for the day how they are feeling etc… employees are always greeted by the manager in the begging and the end of their shift. What have I learned? I have come out from Sainsbury’s with a lot of skills, knowledge, confidence to thrive on my life journey. I have gained recognition for my hard work. I had managers who believed in me and invested on me to be even better at my job. I’ve learned to be more compassionate and also a fair challenger. I became more driven more focus, better at prioritising. I made friends and when working there the environment was pleasant we felt like family working together 8 hours a day. We achieved targets we cheered the success and we celebrated employees birthdays. Sainsbury’s continues to be an amazing retailer and I wish all the best.

Pros

Development

Cons

Work life balance as a Duty Manager.

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Easy work and decent pay

Trading Assistant (Former Employee) - Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire - 27 September 2023

All I had to do was put away stock away on shelves and answer any question the customers had. Was working alone most of the time and the pay was good for my age at the time.

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meh

Night Staff (Current Employee) - Camberly, Surrey - 27 September 2023

bad pay, long hours, no incentive to work hard, no recognition when you do. just a job u get when u need one, then get a new one as soon as u can. soo

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Jobs at Sainsbury’s

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Warehouse Operative - Argos

Friendly workplace

Trading Assistant (Former Employee) - Penrith, Cumbria - 27 September 2023

I found that the Penrith store was a friendly place to work, nice atmosphere, helpful management team and colleagues. I enjoyed being part of the team.

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Great dun while working for the customer

Code Controller (Current Employee) - Carlisle - 26 September 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?The colleagues make the store, the company only gives the direction they need and is up to you...What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Depende on the day and how things rolled out from the depot What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Great team work, and great management What is a typical day like for you at the company?Checking dates and reducing prices

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Poor management

Online Assistant (Former Employee) - Midlands - 26 September 2023

Pay was fair for the unsociable hours worked. High staff turnover of shoppers in the store because of the ever increasing pick rate target. Team were really lovely but some management treated staff unfairly and struggled to get any holiday time booked.

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Decent pay whilst studying

Trading Assistant (Former Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 26 September 2023

Worked here whilst studying for law degree decent pay if you are willing to put in the hours on top of your studying and can be flexible on shift patterns

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Good hours and pay

Trading Assistant (Current Employee) - Hythe, Kent - 26 September 2023

Your hours are always the same so you dont have to plan around the days you work, good pay. Managment could do more to help out. Always seems understaffed and manament wont do anything about it. Other than that its pretty decent

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Too many managers not enough shop floor staff

Customer Experience Assistant (Former Employee) - Cornwall - 25 September 2023

Never enough hours allocated for each department to run smoothly. Departments constantly have to borrow workers from other areas leaving them struggling. Management rarely available to assist.

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Good, enjoyable place to work

Trading Assistant (Former Employee) - Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh - 25 September 2023

I worked in a bigger Sainsbury’s, managers don’t really support you. Full of good people but definitely got a weird culture, there’s a lot of talking behind backs (managers).

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Good first job, not somewhere you'll want to stay

Trading Assistant (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 25 September 2023

Fairly typical supermarket job with decent pay for students. 10% in-store discount which also applies to Argos (very handy). Work can get very monotonous and some customers can be difficult (as you'd expect)

Pros

Decent pay for a first job, 10% discount at Sainsbury's and Argos with Sainsbury's rising to 15% every payday for 4 days, can progress into management

Cons

Managers can be a mixed bag (either very good and personable or the complete opposite), the role is incredibly monotonous

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Good place to work

Assistant (Former Employee) - Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh - 25 September 2023

Loved it no complaints its a great place to work with supportive colleagues great perks and benefits with good discount and a great social commitee with good events

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Fun, Good Work/Life Balance

Trading Assistant (Current Employee) - Derry, County Londonderry - 25 September 2023

Good place to work, target driven job so expected to hit targets on a daily basis. Great sense of belonging and being part of a team. Only downside in my opinion is that it can be repetitive at times

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Good department

Online Shopper (Former Employee) - Carlisle, Cumbria - 25 September 2023

No growth or opportunities for advancing your career, most of the staff are easy to get along with, plenty of overtime around Christmas. Holidays are hard to get unless you book them before you get employed.

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