Smyths Toys Employee Reviews

Fun colleagues and very nice and understanding managers, a very casual and relaxed environment usually but it can get stressful especially when it's busy or we are in a rush to get something done

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Awful

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - Cumbria - 1 December 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Awful company to work for full of bullies and bad management What is the most stressful part about working at the company?The bullies and back stabbers.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Awful place to work no respect bad management staff are.liars

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Jobs at Smyths Toys

Just awful

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Telford, Shropshire - 29 November 2023

It’s evident that there is inappropriate relationships between managers also lots of bullying to other colleagues by management is you don’t immediately answer the head because you bringing something from the warehouse or talking to a customer or even getting stuff down for customer you get shouted at on the shop floor also if go to a different aisle to show someone where the item there looking for is and someone moves something in the aisle you were just in you also get shouted at only good thing about Smyths is some of the other sales assistants are nice and helpful unlike the managers only good part of this company is leaving and some weeks they only rota you for 8 hours

Pros

Some staff are nice

Cons

Management are bully’s

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Fun workplace

Clerk (Former Employee) - Epping, Essex - 23 November 2023

The place is genuinely a fun place to work at. The staff are helpful to teach u the ropes and dont drag you for making a mistake, and the positive child centric aspect of the job helps you not get bored

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Ok place

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Nottingham, Nottinghamshire - 22 November 2023

Hours are ok, plenty at Christmas. 8 hour contract is a bit rubbish. Competitive pay, staff discount. Never feel valued. It's just retail. Better for young people.

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Insights into Smyths Toys

Based on 483 survey responses

What people like

Ability to meet personal goals
Feeling of personal appreciation
Fair pay for job

Areas for improvement

Support from manager
Sense of belonging
Energising work tasks

Don’t work there

Customer Service (Former Employee) - Barnsley - 22 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Nowt apart from the customersWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?Not having a good boss to understand

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Great company

Warehouse Operative (Current Employee) - Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire - 21 November 2023

Good company to work for the team and management are fabulous can't do enough for employees 500 a week cash in hand no tax beat that sleeping allowed when quiet

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It's a really great place to work.

Cleaning Operative (Current Employee) - Derbyshire - 19 November 2023

Very enjoyable and professional. Fantastic news about the kitchen porter vacancy. Yes I can do that and anyday and the position of burglary's is your address. Yes I can do that. Yes I can do that for the position soon as possible for me to.

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A stressful time and anxiety triggered

Customer Assistant (Former Employee) - Wolverhampton, West Midlands - 19 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Staff and management are bullies What is the most stressful part about working at the company?The management and staff .No support if a complaint is called inWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?Stressful...deterioration of mental health What is a typical day like for you at the company?Stressful situations. Bullying by management and staff

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Amazing work

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Crayford, Kent - 14 November 2023

People were amazing had to stop working due to personal health however it was a great place to work with weekly pay, great managers and fun environment

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Fun place to work for Christmas

Retail Expert (Current Employee) - Coventry Airport park - 8 November 2023

A typical day at work, starts with me on a till, and finishes with me on the shopfloor tidying the shelves. I have learnt about games consoles and to do click and collect. The management are great and really care about you. The workplace culture is fun and friendly but professional and really like working here, the hardest part of my job is tidying up at the end of the day. Interacting with the Children that come into the store.

Pros

Changes to progress

Cons

Long hours

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Pretty boring/very chill job

Customer Assistant (Former Employee) - Wallsend, Tyne and Wear - 6 November 2023

I worked as a Christmas temp there, so for like three or so months. It was fine for that amount of time but don’t think I could have stayed there any longer. It was a pretty chill job but could sometimes be extremely boring since some days you would come into work and there would be practically nothing to do. I would come in and ask my manager on shift what there was to do and a lot of the time their reply would be “nothing really, just have a walk around”. I mainly just stocked shelves and did abit of click and collect. Everyday for like the last two hours most of the staff have to walk around the isles and just tidy up. I was about 17/18 around the time I worked there and the wage was shocking. £5.10 an hour it was, you would think for quite a well know company they would pay their staff better but clearly not. There was certain staff members who would talk down to me and others who were my age working there, not treating us very nicely. I think it was quite obvious to most people however nothing was ever done about it. Overall alright place to work if you don’t want to do much. Alright for a little Christmas job.

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Stressful and frustrating

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - Birmingham - 6 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Interview was easy, some of the workers were friendly and gave basic training. What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Cliquey work environment. No proper training I was trained partly but another worker who didn’t show me in full how to use the tills. They didn’t put the break down on the ladders which was a safety risk and felt unsafe when another worker would push me along to another part of the shelf. What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Cliquey and stressful. Some of the workers and managers were very condescending. What is a typical day like for you at the company?Stocking shelves, on the tills or doing click and collect orders.

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Friendly

Cleaner (part-time) (Current Employee) - Exeter, Devon - 5 November 2023

Lovely place to clean and friendly staff. Early mornings. You have enough time to do all the work with having to rush around. Can be flexible if you need to change your days

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Stressful environment and big negative impact on my mental health

Toy Expert (Former Employee) - Maidstone - 28 October 2023

Everyday is pretty much the same, serve customers, tidy the shop and most days get abuse from customers that don't get their own way due to the policies in place.I learnt a lot about merchandising stock, handling cash and cashing up and the end of the shift, car seat fitting an building relationships with new mums when buying essentials for their babies and ensuring they get everything they need and feel satisfied. Management was 50/50 some knew how to manage a team whereas others did not and it wasn't a very nice environment to work in.Hardest part of the job was not having much of a social life outside of work because of the kinds of hours I was working christmas time especially when doing nights, and just not getting any praise for the amount of effort and energy I was putting into my work. The most enjoyable part of the job was serving on the nursery department, meeting parents and listening to their wants and needs for their baby and being able to ensure they leave the store feeling satisfied with their purchases and that they know any issues they may face with the products they will always be able to come back for advice or any help they may need.

Pros

Discounts and decent pay

Cons

Abuse from customers, no praise, long hours, no life outside of work, managers only see the negative in the work you do not the positive.

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Management bad at Telford branch

Shop Floor Assistant (Former Employee) - Telford - 26 October 2023

Not a very good company to work for management awfull staff all having inappropriate relationships with eachother lots of billing in some stores . Breaks are ok but never leave on time and don’t always pay for staying over.

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They are fussy over simple clothing items that are also very fussy when it comes to items on the shelves being untidy

Shelf stocker (Former Employee) - Walsall - 24 October 2023

They don't like that fact of you being unpreparedAs I worked at a place wher ei could wear my normal clothes a week before I started there I couldn't get correct uniform and management complaine about it

Pros

Long break, easy work

Cons

Fussy management

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colleagues were nice and customers are generally nice

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Livingston, West Lothian - 21 October 2023

As this was my first job (and the managers knew that) the managers put me on 16 hours a week instead of my contracted 8 hours. they were not effectively accounting for the amount of workers they had. consistently changed shifts without my knowledge. the other colleagues were nice but it felt like the main manager was just trying to get me to quit. managers were anything but welcoming and pretty much expected me to know exactly what to do even though they hadn’t taught me. overall very stressful experience would not recommend, especially for a christmas temp job

Pros

1 hour lunches

Cons

long hours

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Good place to work but the pay is awful

Retail Assistant (Current Employee) - Inverness, Highland - 18 October 2023

£8 an hour for the amount of work i am expected to do is not enough. The managers can be fantastic but sometimes expect you to do far too much. Staff do not stay long so always having to train new people. I enjoy talking to the nice customers and the managers are supportive when dealing with difficult customers

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Average

General Lacky (Former Employee) - Dundee - 18 October 2023

Treated like dirty by customers. Never any staff available to carry out tasks. Expected to work unpaid for periods of time. Not sure why anyone would want to work in retail.

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Awful management

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Newport - 12 October 2023

Poor management, managers belittling you. Not friendly at all and threw me into a deep end and expect you to be “perfect”, not when I keep getting bruises from mobile ladders. Absolutely disgusting behaviour how they treat new employees