Having worked at John Lewis during sixth form, I absolutely adored the Partnership and thought they treated their staff incredibly well. However, when I moved to Brighton to study at University I got a job at the local Waitrose, the treatment of staff was completely different. I, and many others, were hired as Christmas temps for 3 months, then our contracts were extended until April 25th. A couple of weeks before this date, we were told that as of this date our 'hours would not exist anymore' and that we had to reapply for new hours if we wanted to keep our jobs. This seemed completely stupid as there was always things that needed to be done in store so staff were always needed. Also, some of the younger employees weren't even told about this so didn't even know their last shift was their last shift!
WAITROSE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE FOR STUDENTS TO WORK: a few years ago I knew a few friends who worked at one Waitrose store and were transferred to one nearer home during the holidays: a good idea because all stores need people to cover extra hours during school holidays. When I went to start looking for a transfer home for the Summer, I was not helped by my manager at all (who didn't even know my name after 6 months working there...). I had to phone personnel to ask how to go about it. Eventually, I got an interview at a store in my hometown, however it was with other external candidates who had never worked at Waitrose before- and then I didn't get the job! Seems absolutely ridiculous as they would have saved money as I didn't need any uniform or training and could have started covering lots of hours right away.
Management never told us that we had to fill in our holiday forms before a certain date, or even gave us a holiday form in the first place, so we were allocated random days throughout the year and it was near impossible to change these.
I do hear better things about other Waitrose stores, but from my personal experience I think the company treats their employees in an awful manner.
