The company culture projected from head office does not reflect the everyday reality of the shop floor. In my experience, “partner” insights were not valued or respected – pointing out systemic challenges was met with reinforcement of the same unrealistic system that caused the issue. The concept of “shared ownership” has those lower down the food chain in a kind of Stockholm syndrome, which sees shop assistants justify poor treatment for the promise of the Christmas bonus. With longstanding difficulties across the partnership, this mystical bonus hasn’t materialised for several years, living only in the fabled memory of the older partners. When you start to look into the company’s internal documentation, you start to see that the actual benefits of the partnership only really start to kick in at a certain level, around store manager. I have a vague memory of seeing this depicted somewhere as a triangle, looking dangerously similar to something you’d see in a pyramid scheme.
Since leaving the “partnership”, I’ve continued to have a yucky feeling whenever I find myself in a Waitrose. You’re far better shopping and working at Aldi – they’ll pay you more and charge you less.
