Working at Asda, as a Section Leader isn't the job it used to be. You are not appreciated for the effort that is put in and are berated with unrealistic, often impossible targets.
The upper management here are the single biggest issue. The expectation of those below them is so unrealistic it's akin to asking someone to clean their car whilst they're driving it.
At my store we have no hours, get constant grief for being 'overspent' even though there are almost no colleagues, as a result the sales floor is incredibly poor in terms of stock level, tidiness, customer service, etc. but because wages are almost the biggest concern upper management just don't care/seem oblivious to the fact their company is slowly flowing down a giant proverbial drain.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted this even more, where colleagues are absent and shielding for months at a time and no replacements are brought in at any point unless you're part of home shopping who are just allowed to get away with everything seemingly. They're impolite to customers, they don't adhere to social distancing rules, they have too many people for the hours they're allowed but unlike any other department get no real rebuttal for it. Meanwhile on the sales floor there is often a single person working a quarter of the shop and is still expected to clean, pick, put stock out, replenish gaps, do gap scans, work availability reports, help customers, all at the exact same time.
Attempting to get time off is getting to
ProsColleague discount, benefits.
ConsLong Hours, expected to change shifts on a whim, shocking upper management, blame culture, under appreciation of colleagues.
The best thing about working at Asda were the colleagues and customers, its a shame management and section leaders let it down.
There was no flexibility in working hours to fit in with family. The process for a day off or holidays was to fill out a holiday form and then a section leader would check the diary and if there wasn't much staff off at the same time you could have the time off, unfortunately, one of the section leaders enjoyed to tell you you couldn't take the holiday and would hide the diary, in fact, she took great pleasure in trying to make your life difficult. The same happened with a shift swap, then you had to speak to a proper manager to sort it out.
If you were friendly with managers and section leaders it was a different thing altogether, no need to fill out a holiday form, you would just get all the best shifts and whatever time off you needed.
There was no opportunity to progress within the company unless you sucked up to managers or section leaders. I have witnessed bullying and racist behavior from certain section leaders. There was a big problem with confidentiality if someone phoned in sick the reason why was around the store within minutes. Grievances and disciplinaries were also gossiped about. Security was a major problem, there were many incidents with shoplifters and fights and I didn't feel safe working there at all.
Managers just bulldoze through you, to keep their nose's clean, in standards and how the store run's. They put on such a front, as if they care about you. Total rubbish.
Far too many section leaders now in stores all telling you different thing's.
Therefore too much salary being paid out to section leaders whom some don't no the fact's of life yet !
Psm's in which is the biggest waste of salary in the company. Supposed to have your back and support you !!
Really ? Biggest understatement you could here !
Rubbish - they can't help themselves, let alone, help colleague's.
They are that pally with store manager's, when you leave a meeting, what they discuss with store manager's is like "Chinese Whisper's" ,!
NOBODY should trust them, or anything they say.
Lot's of colleague's, now feel with new owners, it's like " watch this space ", because there are bombshells just around the corner.
What a horrible environment to work in !
Trust, trust, trust ??? Colleague's have zero trust in all things Asda !
A typical day at work for me is helping customers, helping colleagues and ensuring that Health and Safety regulations are being adhered to.
I have learnt a great deal when it comes to how important our customers are and that deadlines / targets need to be met with passion and effort.
Managers are very friendly but professional with a lot of compassion, which shows in their flexible working practices.
Our colleagues are great to be around as they are diverse, they have a sense of humour and they work hard. I consider them as an extended family.
The hardest part of the job is working at a fast pace, but that suits me and everybody is different. There may be heavy lifting and dealing with tricky customers too.
The most enjoyable part of my job is knowing that I have served customers by representing ASDA's beliefs and policies to my best ability.
Didn’t leave yet, currently considering it. Worked here for 7 years and my shifts got changed to super early i.e. getting up at 4am every morning, start at 6am. When I first started the job i got asked what shifts I prefer, I told them I prefer back shifts because i am not a morning person at all, i never feel great in the morning. But do they listen? No, and one morning i was in working i didn’t sleep the whole night and was working too slow for the section leader who told the manager, the brown nose. now bearing in mind that I’ve told the manager that I’m struggling with these early shifts. His exact words were “you need to pick up the pace” so yes I would not recommend this job to anyone unless you like bullying and unethical behaviour from section leaders and managers. I will at least say that the first 4 years were good and I enjoyed them, since restructuring and the new contract took effect i’d honestly sell my soul to the devil.
ProsDiscount
ConsUnpaid breaks. Managers want you to do more and more.
Can be very stressful at times but only if you want it to be. I don't get stressed anymore because I don't get paid enough for that and thats all on the section leader and manager roles. Journeys can be tricky and hard to find places sometimes but If I get behind and can't get it all done, then il bring customers orders back, after all they can't make you work past you contract hours unless you want to but causes unnecessary stress as your out till late if on afternoons plus you don't get anything apart from basic pay and I won't put my back out for an extra €9.36. Management try there hardest to get things done but then get more work load dumped on them, which we can never managed and things get missed. Needs reshaping and more colleagues to pick the orders. Also pay could be a lot better for drivers as where skilled people but get paid the same as the pickers. That's why they're advertising all the time for drivers.
Rubbish job, Rubbish money, Rubbish employers and some Rubbish managers,
because it's a safe job ie ~ it's hard to get the sack, you stick it thinking at least I've got a job but there are jobs out there, I found one. Lazy colleagues get away with being idol while the good workers are put on because they'll do it, management put problems in your way so you find it hard to earn anything like take 30 mins break while driving, because you can't clock off they stop you an hour so your'e actually driving not on pay so therefore not insured but don't worry if ou have an accident you'll be on pay conveniently, they keep married men on short hourly contracts so they're always looking for overtime, that way "if you don't like it leave" there's always someone willing to do it. Not a nice company didn't even get a leaving interview just close the door on the way out after 6 years.
A typical day was when I was assigned to pick out goods that were to be expired in two days and to mark down the prices.
Some of those stocking the shelves were not helping situation because they were supposed to stuff the shelves with new items at the back and old ones in front so that it would be easier for me to remove items which prices were to be marked downs.
I learned that there was lack of the spirit of team work
Some supervisors were not inquisitive to know why some people had difficulties in finishing their tasks
The workplace culture was not very friendly for part time workers
The hardest part of the job was sorting expiry items at the back of the shelves
The most enjoying part of the job was timely execution of my daily tasks
ProsThe manager was friendly and did offer free coffee during break
ConsNo benefits for Part time workers particularly students
· Processed register bags, which also included separating cash, coupons, and processed coins.
· Communicated financial shortages with the staff according to guidelines.
· Prepared all deposits, entered currency into the computer after verifying, reconciling, and finalizing end of day business transactions to the system.
· Finalized business day, completed deposits, and prepared deposit for the pick within time required for armored car service
· Coordinated, reconciled, tracked and reported financial transactions.
· Advised and trained other colleagues on accounting practices and principles according to the work environment, when instructed by the Management.
· Discussed security risks, incorrect or inefficient processes, and potentially improper accounting practices with staff and management.
At the moment,Only part time contracts available but you can work 39 hours a week due to lots of over times being available, usually plenty of time to deliver your shopping but if you late here n there once twice a week it’s not a big issue,total of physical job lots of heavy lifting carrying up and down if you’re not used to manual labour don’t even think about it !! Shifts are 7-1400/1430till 2300 14 to 26 deliveries a day,not everyday is the same,some days are easy some heavy !! Due to short staff it might be disorganise time to time,you might have to go and chase your own shopping make sure it’s ready for you to load on to the van
ProsOnce ready, out for delivery, it’s you and your own music 🎶
Conspoor wages due to how they calculate your unpaid lunch breaks and deduct from your wages
Good company to work for. Working in checkouts/services can be a lot of fun if you're eager to learn and move around.
Having worked for 3 different retail companies since leaving school, alongside studying full-time I would definitely recommend Asda as a company to work for.
I work at a large and busy Superstore in the East Midlands and I'm going to give a pretty detailed and honest review.
I applied for an 8 hour Sunday Checkout Operator job in November as a Seasonal Colleague (for the Christmas period) but ended up being offered a permanent contract.
'Mainbank' Checkout Operator role:
For the first few months as a Checkout Operator my role was solely to sit on a till and serve customers who come through for the entire shift. The till systems that Asda use are very old and literally just a keyboard with a tiny two-line screen, but they work fine and once you've learnt how to use it properly then they are quite efficient.
Asda are really big on giving good customer service and they expect 100% effort at all times when it comes to service. Checkout Operators are trained to follow 'Easy, fast and friendly', 'Greet, Help, Thank' and 'Six Ahead' which are Customer Service ways of working. The ways of working are assessed regularly by mystery shoppers and if a colleague fails a mystery shopper audit then the whole store will lose out on the bonus and it usually leads to some kind of disciplinary hearing. Audits can be failed for something as simple as forgetting to give a warm and friendly parting comment to a customer. Asda make no secret of the fact that they are determined to be
ProsLenient with hours, work as much as you like and choose your overtime (pretty much unlimited), fast-paced, good opportunities on checkouts, great colleagues, most customers are lovely
ConsAt times the management is pretty poor and things aren't always well organised, management lack attention to detail and don't fix obvious problems, things are often untidy which is easily fixed but ignored
I began working for ASDA in December time 2018, busiest period of the year for them & thrown right into the deep end. As Security the job was constant, firedoor runners, pushout attempts, lots of problems with the homeless, the list goes on. I had no issue with the job itself or completing the tasks. The issue is being left on your own for 8 hour shifts and expected to stop and detect any theft occurrences.
It's an impossible task do so such a thing working on your own, barely on with another security colleague because managment claim they do not need more, yet when a basket full of JD goes through a firedoor while your dealing with other issues they soon enough come running with 300 questions such as "What have they stole" Who was it" Did you see them" Where did they go" Why didn't you stop them". Again if I wasn't left on my bill all shift and while I'm dealing with other issues things like that wouldn't happen as often but yet they don't see things that way.
Management expect you to be sat at the podium for the full 8 hours staring at CCTV despite the training videos stating your only supposed to spend around 35% of your shift looking at CCTV and the rest walking the shop/assisting with other duties. But again impossible to do when there's just 1 of you on.
Then shift changes happen all the time, mostly to suit managements needs or section leaders needs. Countless times my shifts where shuffled around last notice despite the fact there supposed to give minimum 3 w
I will list what I experienced and you all can judge if its typical of all asda stores . Work is pretty much the same thing every night, replenish the aisle your given and work through all the pallets until the shift is over , if you get stuck with the same aisle repeatedly it can be a hard week , if you get the same aisles for several months you probably will hate it depending where you are placed. Workloads were often longer then the shift but should you not miraculously finish over 9 plus pallets in your 7.5 hour shift then often you have the manager,which ever 1 is in charge that night anyway, ask you to stay behind to finish it or still ask you to stay back , even if you finish all your work because someone else's work is not finished , pretty much every shift you got put on the spot and asked to do an extra hour or an extra day because they was under staffed or had too much work to finish, then when you refuse you seem to have trouble booking your holidays that you have earned, it took me several weeks to get my manager to book my holidays as when I booked my own they was always rejected and he repeatedly told me we will do them later , but later comes and you are told see him tomorrow , then the next week was the same messing about and excuses why he couldn't book them. The holiday booking was one of the most unprofessional aspects I had issue with .
Breaks are strange, in an 8 hour shift it was 30 minutes break only , though most seemed to be allowed random smoke
ProsThe night bonus to the hourly rate
ConsNight manager, no training in retail skills, weekend mandatory shifts, substance abuse
Pros
- The people I've met whilst working at Asda are some of the most funniest and humble. Had some really good times along with them and I still see them from time to time.
- Some of the perks are pretty decent if used on a consistent basis such as the 10percent discount (20percent at certain times of the year) and the Asda Perks website which gives you discount to cinema tickets and days out events etc...
- The hours are there if wanted (well the store I was in had hours due to their recruitment policies which I'll explain down in cons later). So basically, I had a contract which was part time but from time to time I used to do full time hours with the added benefit of my holiday allowance being adjusted for the extra hours I have done.
- Even though I had a contract, section leader allowed me to be flexible in terms of my working hours. This allowed me to take care of some of my personal stuff that needed my attention.
- There are people who have worked at Asda for years and know the colleague hand book inside out and are willing to help you out once you are in trouble.
- I have had the pleasure of working under some of the best line managers you could ask for. They would guide and encourage you in order to be best in what you are doing. That encouragement is all that is needed in order to feel appreciated. Some managers have even agreed with what cons I will mention soon as they believe the shop floor workers are getting the short end of the stick
If your working in the store it's a great place to work, but anything else its a nightmare.
So I've worked for Asda for close to a decade now, and my experience probably reflects what it is like as an employee that works in the home shopping department. If your instore the job is good, you know you'll be working for a set time, you get your breaks and have a comfortable area to take that break, along with access to facilities should you need them. If your not in store though, for example a delivery driver, none of that applies.
If your out on your own the only access you have to facilities entirely depends on what is available to the public, which in most cases means not very much. Management seem to care more about those in store than those actually out doing the deliveries, your often out later than scheduled resulting in either working longer hours or as is the case more often than not, you end up skipping your break to make up the time.
The expectations on a delivery driver are ever increasing, I have seen this job change so much in the past 10 years it is vastly different now than it was back then, 10 years ago you had proper support, your vans were pre-loaded ready for your shift, you had proper support in store, vans were rarely out late and you often had enough time for a break. Delivery loads weren't excessive and most people were reasonable in their expectations. For example a block of flats, people would come and help, now they expect you to carry larger deliveries up multiple flights of stairs without so much as a thank you, obviously if the customer
The driving aspect of the job in itself is great, I was lucky enough that my delivery route was a very pretty area of the country and I got to deliver to some great locations and meet some decent customers.
That, however is where the good parts end really. The management at the store I worked at were appalling, there was little to no communication between management and section leaders and between section leaders and drivers. So much so that I was rung up on the day of my driver tech test to be shouted at to why I wasn't there only for me to tell them in return I had not been told of the date. I later found out two different section leaders had both known the details and neither had told me.
I saw so many bad managerial practises in the time that I was there that I really don't have space to put them all here. I was regularly given broken/faulty hand held computers to work with which were the primary way of me knowing what drops I had to make and my navigation, I relied upon my own phone most of the time for navigation purposes and to call the customers. I was sent out on multiple occasions on vans which had defects, including an oil leak, cracks on windscreen etc. when I raised these issues with a section leader I was basically told to shut up and go away. The vans that I drove were always filthy, I delivered to primarily rural areas and there was no way of cleaning the vans off when back at the depot, the best they could do was get the store cleaners to go over them w
ProsOut on your own, freedom of the open road, rarely contacted by store
Job was alright at first, then slowly started to realise things that were flat out rediculous.
Higher ups with no clue about real working life setting rediculous numbers and making the job insanely stressful and making you work through your breaks.
There are no chargers in the vans, so when your palm dies (provided by the company) you have to use your phone...
No PHONE MOUNTS... Only 2 of the vans had PHONE MOUNTS. This was completely rediculous and my own phone mount couldn't properly hold the device needed to do my delivery.
There response to not providing the bare neccessities was "well people keep breaking them so" - and? Thats not my problem? GO TO THE STORE AND GRAB ONE, YOU ARE A SUPERMARKET. I CANNOT DRIVE SAFELY WHEN THE PALM KEEPS FLYING EVERYWHERE.
Section leaders seem to never have any clue of whats going on. I was told I was doing one shift, then to come in and find im doing something completely different. Funny thing about this was, I came in at 7:00am to do my job (Click and Collect), then was told I was driving at 10:30am, and they WONT PAY YOU if you come any earlier than 45 minutes before your VAN LEAVES, and 45 minutes is no where near enough time to get in, clock in, see what you're doing and load and leave. Not enough time. So I had come in, 3 and a half hours early, when i was told to come in at this time, only to not be paid until 9:45. I quit after this, as this was not the first time they have completely messed up my shifts.
There is no work lif
Pros10% discount, and theres a shop right where you work for food and people I worked with were amazing
The job itself was quite fun, you get the usual things you'd expect in a role like this such as people who live in hard to find houses who simply won't use the delivery notes options to let the drivers know ( "ooh- everybody struggles to find our house!" ) , people who order their shopping for a specific hour then go out at that time and can't understand why you won't wait for them ( oh yes- we know your "I'll just be 5 minutes" is more often than not the best part of half an hour ), and my personal favourite- the people who order, aren't in and then expect you to deliver to a different address ( "What do you mean it's 40 minutes out of your way- I always see your vans around here! " ).
Whilst that's a bit annoying overall the good far outweighed the bad, I met some really great people and had some very interesting conversations whilst delivering and the other drivers I worked with were brilliant guys you could have a good laugh with so on that basis I'd say it was a fairly ok job.
What really ruined it was the running of the department. Much has been said in recent times regarding the company and it's contract changes. Whilst workers are now expected to be flexible it would appear that somewhere along the line something got lost in translation and "flexible" morphed into " go out of your way to make the job as unnecessarily annoying as you possibly can". If you get asked to cover a shift make sure you tell them you can do that shift only- because what they won't tell
A typical working day for me starts at 7am, or 2pm for the evening shift, finishing anywhere between 2 - 3 for AM, and 8 - 10 for PM. The morning shifts typically require more waiting around, as it isn't unusual to arrive to find that your load isn't ready to go out yet. This will likely differ from store to store, however some customers time slots may require you to wait upwards of 1 - 2 hours a time before you go to them.
You are expected to load your own van; sometimes other drivers will help you wheel your load out, which comes on multiple platforms, other times you'll be going back and forth yourself - This can sometimes be stressful when you're pressed for time.
Training is predominantly driver led, meaning the quality will vary depending on who you're paired with. Each driver will have their own methods, sometimes cutting corners and setting a bad example. You're expected to shadow on one shift, with the remaining three being you in the drivers seat. If you're like me, and have never driven anything larger than a car, it's quite easy to get used to the size of the vehicles. They're all automatic and have a rear camera which can help out a lot.
The job in hand is easy enough once you're out on the road. I'm fortunate to live in an area where a lot of my routes feature scenic views, sometimes delivering to wealthy houses up to 20 miles away, other times being in the heart of towns only driving short distances between drops. If you're on time, things will go withou
ProsScenic routes, left to own devices, nice customers generally.
ConsLate finishes if you're on night shift, addresses can sometimes be hard to find, little recognition for being a good employee.
Awful place to work due to one reason....The Managers
Working at Dartford Distribution centre has it's pro's and con's. The wage is very good for the job role, the job itself is straightforward though very demanding depending on whether or not you can actually do the fundamentals (i.e picking). It's the Management that really let this place down. They will allow certain colleagues to abuse their position if they are friends with them or borrowing money from them. I've seen fully able colleagues getting away with murder, only picking the lightest items and not being monitored by a headset or most likely not picking for weeks on end while a physically disabled colleague in their 60s has to lift heavy goods such as alcohol and soft drinks. Most colleagues will have about 3-4 different skills yet most will only ever get to use the same one of these virtually everyday. They have no idea how to boost morale or understand that variety is the spice of life. Though you have to remember that none of these so called managers got their jobs on merit, they all walked into the positions through knowing someone. They really are a disgrace. I had a close relative who was taken ill during my time here and shortly passed away after. When i asked if i could leave early to be at their bedside they declined despite letting at least a dozen colleagues go home. Their reason for this was because i "didn't have priority". So in which situation would you have priority then? And if you have been given a certificate from your doctor allowing you time off f
ProsGood wage and Colleague discount card
ConsAwful dirty working environment and even worse clueless management.
Questions And Answers about ASDA
What is the most stressful part about working at ASDA?
Asked Nov 15, 2018
Very good work end very good culture
So nice people
Peaceful place
Answered May 2, 2020
Safety first keep the area clean follow the instruction given by the leader.
Answered Dec 17, 2019
What advice would you give the CEO of ASDA about how to improve it?
Asked Jun 7, 2019
Just listen to colleague's, some that have been with Asda for many year's.
Be honest and don't palm us off, with the usual, thank you, l will sort it, cause we can read right through you.
No staff, you don't get your eye watering salary.
Treat staff like people and not a good looking rota.
Restructure the pecking order as to why you need so many management and section leaders and look at your Psm's career to date and check what experience they really have with working with staff.
Answered Apr 30, 2021
keep the stock up to date.and look after customers more.
Answered Jul 13, 2020
What benefits does ASDA offer?
Asked Apr 3, 2019
Flexibility, pension, share scheme
Answered Jan 15, 2021
Discount card
Answered Jul 19, 2020
What is the work environment and culture like at ASDA?
Asked Apr 1, 2019
It's fun and all the colleagues work together
Answered Apr 9, 2021
Very fast service
Answered Jun 25, 2019
What questions did they ask during your interview at ASDA?
Asked Sep 15, 2018
Lt is very good. and will help the community.
Answered Oct 5, 2019
What kind of person I was,what was my most recent greatest accomplishment
