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Retail Jobs – Staff Perks, Rewards & Benefits

07 Jul 2014

Our blogpost in March about the perks and rewards of working at some of the supermarket chains in the UK proved very popular, so we thought we’d cast the net wider and take a look at some of the other big retailers that operate throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

As well as gaining some great work experience in a part time or temporary retail job, you can obviously earn some decent money too. But what’s in it for you other than just some cold hard cash? Which are the best business to work for on the high streets of the UK?

We saw in the Supermarket Jobs – Perks & Benefits post that some of the big employers are keen to offer other sweeteners to their staff – discounts on weekly shopping, cycle-to-work schemes, free cinema tickets, etc, etc.

Based on annual sales, the big supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons head the list of retailers in the UK. But what of the top retailers who deal in other products? Do they offer similar bonuses, benefits and bargains to their workforce?

Let’s take a look at a few of the more interesting rewards and incentives of some other big names in the UK retail world…

John Lewis Partnership

Jobs At John Lewis

According to a recent study by Glassdoor, John Lewis has the highest levels of retail employee satisfaction, closely followed by Waitrose (which is part of the same group).

Speaking to Glassdoor, one former Peterborough employee of the John Lewis Partnership said:

“Everyone is very friendly and supportive, they really do help you develop as a sales assistant and make sure your time there is as enjoyable as possible. You work harder because you’re all in it together; it makes you feel like a family.”

And, writing on the Student Room website, one John Lewis employee enthused:

“What an employer… probably the best place I could imagine working as a student. Initial interview is a group assessment, and then a short one on one meeting with a senior manager. On the first day, training is fairly standard with normal health and safety, DDA, fire hazards, manual handling, and business protection training lasting the first half of a morning. Then the rest of the day is spent acclimatising yourself to new departments. I have worked at JL for around 2 years now, in a variety of departments throughout the store. Pay is good.”

John Lewis offer all of their staff – or partners – the same sweeteners and incentives across the whole of the group. You can find out more about how John Lewis look after their employes by looking at the Waitrose section of our Supermarket Job Perks blogpost.

And you can also take a look at our company profile for more info about jobs at John Lewis.

Boots

Boots is perhaps the biggest name in UK retail which isn’t one of the supermarket chains. The high street chemist offers its staff 22.5% discount on Boots branded products, both in stores and online.

They also regularly advertise their jobs through e4s, meaning that students like you can take advantage of such discounts if you secure some work with Boots over the holidays (the discount can come in very handy when shopping for Christmas presents, for example). To find out more, visit our company profile for Boots and check for vacancies at the bottom of the page.

Pets At Home

Pets At Home JobsPets At Home is a great retailer for animal-lovers to work for. The company already has decent holiday entitlement for full time staff as a standard policy. However, they also offer extra holiday incentives too…all staff can take an extra days’ paid leave to go off and work for their favourite animal-related charity.

Other life-events also entitle staff in retail jobs at Pets At Home to more holidays. If employees are getting married then the company will give you extra leave. And everyone has a birthday don’t they? Well, at Pets At Home you never need to go to work on the anniversary of the day you were born, because the retailer gives their staff the day off as an extra holiday.

Shopping in Pets At Home stores is also cheaper for staff since they receive an automatic discount of 20% on all items. They’ll even give your partner or a member of your family the same deal too.

Find out more about jobs at Pets At Home.

Next

Next offer their staff a ‘generous discount’ off most of their products – and, twice a year, retail employees are allowed 75% on staff uniforms. They also have bonus incentives alongside healthcare, pension, life assurance and  share save schemes.

For some more background about working on the UK high street with a leading name, check our company profile for Next.

Vodafone

As well as employee discount on most products, Vodafone does a good line in staff awards. One in particular is their Pioneer scheme which offers free mobiles, smartphones and laptops to staff members who will enthuse about them to their friends and family members.

They also run a ‘My Choices’ scheme which allows employees to swap some of their wages or holidays for other perks such as wine, childcare vouchers or dental insurance. We’d probably take the wine…

You can click through to our company profile now to find out more about retail jobs and other careers at Vodafone in the UK.

River Island

As well as giving staff discount, River Island goes with the flow and offers

Retail Jobs At River Islandtheir retail employees flexible shift patterns. Flexible hours like the options available at River Island mean that many students can take on part time retail work as store advisors at the high street chain without interfering with their studies.

At River Island’s London Head Office, staff get the benefit of an interest free loan which they can use to buy travel season tickets. Paying for longer term travel up front, can often make big savings for people working at River Island in London.

Read more about River Island jobs in the UK now.

New Look

Like River Island, New Look offer their London Support Centre employees season ticket loans for travel, but they also give their staff a whopping 50% discount when shopping in their stores nationwide.

Learn more about working in retail at New Look.

Harrods

Harrods, the famous London department store, is also keen to treat its members of staff as valuable products. They offer extra holidays for birthdays & weddings and also treat their staff to a business clothing allowance of half price business wear at various times of the year.

Find out more about Student Jobs & Christmas Work at Harrods Department Store.

More Retail Jobs Benefits & Incentives

The following are some other big retailers with staff incentives, rewards and benefit packages (click the images to visit the company’s profile and check for current vacancies or head straight for our page of UK retail job vacancies to apply for the latest positions):

O2 JobsAvon JobsB&Q Jobs

H Samuel JobsPhones 4u JobsErnest Jones Jobs

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