Which supermarket is best?

mummyplus3

Hi,
I have some disabilites and left full time employment in March after maternity leave, I know feel that I would like to get a small part time job to start getting back into the game so to speak!

I'm moving to a new area and this seems like the right time to find something and a way of making friends etc..

Ideally I'd like to work in one of the local supermarket branches whether its a local or a superstore.

I was hoping for some insider info on which supermarket is best to work for, who has the best staff discounts/benefits etc...

I've found a few 8hr jobs at Asda which I am thinking of applying for but I don't want to lose my clubcard! My SIL-to-be works at sainsburys and says its a good place to work aswell.

SarEl

I do not know if it is still true, but if you are prepared to do any job required when and as required, a union colleague told me that, oddly, Aldi had the best pay and great benefits. But things may have changed as it was some time ago now.

mummyplus3

Thanks, I completly forgot about Aldi and Lidl, currently looking like Asda give the best benefits the quickest! only 12 weeks to get the 10% discount card, Tesco is a year and Sainsbury's 6 months!

MrandMrsB

Waitrose, that's according to a friend who is delighted to be working there!

pawsies

Base your decision on vacancies- look online as it is so difficult to get a look in with supermarkets now. Asda ban you for 6 months from applying again if you get rejected so choose wisely!

Evilm

mummyplus3 wrote: »

I've found a few 8hr jobs at Asda which I am thinking of applying for but I don't want to lose my clubcard!

Why would you lose your clubcard for working at Asda?

As for which store its more which is prepared to hire you. They are most likely overrun with possible candidates at the moment.

claire16c

I used to work at Sains part time. I have to say that each supermarket can vary a lot within the same chain depending on who else works there.

For example, the store I worked in, was run by idiot managers, who everyone hated. So many sleaze bags, 2 guys got sacked for sexual harrassment etc. I hated working there with an absolute passion! However my friend worked at a Sainsburys about 4 miles away and loved the place because the people she worked with were great, still friends with some of the girls she met there now years on. So I would definitely recommend listening to someone like your sister in law because like a lot of jobs, its the people that make it good or bad.

I did stay working at Sains for almost 4 years though, because of 2 reasons.

1 - the pay. I got paid more than any of my friends who worked at Waitrose, (they often do get good bonuses at xmas though as part of John Lewis partnership, but I always got a bonus at Sains too), Tesco and Asda.

2 - the most important reason for me - we got 6 weeks holiday! All of my friend at the other supermarkets got the standard 4. So thats is why I stayed there even though I hated it!

My friend worked at Asda, couldnt stand it, got paid less and less holiday, but unforunately lived too far away from any other supermarket. One friend didnt mind too much working at Waitrose, it was a lot more formal there though compared to Sains, in terms of rules of what they could and couldnt do at work, calling the bosses 'mr/mrs x' etc! No idea if its still like that now as was a quite few years back though.

But if Sains do 6 weeks holiday still, that is a big plus in my opinion!

jenhug

sainsburys have a minimum of 12 hr contract.
discount is 10% which increases to 15% at christmas (normally oct to jan) easter, and summer holidays.

shop-to-drop

Tesco give discount at 6 months not a year. They also pay better than the other big supermarkets and better pension. They are pretty flexible too allowing shift swaps and career breaks etc. However they expect you to work hard and you do not get paid sick leave for the first 3 days of an absence. The discount at Tesco is also more useful than other supermarkets in my opinion as they sell so much.

I've also heard Waitrose are good to work for but they do pay less than Tesco.

DCFC79

Well ive worked for aldi and sainsburys so i can provide some information. Aldi there is no discount card and imho the only benefit is the pay(cant remember if BH are double time) plus can earn more if you have a car as they pay petrol costs and i think mileage as well but i would have to check. Hours can be long at aldi eg 7 till 6 but if you dont mind that then its a plus but the manager seemed ok with me when i said i couldnt work so late. You would be expected to do pretty much anything at aldi from stocking the fridges/freezers/shelves to being on the till(need proper thick skin X 100 for this) to cleaning the floor once the shop has shut.

Sainsburys give a discount card after 6 months i believe, they used to offer share shave scheme and if were FT you got 5.6 weeks holiday. You could book bank holidays off eg may and summer but it would use your holiday entitlement and if you worked the BH then you got a day off in lieu. You used to get extra pay for working a BH but i believe they stopped it and for sundays im not sure if you get extra. You would generally not be expected to clean the floor as they have cleaners for that and you job wouldnt tend to be as varied(unless you were at a local,metro, express) as aldi as you would be on 1 department say grocery or fresh foods. You do get a bonus(rachael reminded me) payed out yearly if the store reaches the 3 targets which are mystery shopper, availability and correct sels in place(think this is right) or was it sales and each month you would be told what the result of the mystery shopper was along with the other 2 results. M(cant remember what the M stood for) Availablity Counter and Myster Customer Measure come to mind but could be wrong with the abbreviations but they are related to the bonus.

For both aldi and sainsburys there was always OT going but more predominately at aldi because they only had small number of staff so if 1 was on hols then they would be short so if you were to say is there any extra hours more than likely you would get them. You could get extra hours at sainsburys but it could mean working on a different department but the hours generally were at busy times so xmas, easter etc.

Although the staff at aldi were friendly i think id have to say the staff i worked with at sainsbury's were much friendlier but then you have more chance to talk eg ask questions, show an interest, if i made an error i found they were approachable.

Waitrose pay quite well and the discount can be used at JL too. Depends whos hiring close to you, check sainsburys, waitrose and asda websites for jobs and pop into tesco and morrisons to see if they have a board up.

Sorry its long but ive not covered anything just ask.

Pay at asda for an 18yo is £6.36 so for people older than 18 then could be higher.

Rachel_123

I worked in Waitrose and Sains:

Sainsbury's: as above discount was 10% most of the year and 15% at christmas and easter. There's some sort of holiday bonus scheme if you did overtime although I was never sure how it worked. I got extra pay for working past 6 on a Saturday, this might have stopped. As a student I made loads of friends there (and gained a boyfriend and uni housemate). Most managers were decent, overtime was there if I wanted it but not forced at all. The bonus was up to 3% I think and depends on how well your store performs. It also does not take overtime into consideration.

Waitrose: 15% discount in Waitrose, 25% on most John Lewis, 12.5% on electricals and a few other things. Of course the bonus is well known, and it includes overtime unlike sains which was great for me as I did more overtime than my contracted hours. Holiday was nothing special, I'm sure I got more at sains. The pay scale goes up once a year if you have performed well enough to move up to the next band. Time and a half on Sundays and bank holidays. I did 12 hours a week contracted (8 on Sunday) and got £400 a month which was decent whilst at uni. Of course it depends on the store but mine were hopeless at organising overtime and dragged me in last minute on many occasions, I wanted the extra hours but I literally could not plan my life as I was constantly being dragged in and it was difficult to say no. Also, I was finishing at 11PM and back at 6AM the next day which I'm pretty sure was illegal.

Oh one more thing, I had to change my hours at sains when my college timetable changed, with one weeks notice they sorted it out for me no problem. When I asked waitrose to change my hours I was essentially told to hand in my notice!