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25 reviews

Pets at home Employer Reviews

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For staff as well as customers
Store Colleague (Former Employee), Newmarket – May 15, 2013
Pros: staff discount, usually friendly staff
Cons: cleaning animal cages, getting bitten
Great place to work but the bradford points should be for individuals and not to treat everybody the same.
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Productive
Retail Assistant (Former Employee), Rooksley,Milton Keynes – May 12, 2013
Learnt most things about retail but i was not old enough to learn on how to work the tills, it as fun and very productive, always had you on your feet.All employees where friendly and very helpful,they always made you feel welcomed, I did find the easy but some days where harder then other, and you had to make sure you did everything to the best ability – more... for example i had to the fish tanks twice on my first day because it wasnt to thier standards but it did help me learn alot. – less
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WORK PLACE FROM HELL
Dog groomer (Former Employee), Taunton – May 12, 2013
Pros: there are no good reasons for working for them!
Cons: not a company that puts pets before profit
I worked at the Taunton store as a dog groomer for well over a year, it was the worst experience of my life. There were serious bullying issues that weren't addressed, grievances were over turned by area managers to hide serious problems and adjusted to suit. The stress from ongoing problems made staff ill. There own health and safety procedures aren't – more... followed, if you have a nasty or difficult dog your not allowed to use muzzels in veiw of customers. you work hours of unpaid overtime and expected to come in for meetings on your day off. You are pressured to fill Internal and external questionnaires to make the business look good. They make promises to you when you start they don't honour. It's all about profit, small animals are shelved from floor to ceiling out the back, when you open the door you can't even get in there room. All in all I would say stay well away, it would be the biggest mistake of your life if you worked for them!!!!!!!!! – less
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corrofan – 13 May 2013

It was the same issue with bullying at the pets at home I worked. Seems to be a common thing with this company management never do anything they just sweep it under the carpet. I seen people have break downs due to pressure they were under. best thing I did was leave.

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fun fun fun!
sales assistant (Current Employee), essex – May 9, 2013
Pros: free uniform, extensive training which boosts pay, birthday is automatically d/o
Cons: dirty job - lots of cleaning out of animals and warehouse etc.
The company has very good values and provides a fun and exciting workplace. there are many courses to attend such as micro-chipping and nutrition and these add flavour and variety to each working day. As in every job there are colleagues that I get on better with than others however i feel the team become your family and you can't always choose them – more... but you learn to love something about each one. Management tend to be supportive and hard-working across the company which makes it easier to undertake tasks. We also spend hours of our time raising money for animal charities which is hard work but very rewarding. – less
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a fun enjoyable job
Store Operative, Keyholder & Airlock (Former Employee), Basingstoke – May 9, 2013
Pros: travelling around on the airlock shifts.
Cons: finishing work at 4am
A typical day at work would involve a huge amount of customer service. I learnt various skills on the job including animal routines, customer orders and customer complaints. Management were good and very supportive. Co workers were great, i got on well with them. Hardest part of the job was completing a large delivery before store would open. Enjoyable – more... part of the job was interacting with customers. – less
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Fun and good team work
Deputy Manager (Current Employee), Fife – May 1, 2013
Cash Handling, stock control, Rota planning, training and development, Pet care and maintenance, Health and safety, team work, merchandising, office duties, computer work and paperwork.

Fantastic customer service.

Great team work and reliability
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Superb values and fun place to work
Deputy Manager (Current Employee), Oxford – March 17, 2013
Pros: engaging company
Cons: travelling distance
Pets at Home is a superb place to work and shop. The company core values are strong and encourage colleagues to embrace them each working day, Pets before profit being number one. Each day managers ensure colleagues are kept up to date with the stores performance through daily communication, verbal and the use of notice/white boards. Key KPI's; Sales, – more... Net Promoter Scores, along with daily tasks are communicated in order to keep focus, structure and productivity flowing in store. The management teams are friendly, approachable and engaging. The team is amazing, full of exceptionally friendly and passionate individuals. The hardest part of the job can be educating customers who don't understand that pet welfare must come first and that we are not trying to be difficult when refusing a pet sale. It is difficult to hear someone tell you 'it's only a Hamster' or 'it's just a fish', educating customers like this is challenging but not impossible.
The most enjoyable moments are the pets that come in to store, the cuddles we are privileged to accept; customers dogs excited to see you as they are walking around the store, it never fails to make your day and really helps to build a rapport with customers. Working with such a passionate and dedicated team is an honour. Attention to detail is important to ensure that customers maximize promotional opportunities through the use of point of sale items such as flags and roundels, such items help to increase sales and profit growth whilst assisting stock control management through sales. Watching the business benefit from your own ideas and passion is exciting and rewarding. – less
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running the warehouse
First Line Manager (Current Employee), Northampton – March 13, 2013
Pros: regular charity fund-raising for local charities.
Cons: not enough clear opportunities for personal development and promotion.
Planning the manning against work plan for the day to day running of the warehouse. I am responsible for return to work interviews, holiday requests , sickness and ordering extra agency staff. I am resposible for the picking, despatch and goods-in departments as well as the safe working enviroment of all processes and MHE equiptment used to carry out – more... jobs. Deal with transport department on a daily basis for trailers, for stores deliveries.Continious improvement meetings , health and safety meetings and colleague indiviual palns reviewed against targets. Measuring of each departments KPI's and promote the company values. – less
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Terrible
Sales Assistant (Former Employee), Telford – February 25, 2013
Pros: working with animals
Cons: terrible management, if pah isn't your life priority then you aren't wanted
I worked there for 7 years and enjoyed the 1st 5 years, but unfortunately things have changed in recent times.

There are a lot of inexperienced managers and a lot of them have their favourites, and everybody else is made to feel worthless.

Overtime often goes unpaid unless you chase it up, and even then you sometimes don't get it. You're forced to – more... work through breaks and stay over after your shift unpaid, which is fine sometimes, but this happens almost every day. They also change the rota at very short notice without ever asking, and often without even letting you know. Your personal life is of no interest to them, I have known people not allowed to have evenings or days off for family weddings or birthdays. I was told that I wasn't a team player when I once said I couldn't work my day off as I had plans to go away, this was the 1st time I had said no in years, I always stayed over and worked my days off if I was asked, but as soon as I said no once, I was insulted and made to feel really guilty. If Pets at Home doesn't come 1st you'll be pushed out, simple as that.

The job itself was enjoyable, working with the animals, helping a variety of customers, merchandising and having a good time with colleagues. – less
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Fun workplace
Helper (Former Employee), Rotherham – February 24, 2013
Pros: long dinners and enjoyable enviroment
Cons: long hours
A typical day at work would include of;

- Cleaning out
- Helping stock up
- Helping customers
- Working on the till

I learnt how to check the temperature of the tanks and how to record it on a sheet.
The people I worked with were friendly and helped me if I needed any.
The hardest part of the job was the long hours.
The most enjoyable part of the – more... job was working with the animals. – less
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Think twice before applying...
Store Assistant (Former Employee), Telford – February 21, 2013
Pros: n/a
Cons: long hours, bad management, never paid right, false promises, unsociable shifts.
I worked for this company for 7 years, and the 1st 5 were fantastic, I couldn't say a bad word about it. But then they were taken over by another company and it all went wrong. A lot of the top people within the company have left in recent years because they don't like the direction the company is going in.

They only reward people who say yes to everything, – more... anybody with a life outside work is regarded as a waste of time and will never gain progression within the company. They always change your shifts at very short notice, often without even letting you know, and then if you object because you already have plans you're made out to be the bad guy. The management teams in a lot of stores are immature and just puppets being controlled by people above them.

You are often expected to work through breaks and stay over after work, sometimes for an hour or two without pay. A lot of overtime never gets put on the paysheets and you have to chase after it for months and often don't ever see the money. I have seen people promised promotions, and bigger contracts and extra training, but they never actually get it, Pets at Home will lie to you at the interview and continue to lie until the day you leave, they are experts at talking the talk, but they almost never deliver.

Pets before profit is the company moto, but they will do anything to avoid spending money on their pets. You get told off for feeding them more than a handful, and sick animals will often be put down if their treatment costs more than the price the animal sells for. If you care about animals and animal welfare then this isn't the ideal place to work.

Pets at Home care about profit, profit, profit. Nothing else matters to them, least of all their employees. I hope I never have to work for a company with values like theirs ever again, it's a real shame because it used to be a fantastic place to work. – less
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fast paced, hard work but fun
Deputy manager (Current Employee), various, south wales – February 20, 2013
Pros: birthday leave, good holiday allowance, great opportunities for promotion, training
Cons: long hours on some days as a manager.
There is always something new to do/learn even after 9yrs withthe company. They are always working on improving welfare for pets and colleagues. the people who complain about bulling/ pet welfare should have been aware of the confidential numbers available to call. There are also things like student contracts/ birthday leave extra time off for 'pet – more... birthdays'(eg 5yrs with the company) The hardestparts of the job are days when you have too much to do like delivery, promo change and range reviews, but I enjoy the challenge. The best part of the job is working with pets, the relationships you can form with customers and freindships within work. – less
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Productive & fast paced.
Shop Floor collegue (Current Employee), Bridlington – January 16, 2013
A typical day at work will start with me being on the till serving customers and helping them with bags to their car. Management would then come and give me a list of jobs to do for the duration of my shift.

The hardest part of my job would be having to clean out the animals with my allergies.
The most enjoyable part would be getting to know the customers – more... and their pets & being able to help their individual needs. – less
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horrible to work for
Grooming mananger (Former Employee), stevenage – January 14, 2013
Pros: working wit animals
Cons: long hours, no respect for staff or customers
as former employee Grooming salon mananger i found all upper management from store manangers up were two faced and selfish there is no care for animals they are just out for themselves to look good and make money. i would never recommend working for them.the best thing i ever did was leave.
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– 24 March 2013

Worked for this joke of a Store, worst six months of my life, Store Managers no respect for staff, or customers, use animals only for profit, have to work extra unpaid hours, Store managers take there days off to suit them, stay well away from this company.

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Management Too Inexperienced
Sales Assistant (Former Employee), Quinton, Birmingham, West Midlands – January 9, 2013
Pros: staff discount card, opening hours
Cons: no say in rotas, rude people, purposely being put on shifts you cant work, unapproachable
I took on a part time position with this company, which was advertised as a 12 hour vacancy and as a university student I made it clear, this was the reason I was applying. I recieved a job and began my traning which was pretty much self taugt with books and internet research on my part. Nearly all of the management I encountered were under 25 years – more... of age and some even younger than myself. These managers congregated in our canteen/kitchen rooms with cups of coffee for hours on end, or left every few minutes for a cigarette. However you are not allowed to get a drink whilst working, or do pretty much anything else. I recieved some bullying about my weight from a fellow employee over the internet and alerted my manager who did very little about it, the colleauge was already a known trouble maker. Although I was returning back to uni after summer, I made it clear they couldn't keep rotaing my on for 30 hour weeks. My assistant manager said I didnt make the rota's so you'll have to do what's there. Couldnt alert my manager as she was continously away sick. Was picked on for moving deliveries "too slow", sorry I can't lift as much as a 6ft man when I'm a 5'5 girl in my 20's. The way staff were discussed was rude, disapointing and upsetting to me. I was spoken to like dirt so many times I began feeling scared to go in for shifts, I eventually stopped turning up out of lack of respect for a terrible management team who have no idea how to manage people in a assertive and understanding way. Terrible. – less
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current collegue
shop operator (Current Employee), ballymena – January 8, 2013
Pros: pets
Cons: there is none
brillaint place to work ive never loved coming to work now i do. are pets are well cared for the staff are well cared for everyone gets on great i cant stress how nice it is to work for pets at home
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long hours, poor management, fun and good morals
sales assistant (Current Employee), crawley – December 28, 2012
Pros: discounts, training
Cons: long hours, poor management
ethics and morals are interesting to learn about. enjoying being trained and working my way up. long hours, doing air lock, no choice given, poor management. fun to work with the pets, and customers. don't always get on with colleges, have made one really good friend. hardest part of job is airlock. most enjoyable, looking after the pets with my co – more... workers and selling products and helping customers. – less
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Watch your back!
Assistant manager (Former Employee), Suffolk – November 21, 2012
Pros: careing for the animals
Cons: the management
Worked there for 8 years and my last year there was made miserable by other members of the management team. If they decide they don't like you your out! It's a very clicky company and if you don't kiss butt to the right people you really are in trouble. Looking after the pets is nice but you do have to be quite a hard person as you will deal with deaths – more... and many sick animals which can be quite upsetting. – less
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– 09 January 2013

I couldn't agree with this statement more, the management team are far too young in the Birmingham area to possibly do their job in a unbiased, non gossipy way.

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I am going by my own personal experience
Staff (Former Employee), uk – October 31, 2012
Pros: getting to work with the animals
Cons: staff treated quite poorly
I am going by my own personal experience found it not to be a very nice place to work .Treat the staff quite poorly also long hours all in all iv worked at better places
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tiggy – 05 November 2012

worked at Pets, can be ok depends on management and how you are treated, some managers lack respect and can pick on staff

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Horrible place to work
Customer assistant (Former Employee), Hampshire – October 11, 2012
Pros: the freinds i made.
Cons: everything
I worked at Pets at Home for a year and a half. No matter how hard your worked it just wasnt good enough. I called in sick once becuase i was generally ill and i was told off. The animal conditions were appaling and i was faced with dead animals nearly every day. Managers were always ganging up and forming groups to talk about others behide there backs. – more... They were very strict about holiday and managers time off always came first i had to beg to get my 18th birthday off even though there was cover avaible. In this big company you are just a number when doing staff surveys mangers would stand over you making sure you ticked the postive box for everything. – less
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