Clean Up Fashion

anon said:

i have worked for matalan for the past 6yrs and in the beginning it was a good place to work but now it's like hell on earth. the more you do the less they think of you, the heat in the shop in the summer is unbearable and customers frquently walk out or have a go at the staff, however the managers office has air-con and thats where most of them spend their summer! while us poorly paid poorly treated staff aren't even allowed fans on the sales floor! when the students come back in the holidays they are given more hours and treated better than alot of the staff who are there all the time, no bonus, no thank you, no training, they have a star book but when thats done and you have done your nvq thaere is nothing for you unless you want to be a manager, which not everyone wants, why dont they do supervisors? we have less than 5 full timers in our store which is one of the biggest in the company, someone has to do something to make achange!!!

June 16, 2008

Brill_Brunette said:

I had an interview a day ago and i'm really hoping i get the job, but i've heard lots of people saying the pay is quite low, i used to get 5.86 at my old job which i think is very competetive. Does any one know what people of the age of 19 get paid an hour?
Thanks

April 08, 2008

Gavin Hector said:

I used to work for Matalan and I can say they are bastards. I was treated terribly and was made to set up alot of managers so they could be sacked

March 16, 2008

Simon Walker said:

in further response to the comments of Kat591.
I too work at matalan in fact i work at a clearance store in wood green and personally i love it here. everything you say is absolute rubbish. when things are returned to us they get sold again, the only time we throw things away is when they are deemed unwearable or un-usable,i know this as i work on our customer services till and to be perfectly honest the whole point of giving things to charity is to give things that can be sold and used i'll repeat USED i mean you would not give something that cannot be used to someome would you. and as the for the way i am treated i couldnt ask for anything more, we have the most relaxed (yet strict and rule abiding) managers i have ever worked with. i'm a bit of a rocker you see and have several ear piercings in the hand book it says no more than 2 but my hair covers this up so as far as they are concerned not a problem and in terms of pay for me when i started working at matalan when i was 16 i was getting paid £5 something which is much more than BHS or poundland (where in poundland i have a 16 year old friend and i know for a fact she is being paid under £4) though the pay rate at matalan does not change till one becomes 19 i still didnt care as now i am 19 and i have been there nearly 3 years and have no complaints and no reason to want to change jobs

March 10, 2008

Mark said:

I have worked for Matalan for 7 years, at the start it was a great company to work for with achievable bonuses and realistic work ethics but since the huge profit drop a few years ago it seems to have gone from great to abysmal. You sign a contract (which my solicitor informs me gives them the right to do anything so read it) and then they fall short on pay, contract hours and any form of respect for anyone who is not in a managerial role. I went to a staff meeting in my second year where they announced their goals for the next five years which included but not limited to 'becoming no.1 fashion retailer and being a company of preference' which in lay terms means they wanted people to actually want to work at Matalan more than most other companies. I have seen people with families have their hours reduced from 30 to 4 which would have some financial merit if they had not employed 3 other people that week alone. Shop floor workers are treated with little respect and if you complain, little if any action is taken. Bonuses no longer exist for non-management and the 'Christmas party' has a budget of £250 for 60 people smilies/grin.gif

Everyone knows there's no 'I' in team but at Matalan there is definitely a 'U' as I have seen and been people who are singled out and targeted, good hard workers and not lazy people, just because they did the one thing that annoys one particular manager (and is not against the Matalan handbook). Insubordination is a sackable offense btw, I was told to 'f' off and get my 'f'ing work done once on the shop floor in front of customers because I said I shouldn't have to work at 5c (the heating was broke and it was winter). I don't blame the managers tbh, their workload and the targets they are set are unrealistic, you have to move the shop floor around at least once a week with minimal staff and one of those has to be on the fitting room, every time a door opens a manager has to be present (5 managers per store btw and 2 are in the office + 1 per department) now each store has to get 400 emails a week from customers when 80% of the time the customers are repeat customers so now they just take them from the phone book lmao.
I phoned the confidential hotline a few times and each time I get the same response 'each store manager has their own way of doing things'.
Why does Matalan not have a union? I asked USDAW, Matalan have to agree to it or 50% of the employee's have to be already in a union for it to become Matalan policy so the real question is why don't they and the answer would be, because they know how bad they treat staff. So I agree with Tarom, a fundamental change is needed, going public was a huge mistake where the top brass got rich quick but are paying in the long run.

February 29, 2008

anon said:

Thanks Kat951 I am due to have an interview with Matalan soon and will be askin on the company policy for returns. As management maybe I can help change a few things for the better.

February 27, 2008

Anon said:

To kat591 - you talk of the discrimination between sales assistants and management - You obviously don't read staff notices otherwise you would have called the Confidential Hotline. I also work for Matalan and absolutely love it.

I would be extremely interested in finding out which store you work(ed) in...I'm hoping it's the latter as I'm sure Matalan could find more loyal employees than yourself.

December 28, 2007

tarom said:

Hey guys! Do not forget that we happen to live in the Capitalist economy - exploitation of labour. Their shining papers, websites, etc, etc, are anything but beautiful! We need to understand the underlining issue relating to the capitalist economy. Admiring your effort [clean up Fashion], I don't think that you bring about any fundamental change other than cosmetic improvement. The problem seems to be deep-rooted. It needs a fundamental change, not superficial.

October 24, 2007

Dutchy said:

I never really thought about my clothes before. It was only when I spoke to someone about the way people in 3rd world countries are being exploited that I started to think. To me its unacceptable that people are not being paid a fair amount for the work they do. Matalan you have just lost yourself a customer!

October 08, 2007

clive said:

i work in a low paid job here in the uk. i struggle to make ends meet week to week and rely on stores like matalan to provide my clothes. i completely sympathise with the workers in other countries who are exploited so i can have cheap suits and t-shirts but in the end we're all in the same shitty boat. it's all relative.

September 21, 2007

claire said:

i work for matalan nd i disagree with what has been said, in my work we are treated to an excellent standard, pay is good and there is no disgrimination. matalan is an excellent company to work for an i truly love my job

September 15, 2007

kat591 said:

I am an employee of Matalan, (but not for too much longer with any luck) and I myself am disguted with the way the company disregards employees. You would think that they would at least look after their shopworkers to some extent. But un the store I work in, this is not the case. There is discrimination between members of management and the sales assistants. Also when items of clothing/other products are returned for whatever reason, these items are not donated, they are to be destroyed. I know this is happening as I have been made to do this myself. I asked why the items are dealt with in this way as most of these items any number of charities would be grateful for as the only probelms are that they've been 'worn' and cannot be resold.

April 23, 2007

Maxine said:

I have been wondering for ages about Matalans fair trade policies. Now having just come back from there I had a moment to do some checking up. I am extremely disapointed but it is what I expected. They sell so cheap!! I have bought a lot in Matalan in the past but I won't be going there again untill they sort their act out.

December 02, 2006