Too much for too little in a psychologically harmful environment - Store Manager Oxfam Employee Review

Unpaid overtime is an expectation - you will be expected to do 1-2 hours of overtime per day without compensation, failing to do so will result in additional scrutiny. No Lunch - Technically your lunch hour is subtracted from your working hours, however senior management will pressure you into not eating or taking a break all day. Highly toxic for people with eating disorders and there are many comments about you if you are caught eating. Lack of support - All situations involving interpersonal relations result in being referred to Retail Trust, and external talk therapy organisation. They can be helpful, but for a lot of things it would be more valuable to be able to get through to someone. Overt Bullying - More established staff bully newer staff or outliers. There is a lot of backstabbing and spying to try and drag other managers down and the gossip and cliques is rampant. Trying to bring this up will not work unless you go all the way to Speak up their internal misconduct body. No support when volunteers are a problem - There is very little that can be done when a volunteer steals or bullies other people. There will be immediate and often vicious retaliation for letting a volunteer go no matter how much evidence you accrue. Short Maternity leave - Contract is written ambiguously but you only get paid for a minimal amount of your maternity leave. Unrealistic expectations - Oxfam is trying to increase its pricing and be more of a boutique regardless of location or economic climate. They will often hand down price increases which if you follow will damage the amount of money made overall. Obscenely early Christmas - Christmas prep starts in July. Other holidays, such as Halloween, Remembrance Day, and Diwali, are not allowed to be celebrated in window displays. Low pay - Usually about £8,000 below the UK average salary for any job (and that is without counting the unpaid overtime). The reality is you make around £10.10 an hour most days Unfair Expectation of Volunteers - Very hateful attitudes towards the less abled volunteers and a lack of empathy and understanding beyond a thin veil of what can be said without crossing into discrimination. Very little in the way of adjustment. Poor Software Choices: Recently, Oxfams nationally upgraded to 'cybertill' and it's a chaotic flop. It has pushed many elderly volunteers out of roles and created unnecessary barriers and additional hurdles for keeping a good audit record. There is no rota management software. Poor Training - You are very much thrown to the wolves and constantly circularly referred to 'Compass' and internal encyclopedia that is hard to navigate and rarely helpful. It undermines the effectiveness of managers by simply not supplying them with the tools to grease the wheels of the job. Unreceptivity to new approaches - Any new approach will be fought against even if it prove successful. Often reverts are forced by area managers and then subsequently rolled out at the next area meeting. Cosmetic support of the LGBT community - it becomes very apparent that Oxfam has no spine when it comes to supporting LGBT issues and while on paper they are supportive all transmissions are carefully phrased. You can have this pro trans sticker *but you don't have to*. There is not better indicator than the yearly winners of the pride window displays which despite receiving amazing entries will always be the most generic heterofriendly and least identifiably gay windows. Poor Job security - If they find someone to do your job for cheaper you are out and they will make it painful. Staff wellbeing is not a factor to upper management - People are there to be exploited and run through, including volunteers. It's a remorseless meat grinder and those who give up and quit are treated hienously. Unable to take holiday - There is not the ability to cover your shifts and if you do get coverage the people involved are often very cruel or rude to volunteers to avoid being asked again. Complicity from other management in the bullying of undesirables - Sexual harassment, ageism, ableism, and isolation are common and there is never intervention from other managers. There are certain elected targets who are painted as 'bullies' but are often just normal people who the more established managers have decided are the kick-me's. It's brutal and you will be treated with contempt for refusing to participate. Sometimes it's very overt and shocking. Body comments targeting younger staff are also really shocking. People are very okay with fat-shaming and unless you have a method of recording it there is nothing HR can do to help. You must fail - Upper management demands you do things to prove they will fail, even when the failure is obvious. They will then be upset that profits have gone down. All instructions must be followed, however all instructions are detrimental and will result in criticism. Violence from the public - A regular occurrence and no support will be offered.