SOL Retail Reviews

I am not sure where to start with this company. It is seriously concerning to me the CEO has clearly forced staff to write 'positive' comments about the company after former employees have detailed their awful time at this place. For him to be insinuating former employees are banding together because they are bitter is bizarre. You know how you treat your staff and to try and control the narrative isn't a surprise to me. I never write reviews but the truth needs to be told on this company. Firstly, the CEO is a bully. He will belittle his staff in front of the whole workforce, this could be over something simple like being ONE minute late, making a cup of tea when you arrive, failing to hit impossible sales targets that were NEVER reasonable or achievable and literally made up on the spot. Just a man trying to feed his ego and control his staff, there is something odd about a person enjoying attacking young staff members. Not only would he attack his staff, but he would also make inappropriate comments to young female employees around appearance or dress code (this was VERY uncomfortable to witness). The staff turnover alone should raise serious concerns to you, there is no one that has been at this company long term, everyone has left and it is a revolving door. If that isn't a red flag I don't know what is. This meant there were restructures every few weeks due to staff constantly leaving, due to poor planning and due to poor strategy and management. Work will pile and pile up on you as more people leave, leaving it impossible to complete your work load, you will also be wildly underpaid. You are watched by cameras in every corner of the office, yes you read that correctly WATCHED. This made the entire staff feel uncomfortable, to be watched and have conversations listened to, he would use the things he learnt against you. The CEO is a serious control freak which is reinforced by there being 0 flexibility with working from home. There is no option to which is strange for a job that could be fully remote... but that is the CEO for you. He treats staff so awful, I have seen him fire a young 22 year old girl purely because he didn't like her, she wasn't one of his 'favourites' so out of nowhere fired her. He explained to us it was for her own mental health...she was blindsided and distraught at the time due to the intimidation she felt. She was forced to pack her things in front of us while crying, and escorted from the building like she was a felon by two grown men. It was an awful thing to witness and set the tone for what was to come. The CEO has small man syndrome and enjoys making people feel small. The COO is just as bad, she is power hungry and if you dare cross her you are next on the chopping block. I wish I was exaggerating how bad this place is but it really is as bad as all the REAL reviews are saying. I am sure in time when the current staff have the courage to leave too, the positive reviews will be removed. Please avoid this company at all costs, even if you are desperate it is not worth it, anything and I mean ANYTHING is better than this toxic place.

Not usually one do reviews however I feel this company is an exception. SOL Retail thrives from belittling and intimidating its employees and this stems from the top. I have never felt so weak as i did when working for this company, there are clear favourites and if you are not one of them you are made a target by the CEO and COO. There is a serious problem with management saying inappropriate and massively hurtful things about you to other employees and playing you against one another creating an unpleasant and toxic environment in which you feel on edge and like you can’t speak to anyone. There is no one you can raise issues with as HR is under the COO. If you raise something with “HR” (COO) it is not confidential and is repeated willy nilly and turns into office gossip. The way staff are spoke to is completely disrespectful and unprofessional, you leave work everyday completely beat down. It is to the point where people put off handing in their notice for months and months because they are terrified of how they will be spoke to, belittled and made to feel like nothing for wanting to leave this hostile environment. The lack of care for staff is so obnoxiously clear as people are coming forward expressing how this company ruined their mental health, self esteem and faith in human nature and their feelings are continuing to be disregarded by the management with these recently added “5 starts reviews” claiming people are colluding and ganging up out of spite. I feel extremely sorry for current employees who are being manipulated into writing these 5 star reviews, I can safely say you will one day understand where we are all coming from.