Largely, there was little to no practical training given even in homeware - even though this involved furniture sales and heavy lifting.  Much of the job required heavy lifting, including heavy boxes full of returned items which needed to be lifted out from underneath the desks. Often, I could not lift these and so would have to wait for another worker to do this for me.
Moreover, management would complain about the till area being a mess with items that needed putting back when there would not be enough staff to put back items and serve the people queuing. This was especially the case in Childrenswear which is where our parcel collection area was.
It was seemingly impossible to even find a manager, they would rarely be seen on the shop floor, and the computer systems never showcased accurate information about stock room stock.
After every shift, my back and shoulders would ache so badly I would barely be able to move.
However, the staff do find a sense of teamwork.  I remember that there were occasions, such as Christmas Eve shifts, when everyone would be working together and talking as we went and it felt like a proper community.

I've been working at next ver 4 months and at first it seemed to be a good company t work for with the promise of promotion etc.. Sound good? It's all wrong!

Contracts that are offered are disgusting (8 hour contract for me) but some are offered 3 hours.. A week!!
Unpaid breaks
The maximum you can get paid for a day is 7hrs 45mins (if you have a 9 hour day they give you 1hr 45 mins break
Management are useless, there is one good assistant manager at our store the rest are selfish, obnoxious and unprofessional.
Staff come and go like nobody's business, why? Two guesses.
One rule for one and one for another.
If you expect to rise up, don't count on it. Managers give the jobs to people they like or people who kiss there behind.
If you have a 75 hour delivery it's expected to be done in 35 if not your useless (apparently)
They cut your hours and then if they need you to stay but you can't your the bad one.

The only pro is discount but is it worth it?

Full of women who call each other.

While working at Next on a work visa while living abroad, I was not treated well at all by management. The staff (Coworkers) were actually lovely and friendly, and were what made my days bearable. Most people are down to earth, and are very helpful and nice. The management however, were rude and took advantage of most of the staff. They would schedule me for 6 or 7 days out of the week sometimes, and ask me to work 11-12 hours days quite often. I was only being paid 7pounds an hour, so unfortunately being paid so little  I usually had to work these long shifts just to make a small amount of money. Around Christmastime, I was being worked too much, and was getting extremely stressed out. After getting quite upset at work, the store manager was extremely rude and not empathetic at all, and then treated me terribly after the interection. I would not reccommend working here AT ALL.

I have been at Next during my time at college and university, keeping in touch with Next has allowed me to go back during seasonal holidays to help with the busy sale periods. While at Next my main responsibilities were to engage with customers advertising products and promotions to encourage the customer to purchase items, operate tills and take regular stock checks. During my time at Next I was able to improve on my communication skills, teamwork and independent working skills.
The management were hard working and friendly who made me feel comfortable in the workplace and when under pressure. My co-workers were east to get along with and my time at next enjoyable.

I loved working in retail however, the lack of organisation in the office of the store made it difficult to work. Due to others not finishing work and short shifts, i barely had time to finish my own work after picking up after others. If i had this opportunity again i would really like to organise the office in a better way and see longer shifts giving time to do more work. I returned to this job after my first year of university to being paid less and working at a store that tripled in size, it was difficult to do this with the least hours possible. I really like to find a job where i can sink my teeth into hard work and keep places organised and time efficient

The team from the top to the bottom are very friendly to the point were it is almost like a family. Every day is trying to help customers find the right outfit or the perfect gift for friends and family, or helping people buy the perfect furniture for there house.  I love being able to train new starters, to pass on the knowledge that I have acquired over the past 11 years. The hardest but not completely unable to do is promoting customers to shop on line with our first time surfer offer or for existing customers the recommend a friend offer.

Wouldn't even give this company one star!
Worst place to work ever, if anyone asks me to recommend next as a work place I wouldn't, 

Management - absolutely disgusting attitudes, lazy and self cantered! only interested in themselves and making money, couldn't care less about their staff, the staff who make the place function, maybe you should have abit more respect then all your staff wouldn't be handing in their notices! 

I used to dread going to work because I knew the stress it put me under and the bad mood it put me in!

Favouritism from store manager to a number of staff. Only bothered about her home life, always on the phone to her boyfriend in the officefor hours on end.. Unprofessional. Lacking staff morale due to job dissatisfaction and poor management. Never told about any changes,but was expected to know by area manager. Training very poor. Very low staff levels. All shopfloor staff very friedly Overall i would NOT go back to Next nor would i suggest it to anyone.

a typical day at work involved people moaning about one another and management sneaking off for coffee with other members of staff or sending staff to collect coffee when we are so short staffed and busy. the management speak to shop floor staff like dirt and use there management status to bully other staff into uncomfortable situations. 

most enjoyable part of the job was going home at the end of the day, hardest part of the job was keeping up with management tasks that should of been taken out by management not under trained staff

When I worked at Next plc I had to serve customers by using the tills and answering customers questions, I learned how to use the till and how to respond to customers when they have a problem. The co-workers that I worked with were friendly and always willing to help me when I had any questions about what to do. There wasn't any really hard parts of the job just a little challenging but the most enjoyable part would have been ensuring that I have done my job right by having feedback from anyone.

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