team member

teaching assistant

supply chain analyst

shopkeeper

sales manager

Kmart Australia

Kmart is a good place to work when you are just starting out and have no prior experience. The younger staff are prioritised with shifts, yet only 3-hour blocks will be given, and the pay is in the medium range compared to other companies with similar work expectations. Kmart are quite flexible and it is not difficult to cancel or swap shifts should something come up, and due to the large number of staff, management are quite understanding of cancellations. Three hour blocks in the middle of the day can be a frustrating shift to work, as it does honestly waste your whole day, as longer shifts are usually not given. 

Management really dislike their job and often treat staff poorly, and little to no training is given, resulting in frustrated customers and displeased team leaders. Had many experiences where favouritism was obvious, with a strong clique culture in the store. Usually the staff who work the hardest are belittled or ignored, and absolutely no praise or even a thank you at the end of the shift is given, which can be infuriating when you see managers constantly standing around having irrelevant conversations with favouritised team members, then telling others off for "not working" which is clearly unfair. Had plenty of experiences of working super hard in apparel, barely speaking to a single team member for two hours, then returning to the fitting rooms to collect returns and being told off for saying a quick hello to the team member in the fitting rooms and 'laughing' for less than two minutes. Utterly disappointing and ridiculous. What kind of work culture are the managers trying to promote here?

Every shift there is never much to do, thus you are left to roam the store for 3 hours which drags out and does get quite tiring. Management are always coming and going, and there is a poor culture amongst the staff in leadership, which leads to a stressful and quite mundane environment for team members. I have never once left the store feeling good, and without fail am convincing myself that the "next shift will be my last".

Overall, would only recommend Kmart for 15-18 year olds who are just starting out, as usually no shifts will be given after this period as a casual, and the work becomes boring and monotonous.

Pretty good working environment and definitely a good first job, however it takes about a year to really start working here as the training is poor, they just stick you in front of a computer when you first get a job for hours and don’t actually give you any practical training, at least in presentation work. Management can be poor at times at my place of work, however some team members can be difficult, especially the newest employees who rarely ever call in if they aren’t coming to work and just don’t show up leaving the managers quite stressed. Our particular store has a no talking rule which is a bit unfair as it is only our store who enforced it and basically forces us to be very isolated during our shifts even though we are meant to be a “team”. The pay is very good and customers are usually tolerable however you witness some violent behaviour from customers and team members have even become victims of violence from customers but the managers are very understanding in situations like these and offer all the assistance they can and always make sure they’re employees are okay and put measures into place to keep team members safe. As you get older you tend to get less shifts if you remain a casual team member and the shifts are short. I haven’t come across any opportunities for advancement to higher roles. Kmart is a good first job as you always get paid correctly and on time and you get short shifts and they are very flexible with other commitments, however there is very little opportunity to advance in this job, management can be poor and experience with customers can be off putting. Ps. If you are a customer please don’t hit on staff it’s really uncomfortable and don’t get into fights in the middle of our store it’s really annoying and you make yourself look like an idiot. Thanks :)

Overall, I believe that Kmart is a good place to work, though not necessarily a stand-out. It's kind of a "comfortable" environment and there isn't too much to really complain about. 
Training was excellent. They really ensure that you have the support that you need while giving you real customer facing experience. They didn't seem to mind giving team members that really knew what they were doing additional training in other departments as well. 
The job is incredibly straight forward, although occasionally very 'busy' and you can find yourself with a million things to do at once, so it never gets boring and there's always a bit of a challenging sort of aspect to the job.
I believe that I worked at the same store as a reviewer that stated that there is a very 'family' sort of feeling within the team, which is true to an extent with some minor exemptions. I think that with such a generally young group of employees there can be a bit of 'drama' and I became aware of a few incidences during my employment where coworkers had been harassed and the issue wasn't dealt with properly. 
Management were, for the most part, pretty okay. They were generally very supportive and wanted to see you doing well. There were a lot of changes in management, and honestly I don't think many managers even knew my name, but usually they were quite professional. Every so often a manager of a department you weren't a part of would dump a large workload on you or crack it at you for almost no reason, but it was never anything impossible to handle. 
Pay is reasonable, although it's occasionally a battle to get hours, especially if you're 20 or older. As I left Kmart they were apparently in the middle of a massive cut down on staff and remaining staff were having their hours significantly cut. There are very good discounts on some clothing (50%, if it hasn't since changed) and 5% off other items. 
In conclusion, it's a sort of cruisy, fun place to work, but don't expect amazing pay or benefits.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of K-Mart was the experience you would get. For me, I was able to gain experience in stock management and handling, heavy lifting and manual labour, as well as customer service and register handling.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
My whole time working there, I felt I was constantly behind and undertrained for the job. Then, when I did my absolute best to meet the job requirements, I get told to pick up the pace further or I'll be unable to stay on. By the end of my casual contract, I was let go, for presumably not being able to keep up despite not being trained enough for the work given.

It also felt like they would avoid giving you the work benefits, a fellow casual employee wanting to use the employee discount outside of store hours (company policy) and they mentioned to talk about it after work, which was never done.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would arrive at the business, greet the door employee, and approach the mens clothing section to enter the break room. I would sit and wait until roughly 5 minutes before shift where we would all log in to the company system to have our time recorded. Then, we would be given a run-down on sales numbers and our jobs for the night while doing stretches to prepare our bodies for all the movement.

Afterwards, I would either be put on door to which I would stand there until break time, checking receipts and greeting customers, or I would be on back dock, where I would be cutting boxes and preparing items for shelves. Once break happens, I would exit the store and buy a snack to get myself through the day with enough energy, before going back to work and doing the same as before.

Before we log out of the system at the end of the shift, we would ensure we had no equipment borrowed, and would grab our items. Then, we would log out, and exit the building.

I've been with the company for a long time, and unfortunately, it’s been getting progressively worse. There's significant pressure from shareholders to keep costs low, but the stock flow and volume are unreasonable given the resources we have to work with. The stores are extremely busy, with high foot traffic driven by Kmart Australia's social media presence and promotions. However, the sales don’t always reflect this, as many customers come in to browse, create a mess, and leave without purchasing, which leads to an increased number of returns. Despite this high traffic, we don’t have the budget to effectively manage the situation.

Upper management is cutting costs at every corner, including reducing the cleaner hours and responsibilities to save money, which adds even more work to the stores with no additional resources. No matter how time-effective you or your team are, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up. Upper management either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the realities of life in the stores. The different departments at head office often don’t communicate, creating conflicts that add even more pressure on the stores.

It's always been a part of the culture for management to work unpaid overtime to cover the gaps, but this is starting to shift recently. The pay isn’t sufficient for the level of stress, and salary includes your superannuation contribution so it works out to be only about $100 more per week than a full-time team member’s pay—but with a lot more stress and pressure. The targets for achieving bonuses are also unrealistic so dont expect alot more with those.

On the positive side, the team is great, and I’ve learned a lot, especially in terms of managing stress and pressure. However, if you value your mental health, I wouldn’t recommend working here unless you can fully separate work from your personal life.

I work as a Causal in sections of the store. The first is Apparel where I sort through items people have tired on, return good to there locations, order or print missing labels for stock, order fill for empty stock, fill empty locations, interact with customers who are looking for particular items or asking about ordering stock, ordering stock for customers, mark down odd or damaged stock as well as any other jobs asked of me by a manager. 
The second location I work in is Checkouts where I serve customers, collect, count and return money(change), fill empty stock, provide customer assistance for locations of stock and if necessary call employees to assist with finding, moving and buying the stock. As well as, during period of quiet, being sent to work in different sections completing any jobs they need help with, e.g. Replenishment: putting out stock in the general merchandise area of the store
I also work with other managers to assist with any thing they require and I am often called in for shifts which, as long as I haven't made plans, I attend. They can be anything from 3 days in advance warning to immediate start.
I work with a wonderful team of adults (17+) on the day shift and I also work with the night staff who range from 14-20yrs of age. As well as 6 managers, including a Store Manager, for different sections, I work for 3 different ones depending on the location I am asked to work in. I get along really well with all of the team members that I work with.
The most enjoyable thing about my job is it is always different, not just what I do but because I interact with customers that have different needs and wants everyday
The hardest part is trying to provide the customer with what they need. If I don't have stock and can't order any in then my next step is to suggest where they can find what they are looking for.

A Typical Day At Work - Arrive to staff who are quick to whinge about the store happenings, other staff, even some managers and their personal business. Then run your bejeeses off to do your own job plus what these staff have not done but should have even when it is not a part of your job description, being very careful not to be seen leaving your position to do the other staff's jobs because you know you will get screamed at right in your face right there no matter who is around, customers etc. You do it for the team, the store, the company, the customers but you also do it because you know you will also get screamed at right in your face if it is not done. Otherwise there is poor to no communication.

What I Learned, the Workplace Culture is - my previous comments plus how to juggle a shocked like interest while not actually participating. Knowing that everyone gets a turn at being bullied Most not all of the Managers play favourites and allow their fav's to do pretty much whatever they like then reward their laziness, lying bullies. There is very poor communication.

The Hardest Part Of The Job is - the workplace culture, the constant anxiety about when you are going to be screamed at, when the filthy gossip is going to be about you. Knowing that nothing you do is going to be noticed, recognised or rewarded. There is no real communication.

The Most Enjoyable Part Of The Job is - own self satisfaction that I've done all I can do, I give 110% each and every shift and for the most part the customers (Even some staff) still being able to have a laugh.

**The managers are so time poor working in excess of a 50hour week each and every week. Communication is poor to none, it appears across Kmart at all levels. There is something VERY wrong within Kmart.

Supposedly being a casual means you have to work well in the job to get more shifts. But this is not true at all. Shifts are very inconsistent (one week you may have 5 shifts with a total of 20 hours, the next you get none). I work really hard each shift and get things done, but management doesn't care. They see you as a number in their budget, not a worker who should be treated equally. I know younger employees are paid lower, but at my store they still give multiple casual shifts to those who are even 25. Clearly there's favouritism of employees. 

Not a stable place to earn money. Most times they want you to pick up some shifts last minute when someone cancelled. Then why not give the shift to you in advance if the person who cancelled is so unreliable?  Also, rosters are only released a week before with little time left to plan out your week. Most shifts are 3 hours which is like nothing. Either that or they ask you to stay back for the whole day which is super tiring. 

Working at Kmart means you have some duty (e.g presentation of apparel) on top of customer service if you're on the selling floor. Management expect you to do your job quick and to perfection, but they never consider how long the duty actually takes and the amount of customer enquiries you have to attend to (e.g customer calls, in-person enquiries) while completing your duty. And to be given no shifts with good work is disheartening. Management never properly trains employees. They just put you in the deep end of the job, where you are forced to teach yourself. For example, I was never taught presentation until about after 10 shifts in it. They would always put me in something I know during the shift. 

A typical day at work, come in, put your belongings in your assigned locker (or if you don't have one, request a temporary from your manager), sign on, contact manager for daily/nightly duties.

The first 3 years of employment, I learnt quite a lot, from handling angry customers to dealing with thieves and arsonists, and anything in between. Stock rotation and filling was pretty easy to understand, and the management at the time were very helpful.

The management at Kmart leaves something to be desired. You have those that are really helpful, like the managers that originally hired me, but since Kmart underwent a shake-up in management with the refit, the management staff have been discriminatory against certain casual team members, but favorable to others.

Co-workers can be quite selfish and rude, often disregarding the feelings of others or playing the victim when they do something wrong. They constantly provoke each other into verbal arguments, with some going as far as to challenge someone to a fight. I personally have witnessed Kmart as a whole go down the toilet.

The hardest part of my job is constantly battling Management who think they can do whatever they want, claiming that they have the right to call people who aren't on a list of approved contacts for a specific employee, all the way to discriminating against an individual and reducing the number of shifts they get to 1 every 4 weeks just because they don't like them.

The most enjoyable part of my job is probably the amount I get paid per hour, and that's it. Since 2014, there isn't anything else I like about Kmart.

Kmart is a wonderful place for a person looking to begin their career in retail. It provides a detailed education in the responsibilities of working in retail, an in depth understanding of the hierarchy in retail and exposure to a variety of customer service experiences. 

HOWEVER

Personally I've found the team at Kmart to have such an unhappy and unenthusiastic attitude to their work and the company. I believe this is due to the feeling of segregation between social classes within the team as well as an inapproachable management staff. OVER NINE TIMES I've officially and formally enquired about further training and more shifts, each time being promised that management and admin would look into it however I never received any response, in fact the same people I had previously asked had seemingly "forgotten" about my questions despite me writing polite notes to serve as reminders to these particular staff members (that they've obviously discarded). When I went to present my questions and complaints to higher management I was turned around with nothing but another empty promise that they'll look into it. It's been over a month since I've been rostered or contacted for a shift and despite me asking about the reason behind my lack of work and when I could next have a shift, nothing has come of it.

In conclusion I believe that Kmart is a great place to start working in retail but I suggest that after gaining enough experience and training an employee should move on to a more secure and comfortable job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Team member 1 salary reported	$31.36 per hour
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Supply chain analyst 1 salary reported	$33.71 per hour
Shopkeeper 1 salary reported	$26.00 per hour
Sales manager 1 salary reported	$115,708 per year

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