product coordinator

store manager

retail sales associate

web designer

supply manager

The Just Group

I worked for Smiggle for a year as a sales assistant. I think if the store was structured better and had better managers things would be better. The cons definitely out way the pros. If it wasn't for having a good team I would of quit a long time ago.

Cons about Smiggle:
- Bad management: Management was always changing I had 3-4 managers over the time period I was there. Each manager has a different structure on how they like their store ran which made things difficult. My last manager would tell me my selling skills weren't as good as his or if I had done something wrong so when I asked him to show me how he would do it he would never show me.

- No further training: No further training received unless your management which is ridiculous. The only further training I received was on the job. I would of loved to have received any extra training possible.

- Overtime: I can't count on my fingers how many hours of overtime I did while I was working there. I never got paid for any of it and if I had asked to get paid for that time it would always be "over budget hours for the week" and the answer was no. It's hard not to do overtime because there is always so much to do i.e. tiding up and refilling for the next day. Being expected to fill in all the paperwork plus budget book and cash up two registers in 15 minutes is impossible.

- No advancement or career: You can't really make any advancement/career in this position. I worked a lot, would always be available to extend my shift or work other peoples shifts, come in half an hour to an hour earlier, do everything that was asked of me and it didn't really benefit me in any way. 


Pros:
- The best thing was having a good team to work with and gaining experience in retail.

It’s all smoke and mirrors! They say they are committed to your development by conducting seasonal performance reviews but it’s mostly them putting you down and telling you that you should do better. It’s all about what is best for the company at the time - Store Managers are NOT valued for wanting career progression. 

Heavy reliance on Store Managers to reduce turnover of their casuals and part-timers that keep leaving because of the high expectations and high stress environment. Although, the bigger issue is the middle/upper management depreciating their Store Managers by not valuing their career goals and manipulating them into staying put and doing their time. 

They talk very highly of their feedback model but I’m telling you now, if you want praise from middle/upper management you will be seen as weak and like you’re wanting to be doted over. It’s all improvement and no praise.

Sales/Customer service is the ultimate priority (obviously) but they are also VERY task focussed and the sheer amount of tasks is very high. It must be done within an unrealistic timeframe and little to no support of using extra hours is given to get it done (VM/stock/admin/mandatory “deliverables”). You either sink or swim. 

Salary is a very low base rate and is disappointing especially being one of the city stores. 

This is overall is one of the worst jobs I have ever had and it was mostly due to the unrealistic expectations and old school management style of middle and upper management. If there’s anything that Smiggle and The Just Group should take away from this review, it’s that your lower level Store Manager and Sales Assistants are not the problem, you are. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
It takes a special kind of people to work for unique brands like Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, Peter Alexander, JacquiE, Smiggle and Jay Jays. Once you're in, you truly become a part of huge 'family' which leads you and motivates you to stay for long time.. 10, 20, 30 plus years (16 years myself)..therefore you end up working with super experienced staff members. With that kind of retail business, where motivation is number one drive; though trainings are more intense, they are interesting, beneficial, informative and most important supporting. It opens up a lot of opportunities and growth within the company. My Good work was always appreciated and genuinely rewarded throughout my time working for The Just Group. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Generally, customer service is challenging in this type of business. Trying to please different types of people and balancing good manners, can be difficult. This stands for any retail business. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The Just Group is established in 1970. with first brand Just Jeans opening in Melbourne. Being that long in this business means you have to have exceptional work environment, without that ,culture wouldn't be strong.

Picked & packed on trolleys for leading brands to send off to stores all around Australia. Learning to send garments overseas. Enjoyed learning to do returns & faulty garments. Labelling the boxes to send off was tiring but also fun, to find out different names to towns that I had not heard of. Learning to stage was fun in Jacqui E & Portmans but not so in Jay Jays & Peter Alexander, had to manually do it but still interesting to see how each department did staging & stocktake differently. Management was mostly helpful in helping with the computers & equipment breaking down & any & most issues were resolved. Worked along side men & women & also worked solo, working together as a team made it so much easier but if not enough jobs to be picked had to clean warehouse.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I actually felt appreciated for what I could bring to the position. The 50% of clothing for myself was also amazing but the wages could be a little more competitive. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Financially I felt stressed. They need to up their wages. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I mostly found it positive. They do give great training and are certainly encouraging of promoting within. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in, enjoy dressing your clientele, try out upselling techniques. Generally you have a good mix of register work, putting out new stock, stocktaking, cleaning and always time for a laugh in between.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The co workers we worked in store as a family and team the dynamic a were the the best 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Unrealistic cost cutting , increased budgets decreased man power , unacceptable expectations on a base salary . Impossible to reach bonuses . Consistently changing company culture and focuses 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Inconsistent, not family friendly, no work life balance . Constant changes wants increasing daily gives decreased daily . 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stress constant changes , unrealistic updates expected to roll out on bare minimum staffing levels often no coverage at all

Unfortunately, the culture imposed from the top-down was aggressively skewed towards profits-at-any-cost. Senior management were known in the industry for high-profile court cases regarding disputes with previous and current staff, which promoted mistrust amongst other staff.

There was little-to-no job satisfaction, given the highly repetitive and intense workload, and so staff turn-over was high.

The hardest part of the job were the countless late finishes, due to poor management and a disregard for the time necessary to implement the changes requested.

The most enjoyable part of the job was working alongside an excellent team, compiled by the direct team managers.

My responsibilities at the just group was endless.....from mail outs, answering enquiries from stores to customers, booking accommodation, flights and cars for the store reps, organising functions for QLD & NT store managers, assisting our head office with planning and organising accommodation and flights to Brisbane for the company awards night.  I loved this position as the it was a fun and friendly place to work and the manager of the office was fantastic.  Always willing to help if you didn't understand how to do a report to understanding work/life balance.
Co workers were also just as helpful and fun to work with.  A great company that I wish I had stayed with to develop my skills further.

great first time job if yu start out as a xmas casual, you can learn so much and pick up some vital retail/customer service skills. But just like people told me, once you become a key holder prepare to be used and abused! management are so focused on keeping within budget they’ll leave you with only 3 hour cover on busy days and if you have a problem with that “maybe you should’ve worked harder to meet the budget” the stress you get for a a measly 50c-80c (more than minimum) is ridiculous and although head office say they’re there for you, they really aren’t. The list goes on in the ways they overwork their employees too. Please be very wary before applying with this company! (this is coming from experience in the Smiggle brand) 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I really enjoyed working at Justgroup which feels like a big family. everyone has respect for each other and they truly follow the workplace behaviour.
 they will always try to promote team members if there is any potential which is a great pass to improve and build future.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I could be stressed if there was a big workload and not enough staff to help

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very trustworthy and humble no discrimination for anyone 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Housekeeping and enjoy serving customers while trying to manage daily plans

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Product coordinator 5 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Store manager 1 salary reported	$52,500 per year
Retail sales associate 4 salaries reported	$27.00 per hour
Web designer 3 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Supply manager 3 salaries reported	$53,667 per year

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