Good place to work, but no opportunity to progress so time to move on.
A typical day at work involves placing new lines onto the sales floor once delivery has been processed, both new and replenished lines must be put out into the floor according the company's BSP (best standard of practice). While there are many areas that i can be deployed to throughout the day my main area is cash desk. I basically interact with the customers while i de-tag the product and put the sale through the till. i also get to deal with alot of customer complaints and inquiries.
I have learned alot with my time at River Island. It can become quiet stressful with tasks to be completed while all the time trying to deal with customers and give them 100% service. i have learned how to manage my time efficiently while working as both a team member and on my own initiative. Most important i have learned to do all this with a smile on my face and control how stressed it can make me.
At River Island there are four managers Ladies floor manager, men's floor manager, deputy manager and a store manager. As a sales assistant i am responsible to answer to all of the four managers. They can each in turn give me specific tasks to do and to be completed in a specific time frame. They are all treated with the up-most respect and in turn respect is returned.
Most of my co-workers work on a four hour shift. I must say everyone who works at River Island works hard and we all help each other out when possible. The main idea of this is to cut out all breaks and lunches. All the contra
ProsMy 3 days are set to wed, thur and fri, staff all friendly
ConsAs i work part-time i will never progress within the company
Typically upon commencement of your shift you check in with the manager and they will deploy you to whichever zone you will be working in. They will advise you of any tasks that need completing, your lunch/break time and if there will be anyone to cover you as well as expected targets for womens/mens/kids and daily focuses such as promotions available to customers that day on the web.
Once in your zone it is your responsability to acknowledge and great customers, offer assisstance, find sizes/products, or offer alternatives if the product cannot be found. Also you will be expected to upsell, ie, sell more items, a shoe if they're buying a dress, a tie if they're buying a shirt, etc. Cross-selling is also expected, whereby you will entice a customer to purchase something from another department, such as mens or kids, and you will be expected to inform customers about the availability of gift cards, store order and buying from the website as well as any relevant promotions you may know of.
The management I work with are fair, understanding and very helpful, and the staff are friendly and reliable.
The hardest part of the job varies day to day. Sometimes it can be gruelling to keep the sales floor tidy and shopable other times it can be dealing with a difficult customer and still having them leaving feeling valued and satisfied confident in the knowledge that you went above and beyond for them and that they will return again.
The most enjoyable part is when you hav
ProsStaff discount of 30%, free clothes allowence
ConsNot enough hours, promises of progression but to no result, minimum wage
Working in River Island is an unique experience. I worked in Operations. This primarily revolved around stockroom work such as processing deliveries, stock replenishment etc. It also included a far broader range of tasks from building storage systems to training seasonal staff.
While, not an intellectual challenge in any real sense, I did learn how a high street fashion retailer operates. I also learned the importance of teamwork and initiative as integral sides of the same coin.
Management is highly modulated so store managers have to follow directives as laid out by head office. That being said the management team on the whole aimed to created a constructive and supportive environment, in which the entire team cooperated to get goals accomplished.
There would be two broad types of coworkers, those who are full time in the fashion industry and want to have careers or have happened to find careers in retail. Then there are students who view retail work in the fashion industry as a means to an end.
The hardest part of the job was time targets to be met, which on occasion would exceed the ability of the team and as such would have to be rethought by head office.
The best part of the job for me was achieving goals that had been set. Not that there was much in the way of bonuses, but nevertheless I felt that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.
My first job and one that left me nervous about retail and doubtful of my abilities for over a year due to the treatment I received by management. Toxic environment, management who act like high schoolers and talk badly about everyone and anyone. Asking questions as a new staff member was looked down upon and scolded, everyone was mistreated, and it created a horrible culture where everyone was mean to everyone. If you get offered a job in River Island Blanchardstown, only accept if you’re absolutely desperate. Extremely high turn over because hardly anyone can hack putting up with all that on a daily basis for minimum wage. Cannot recommend less.
ProsAllowance to get river island clothes every couple of months to wear as uniform
ConsHorrible management, toxic work culture, bad hours, low pay
Here too long, not part of the furniture, I'm a door mat now
This company has lost its way and is all about the look and what it's perceived to be when in actual fact its a toxic, cliquey and unappreciative mess. They make out they are all for the mental wellbeing of their employees when in actual fact they ignore the real issues. Have lost some great store manager colleagues in the last 6 months, managers who were loyal to a fault and gave their all, coming in unwell and with home life issues until it was too much. They will have a constructive dismissal case on their hands if they aren't careful. Underpaid managers who are on less money than some of their staff. Walk on, this place will kill your spirit.
ProsDiscount, pension
ConsLow pay for managers, zero confidentiality from area managers, bonuses have been stripped away, zero work life balance
Good Progression Opportunities, difficult to navigate socially
The work was easy enough, similar to any fashion retailer. There were good progression opportunities, as they would fill roles internally. If you get started on a low hour contract, it likely won’t be long until you’re offered more hours.
You have to be able to split your focus well between ongoing tasks, and every customer in/entering the store, and what their needs are as they go through the buyer’s journey. There’s a big focus on preventing stock loss.
This isn’t necessarily different from many workplaces, but socially, it can be difficult to navigate as there seemed to be a preference among some staff to discuss workplace interpersonal issues and other staff’s performance behind each other’s backs rather than addressing problems head on.
Great team of managers. Staff often taken for granted by company
A day in River Island is very fast paced and there's always a tremendous amount of work to be done which gives you a sense of accomplishment when the day ends. However as an employee it is easy to feel unheard/ unappreciated by the company.
The staff are paid just the bare minimum no matter how long the length of service wether they just started or are with the company 10+ years, which is very demotivating considering other retailers start on higher than minimum wage and increase with length of service. There is also very little difference in pay between a supervisor, that performs mostly managerial duties beyond their job profile, and a staff member.
Some managers would just get people below them to run around the place fr them and never done anything themselves. Bullying within the workplace and nothing was done about it. Favoritism was a big thing in the store. Couldn't take holidays during June. Could only get your discount on full price things and have to be working there 2 weeks until you got it. Your uniform could only be full priced too, and had to be there a certain amount of time before getting it. Most co-workers were so nice to work with while others weren't so much. Area manager was very frustrating whenever they came in just finding small things to give ouut about. Get blamed on things that was out of your control.
A typical day at work included greeting and serving customers, maintaining and organizing stock on shelves, price checking, dealing with customer queries, providing a high level of customer service and
ensuring general tidiness on the premises.
I learnt how to scan price tags and check and call down to the stock room.
The managers and co-workers are all very welcoming and friendly.
The hardest part of the job was when the shop was very busy and there was a lot of rejects to put back out on the floor but it was nothing I couldn't handle.
The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting and helping with the customers and making sure every customer’s visit to the store was enjoyable and pleasant.
River Island was a great experience for me, I really enjoyed myself there. I thought all of the staff were very kind and I made new friends amongst them. This experience helped me mature and get a taste of what it’s like in a quick paced environment and understanding the importance of a good working team to keep a business functioning! It also gave me an insight of a managers job in real life other than just studying throughout my business studies, which was very interesting!
ProsGreat Staff, good team work, good communication, well organised stock room and a great shop
ConsWages were monthly, Elevator wasn’t working at the time so stock had to be manually lifted up and down a lot of stairs.
I worked in River Island for a whole year and I would DEFINITELY NOT recommend it whatsoever. I worked in the Cardiff store in St Davids. Managers (mainly the higher up managers) were extremely rude on shifts. I came onto shift the one day and two of the managers stood on shop floor at the front of the store in front of customers and other staff and made me cry. They shouted at me for not taking overtime on a certain day and made out that I was lying that I had agreed to do it. I started to cry and they told me to carry on sorting shoes. I went to the back stock room and told a manager I trusted and cried to her out the back, the one manager that made me cry then came and told me that it wasn't just me and that they expect all staff to pick up extra shifts during the sale period. Two other managers that I walked past looked at me crying and turned a blind eye. I continued to cry on shop floor and the one manager that made me cry at the beginning of my shift pulled me to the very front of the store and told me to stop crying because "nobody died" and that she did not agree with me saying no to overtime because I was meeting a friend that evening and said that my priorities should be with River Island, even though I had also made these arrangements beforehand and they expected me to cancel on my friend. I didn't do this and after that I went home crying my eyes out wishing I had quit on that shift. My mum was absolutely disgusted with how they treated me and wanted to complain
I arrived at work at 8.30am with two other managers before the store opened at 9am, to discuss the targets of the day and count the floats to go into the tills. Once the store opened each manager would perform a 'walk-through' of their department and write down what tasks needed to be completed that day. They would then be allocated to other members of staff to complete, although big roles we would do ourselves.
My role was different everyday, and I worked wherever was needed. This could be on the tills serving customers, on the fitting room, on specific departments, dressing mannequins in the windows, in the stockroom, in the office or managing the floor. If there was a delivery, there was priority to place new stock on the shop floor, so customers would see it. We would also need to sort departments into 'looks' so outfits and themes were placed together to make it 'shoppable' for customers.
If a sale was coming up, we would need to scan every item on the shop floor and prepare sale tickets with the marked down prices. We would also need to scan every item in the stock room and do the same. The night before the sale was launched, we would prepare the store and change the layout so all the sale stock was in one area, all correctly ticketed. In big sales such as Summer and Christmas we would usually finish in the early hours!
As Senior Sales Advisor I was the lowest level of management, so did have some authority over others. I would be asked to authorise returns and deleg
Pros30% store discount and uniform allowance.
Consvery long hours - sometimes late into the night when preparing sale launches etc.
I have only been working at River island a month or so now and I am already looking for another job. It is only a Christmas temp position and I don't know if that affects the way managers treat me compared to other staff or?
typical day a meet up and team talk about targets for the day then off serving customers either on the cash desk or on the footwear department (or thrown about where ever the managers want you). Customers there are usually really lovely, don't mind waiting while you find something out, go to receive a parcel or order something in to store Etc. which I love as past jobs have differed which customer attitude.
Management.
When I had my interview the higher managers who interviewed me where really friendly and bubbly just as I was expecting and gave me a call back almost straight away to offer me the job which I was thrilled about! unfortunately that quickly changed on my first shift.
First of all you ask for help and get looked at like you're stupid! you do get employee discount which is great but it is limited so you cant just pop in over Christmas and expect to get all your presents sorted oh no. You can only spend a certain amount and it can only be on you or immediate family (mum, dad, sister, brother) which I can understand but the managers try to make it as confusing as possible to when you are allowed this discount just so you don't spend it as it doesn't enrol into another month if you don't spend it. Same as uniform allowance so for so
Prosdecent wage for 18 year olds
Consalot of short shifts. managers attitudes in genral.
Working at River Island has been an extra challenge for me whilst being at university. It has taught me the importance of being organised particularly with my time distribution and planning.
I began the job as a Christmas temp in my first year of studying, but since coming back to start my second year I have been given a promotion meaning that I now have more responsibility within the store. I normally work in the afternoon until closing every weekend. More often than not I have to help manage the shop floor, and ensure that daily goals and aims are met by all members of staff. I have a great liaison with the management within the store, which is evidential through the trust and support we provide one another, and with other members of staff as we need to communicate to one another in order for our shifts to run as smoothly as possible. Working until closing entails a number of jobs which need to be completed before the next day, for example standards of the shop need to be retained to upkeep the stores reputation. On occasions I will help cash up the tills, and assist in the banking, so I now have learned and picked up cash management skills, and increased my ability to be accurate. Lastly we have to ensure that all resources that will be need for the next working day are replenished to ensure that we can provide excellent customer service at every opportunity.
The hardest part of working in River Island is that I do not get to go home over Christmas, Easter and for t
The job itself keeps you busy and colleagues on the shop floor are lovely. However some of the management really makes you lose a lot of motivation for the job. Over 2 years of working there i can honestly say i never once received a word of praise but managers were quick to pull you over to tell you something you did wrong. They discourage staff events and parties as if you're too friendly with each other we become unproductive! You're constantly scrutinized and if you're too busy to pick up overtime,the managers will use the fact you don't do enough overtime to deny you holidays or bully you into picking up more hours. My worst experiences include being told to come in the morning of my operation as i did not give enough notice (even though I found out with less than 2 weeks), missing a shift due to spending the night in A&E and being told "i owe them" for letting me have that shift off, the St. Davids centre telling shops to close due to icy roads and dangerous driving conditions later that night, river refused to close as it was still profitable, as a result, my journey home resulted in a car crash, no sympathy was shown. Not to mention I booked a 5 hour shift off for revision but it would only be considered if I picked up hours during the week, picked up 15 hours in the week and they then acted as if they never told me picking up shifts would make them consider getting time off (left me worse off for my exam,significantly!), on another incident, they wanted people in on
Great company only issue is they only offer 3 month contracts at a time and even though your contract may be renewed this doesnt mean you are guarenteed to stay working there as everything you do reguarding productivity is logged and if you under acheive then they give you lots of file notes, warnings and disciplinarys which cause you to worry and lose sleep over.
I arrived to work on time every shift, I am an honest worker who is friendly and spoke to all of my fellow team mates/other employee's and built rapport and friendship with a number of people there including my supervisors.
They dont seem to take into account what type of person you are and that you have done well in every other aspect other than productivity and they ended my contract because of this.
No more training was offered even though I requested it, I also asked if I could move departments as I wanted to stay working for River Island and they said no due to my productivity.
I learnt alot about distribution and how everything and everyone interlinks.
The hardest part was the physical labour. You are on your feet walking all day, picking up and loading heavy boxes with clothing. Its also very cold in winter and very hot in summer which made it uncomfortable. Reaching targets on productivity was difficult too and when I spoke with others they thought the same too.
Not many english people work there so took longer to fit in and make friends but I did in the end.
Most enjoyable part was meeting new people
Prossafe and good rate of pay
Constargets are too high and contracts are too short
The management and organisation of River Island was very poor.
When you want to take some holiday, you have to take a week at a time - if you only need one or two days you have to waste so much of your holiday in order to get it. If you are a temp then that is all of your allocated holiday.
The job offers they presented on Indeed/their website stated a specific number of hours and a specific shift pattern, but when you arrive to your interview you are left disappointed to find that you could be receiving any number of hours and a completely different shift pattern. Why advertise certain hours when you are highly unlikely to get them?
When I was called with a job offer, the store manager told me different information (which days I would be working) to what the contract I was presented with during my induction said.
After I handed in my notice, I was told that I had a certain amount of holiday left to take and that I would be able to leave my shift early on my last day. The day before my last shift, my manager told me that on top of that holiday, I had another few hours so I'd be using that up on Saturday. The issue was, I handed in my notice the Friday before therefore my contract ended on Friday - why was my holiday being used for a day I was no longer employed? When I turned up for my last day I was told I would be finishing at my normal time! It was only the day before that I had been told I would be finishing my shift half way through. Eventually it was decide
For the most part I do look back at RI with fond memories, however my particular store had a high level of management turnover which impacted drastically. There were definitely favourites, this has changed now from what I have heard however when I worked there it had a culture of management letting certain people get away with everything and others with nothing which can really impact on morale. Sometimes it felt like floor staff were punished for the high stress piled onto management. Looking more positively, there were plenty of overtime opportunities and progression could be achieved with hard work.
The brief at the start of each shift was a fabulous idea, however I would have liked more one-to-one's as sometimes staff could be criticised in front of other members of staff or customers on the shop floor which is unprofessional. Rewards wise, there was 'Employee of the Month' and encouragement to praise fellow staff for hard work however this was not always completed due to the levels of managerial staff turnover mentioned above.
I myself had wonderful thorough training, however by the time temps were taken on this had changed and I found they were on the tills with no training and it was left up to Sales Assistants to help them. This then led to resentment from certain staff and a bad atmosphere. The way they were treated by management and fellow staff was appalling at times.
The pay was great, and although it could be sometimes dull during the week as this was a qui
Typically a day as a River Island employee would vary greatly on the specific day that is being worked. Because of the time period that I was working, as well as the holiday season, it was increasingly manic and sometimes stressful. Due to my role, I was responsible for creating and maintaining a tidy and presentable department, this takes time throughout a typical work day due to the constant perusal of customers. I would also welcome and approach customers that may need assistance, as well as checking stock off of the shop floor.
During my time at River Island, I learnt a great deal about the company itself, as well as specific retail skills which can be applied to other fashion outlets and high street stores. These included the basic expectations of welcoming and greeting potential buyers, as well as occasionally offering fashion advice and opinion based on the independent characteristics of a consumer.
Management and co-workers were very different in their demeanor due to the differing roles they were placed in. Management leaders were all very firm yet generally understanding and friendly. Co-workers were exceptionally friendly and welcoming to myself and to other temporary employees. They were a pleasure to work with.
Challenges arose most often at peak sale times, there were often times where numerous customers would approach for assistance and require me to check stock or leave where I had been assigned to work. This was especially difficult if a radio or sc
ProsCustomer discount, uniform.
ConsThe temporary nature of the position
Questions and answers about River Island
What questions did they ask during your interview at River Island?
Asked 29 May 2017
What Skills I can bring to the company
What my availability is like
How would others describe myself
Answered 11 Jan 2023
About myself
how i handle difficult situtions
Answered 14 Aug 2018
What should you wear to an interview at River Island?
Asked 30 Mar 2017
Be stylish and Individual
Answered 3 Mar 2022
Nice tops, jeans, boots
Answered 20 Sept 2021
What is the River Island employee discount?
Asked 11 May 2017
40% discount
Answered 28 Jul 2021
Discount is 40% and 40% sometimes on sale too.
Answered 13 Jun 2018
How often do you get a pay rise at River Island?
Asked 7 Nov 2022
Monthly
Answered 22 Mar 2023
Monthly
Answered 18 Jan 2023
What is the organisational culture at River Island?
