Working for Sky or Waitrose?

[swapsicles]

Polar opposites I know! But at the min I'm just applying for anything I can do.
Has anyone got any experience of working in either?
Waitrose is a general assistant in a medium sized store 18 minutes drive, I have experience in various retail stores at standard and supervisor level.
Sky is working from home answering customer service enquiry's.
The set up would have to be in my bedroom or corner of the lounge and I've not worked from home before only have grown up quiet daughter and cats so shouldn't have issues being disturbed.
Wages seem similar,ore at waitrose but petrol costs and sky has bonuses I believe.
If anyone has insights of working for either company that would be great 😁

I have a friend who works as a general assistant for Waitrose and she loves it. She feels well supported by managers. John Lewis/waitrose discount I guess as a bonus.

I also have a friend who works for waitrose as a manager and she also reallt loves it. She's worked her way up the ranks and they seem to really support her as an individual.

Thanks guys, I am leaning towards Waitrose but won't hear from them til next week. I have got the job at sky, it's more of an unknown as I've never worked from home or dokey answering phone calls as a job

Dokey? Solely obviously lol!

Just seen this post. I work at Waitrose. Been there since May this year after being made redundant from my job in healthcare. I love it. Great team, supported, progression if you want it, they want you to develop yourself, staff discount is a bonus and other little perks. Although no partner bonus for another year.

Just seeing this post today. I've worked for Sky and other call centre type companies. I actually love this type of work especially from home where there's no commute, no work expenses and no covid risks. You can work in your lounge wear and have your lunch in your own kitchen. You'll have the usual perks and discounts working for sky and have the opportunity for bonuses. If you're good at it there's good opportunity for progression and promotions.
Let us know what one you choose x

There's some fantastic benefits and bonuses of working for Sky. I mean free sky! Come on! I wish I had never left.

I imagine your day would go more quickly working at Waitrose. WFH can be very lonely and it’s hard to switch out of work mode.
I’d also value a Waitrose discount!

I would pick the sky job personally as it’s a bird in hand, they have good benefits, and it’s at home and probably will be permanently. It’s also a great gateway into skilled ‘call centre at home’ type jobs like fraud investigation etc.

They are both good companies with good prospects and I hear good things about the work culture at both. I think it probably depends on what type of work you want to be doing, if you aspire to progress and if so in what direction.

I've done a few stints at Waitrose and John Lewis as Christmas temp then staying a few months more. It's always busy and is physical work, good way to lose weight if your lifestyle is sedentary. Nice colleagues, usually nice customers and a nice place to work. 15% discount after 3 months plus other benefits organised through a JLP club type thing. I'd imagine Waitrose would be more varied too than just answering the phone in your living room.

I'd go for Waitrose but I hate being on the phone and customer service for Sky gives me images of angry people phoning because their box isn't working depending what type of calls you answer.

Friend worked at Waitrose found it really dull - lots of the staff did the very minimum required (which I suppose means they won't over work you) which she struggled with and a quite few of the old guard had a very poor attitude to new team members. Think she lasted 3 months. To be honest I sometimes shop at the same Waitrose and it's a pretty crap one, I'd drive 6 miles to go to the next closest Waitrose - her comments didn't surprise me at all. If you know the Waitrose you'd be working at you might be able to pick up a vibe.

@xyzandabc you get 20% discount at Waitrose (was 25 during Dec and Jan) and 25% at John Lewis except electricals which is 10%. Was very handy over Xmas. Although getting rid of their price promise is a bit crap.

[quote thismeansnothing]@xyzandabc you get 20% discount at Waitrose (was 25 during Dec and Jan) and 25% at John Lewis except electricals which is 10%. Was very handy over Xmas. Although getting rid of their price promise is a bit crap.[/quote]
It's been 6 or 7 years since my last stint, memory fails! Even better then. We used to love the £10 Legoland days and special partner opening after hours.

£10 Legoland. Wow that's a bloomin bargain! That's well worth the drive from up north for 😂

Do you get much other human interaction? I started to feel rather blue and lonely when I was working from home but can appreciate not everybody will feel the same

You couldn't pay me to go back to call centre work. Admittedly I worked for two different banks but I did not do well under pressure for sales even though my job was technically customer services. Compared to that I much preferred retail. Yes you had customers being mean but I had that on the phones too and I found the behaviour worse because they couldn't see you.

My hubby worked for Sky and hated it. He was tech support, but even then he had strict sales targets to hit, so in reality he had a customer on the end of the line screaming blue murder because their tv/ broadband wasnt working and he was still expected to sell them something by the end of the call. He started with a new group of 30 people, within 6 months he was the only one left. My brother worked for them too- declared a pre existing health condition before he started, had all the paperwork etc. All good. 3 months in he asked to swap a shift due to a hospital app. Manager called him in and told him he had breached company rules by not declaring a pre existing health condition. My brother said he had all the signed paperwork at home and HR also had it on file if manager wanted to call them. Manager said no need- im sacking you. Brother took them to tribunal and won, they settled out of court. Horrible horrible place to work-Please go to Waitrose !!