If you're unsure about working at primark read this and don't waste your time. - Retail Operative Primark Employee Review

1.0
9 Apr 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are none and I honestly doubt it that the company even cares.

Cons

Management are rude to staff. High staff turnover which I feel is down to company realtions. I.e. management with staff. If you are looking for a stress free easy part time job DO NOT work at primark. If you're staff you will get treated like an absoute slave. You work hard all day and then management cant even speak to you in a proper manner. Put it this way the minute i find another job I'm out of here. Theyve started introducing a uniform that says i love primark just for retail operatives to "make supervisors and management stand out from staff( retail operatives)"(quote store manager). They pay you based on min wage. However this means that if you're 17 you will get paid a lot less for a doing the same job as someone that is over 21. I was informed by family to not work at primark and now that I have experienced it, I would never recommend this company to anyone. It's not just my experience thats like this, there are many others that feel exactly like this. It's stressful job as you don't get as many breaks to sit as you should, you literally are running around for customers and management all day long and have to smile consistently to both. It has by far been the most stressful job I have ever done. Not because its hard but because of you are treated by management and those senior to you. If you are desperate for a job and you apply and get it then make sure you bother to apply to other jobs and use the primark experience for something better. There is no staff discount and the company does not care about the wellbeing or health of its staff. The lower you are, the worse it is and to top it all off, the cherry on the primark cake, is that they've created eliteism with these ridiculous unflattering uniforms only for staff (retail ops). Its abosultely disgusting how the company operate. They will prevent you from doing over 40 hours a week shift so they dont have to pay you time and a half. If you have more than 3 consecutive days off they will speak to you so dont take any more days off and more than 3 consecutive days means the company is obliged to pay you for your contraced hours regardless of you not actually working. Put it this way this company has a terrible reputation and low staff moral for a reason. All retail is demanding physically and at times emotionally however primark is definitely one of the worst. Management lack training to properly deal with staff lower than them and there are no training programmes to support new supervisors or staff with a disability. If you want a job but you can't find one and you're desperate then yes apply and work here but dont be fooled into thinking this company cares about its staff in terms of their health or even education. So do yourself a huge favour if you're in a sitaution similar to that above and keep applying to other companies and then leave. You could litey have a life threatening condition and the company will still say oh you're fine work until you actually have fainted etc. Ive have actually witnessed this: a member of staff had diabetes and their sugar became low during the shift. The supervisor and manger had a discussion to consider whether they should let the person go ho.e or stay. Its careless that this situation even occurred. This employee had informed the supervisor that they were not feeling well and the supervisor said you're fine carry on. So they did and in the the individual got sent home. I've heard managers say to staff if they are blind in a derogatory and disprestful manner. It is one rule for managers and supervisors and a completely different one for retail operatives(retail assistant) really is not what you know, it's who you know and who you can flirt with to get ahead. The management do not value you or your contributions. I had high hopes for this company and i wanted to say to people you're wrong its alright for a retail assistant position however i cannot.

Explore other reviews about Primark

5.0
5 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

reasonable, low stress, good PTO practices, consistent schedule

Cons

leadership was not the best

2.0
5 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get lots of PTO up front as a part timer and can gain flex hours overtime. Get a 50 cent raise every six months.

Cons

Was told during onboarding that if a Christian comes into the store spreading the gospel, I have to kick them out. This includes the mention of the Jesus without the church invite. Managers claim its rude and if a customer does it, they get booted. Faced harassment from a customer and management didn't let me switch too a different department. Extremely high turnover rate and managers don't replace them, making your job more stressful during peak hours. Hard to use PTO. Little to no training. Too many bachelor and master holding part timers who get lucked out of moving up in the company. Managers give some people no task while pilling on multiple tasks on one person. Too many managers to deal with (and usually never find) and the full timers make you do the dirty work while they "unpack boxes". Its a pro-LGBT anti christian company. If they want to be pro-LGBT, than more power to them. But anti-Christian is discriminatory and unnecessary.

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