Not worth the £12.50 - Retail Sales Associate PURESEOUL Employee Review

There is a persistent lack of empathy and understanding from supervisors toward staff members. Employees are often treated dismissively, as though our well-being is unimportant. When someone is injured or feeling unwell, supervisors frequently assume we are exaggerating or fabricating our condition, rather than offering support or concern. Communication from the head office is also poor. When they do reach out, it is typically to deliver criticism rather than constructive feedback or acknowledgment of our efforts. It seems as though our hard work goes unnoticed and, at times, undervalued to the point where it feels like they would avoid paying us, if they could. Stock availability is another major issue. The store consistently lacks essential products that customers ask for, which reflects poor coordination between the buying and warehouse teams. Despite this, we as front-line workers are left to face customer dissatisfaction directly, often without the resources we need to provide proper service. The working environment is also concerning. There is a noticeable lack of safety and basic care for employees. Our communal area consists of broken camping chairs, and the only private space available is the small stockroom, the only place not monitored by cameras. Supervisors frequently display bias when delegating tasks. They tend to assign easier duties to themselves or their preferred colleagues, leaving the rest of the staff to manage heavier workloads for longer periods. Accessibility remains a serious problem as well. The store layout does not accommodate wheelchair users, despite being a flagship location that regularly hosts pop-up events. Staff must constantly run up and down the stairs to retrieve products for customers. This creates additional strain, especially when we have strict area placements and chronic understaffing make it difficult to maintain service levels. Finally, the pay structure feels deeply unfair. Our store is larger, busier, and far more demanding than other branches in London, yet we receive the same hourly rate—£12.50—despite carrying significantly heavier workloads and greater responsibilities (pop-ups, more areas to cover, smaller stock room, FLAGSHIP STORE!) Pureseoul isn't a startup business with only one store and a small team. They opened up 5 new stores in 2025, which they have proudly advertised, but they aren't proud to pay retail workers who run these stores the rightly deserved amount. This just shows that retail workers, to them, aren't worth basic human kindness. If paying workers £3 per hour was still legal, I'm sure they would do that.