Pros
Lovely open office space with lots of windows A cool brand and the brand has a lot of potential
Cons
I have worked at a number of companies - corporate and family-run businesses and I have never experienced such an unpleasant atmosphere in an office environment. A number of people in the senior management team create a horrible, toxic working environment for everyone else. This has a negative effect on everyone in the office. This could be a lovely place to work but these people ruin the atmosphere for everyone. There is no HR department! The lack of a HR department means that your concerns and complaints are rarely resolved. Some members of the management team are approachable, kind, professional, supportive and try their best to help but without a HR department, there is little they can do to help raise or resolve issues. I was made to feel upset, undervalued and worthless on a regular basis by my boss. I spent a lot of time crying at work and this led to feeling depressed and anxious. I raised these issues with the senior management however nothing much was done to resolve the issues due to a lack of a HR department. When nothing was done I raised my concerns directly with my boss, however there was no understanding of my concerns or suggestion on how we could improve our working relationship. Lots of people leave without other jobs to go to because they feel victimised and bullied. My pension contributions and the employer contributions were not paid into my pension scheme for over a year. I received a letter from my pension provider informing me that my pension balance was at £0. This affected nearly everyone in the business. I followed this up with the finance team at Smiley and it was resolved. However, if I hadn’t of complained and followed this up my pension would most definitely still be at £0 after 2 years of paying into it! This caused unnecessary stress and this is unbelievably immoral behaviour from Smiley. Taking our money and keeping it for themselves. Due to there being no HR department this wasn’t resolved in the correct manner - extremely unprofessional. A very untrusting and inflexible company. Working from home is not allowed under any circumstance, unless you are in the senior management team then you can rock up and leave work as and when you please. Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone.