This job broke me. - Sales Associate Sofa.com Employee Review

1.0
Apr 5, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Some genuinely wonderful coworkers, some of whom I am still close friends with. -Free coffee. -There are toilets.

Cons

*Some of the statements below may be slight hyperbole to convey my experience, but are otherwise correct in my own personal experience and opinion.* -Incompetent management on many levels. My own team manager was wonderful, can’t speak for their replacement, but anything above them is barely functional. -Constant changes to all processes, often during peak trading months, causing massive issues, which often could be avoided by listening to staff that actually have to execute these processes and are in direct contact with customers. -You were generally only acknowledged directly by upper management if something went wrong and they needed someone to hold responsible, regardless of which team’s error it was. -You will be overworked and underpaid, under-appreciated. There were no bonuses, with the exception of several attempted and then quietly scrapped, unrealistic incentive schemes. -Intentional understaffing of teams, especially during peak trading periods. Additional staff for such periods was often hired after a peak trading period has already begun, leaving one current staff member to train them, which takes several weeks. -You, as a person, do not matter. I have never seen such a high staff turnover and, more disturbingly, have never experienced such a level of mental health decline in staff, with many staff being too burnt out to function. -Some upper management - whose job titles remain mysterious - are often loudly talking about their frequent holidays, their issues with migrants and the horrors of that one time they had to use public transport. No consideration or tact for anyone else in the office. -Staff’s 5- or even 10-year employment anniversaries have been entirely ignored unless prompted. -Website measurements - which could be considered “relevant”, given that the company sells furniture - were consistently wrong, despite raising this to anyone with an email address. The same was true for fabric colours, compositions etc. If a customer complained, this was considered the sales team’s fault for not remembering the countless exceptions, corrections and amendments that needed to be mentioned at the point of sale to correct website info. -Delivery and return fees went through a number of arbitrary changes, from a fixed amount to a percentage to eventually having to calculate the item weight and dividing it by the number of sofa legs, but only if it isn’t a Thursday or Monday after 15:00 (this is hyperbole). No consistency, but you will be reprimanded by upper management and staff for doing it wrong. -The near constant sales promotions would start and end with very little notice, T&Cs would rarely be complete, accurate or comprehensible. -Many, many more issues to be addressed, but the ones mentioned above should give a bit of an idea of the issues with Sofa.com as an employer.

Explore other reviews about Sofa.com

5.0
Nov 1, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

great product, fast paced and dynamic, great friendly atmosphere, amazing opportunities to get exposure and take on real responsibilities

Cons

it's still a relatively small company and therefore sometimes you have to get your hands dirty doing some basic stuff too. it's great though- it's the real deal!

1.0
Mar 23, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The concept itself is ingenious Product is actually quite nice and high quality Staff members are fun and personable Location is great Plenty of freebies

Cons

Management or lack thereof No formal training; very "sink or swim" Compensation is based upon how much management likes you, not the work you do.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All