Store level staff are generally wonderful, area managers have too many stores to be effective at their jobs but somehow we cope. Definitely needs more staff and hours, but it seems to be like that everywhere. Made some good friends in the job, definitely a close circle to run in. Job itself is easy enough if you work at the right store, some can be awful though.

Pros

Easy job, nice customers, pay has been reliable for me

Cons

Unreliable coworkers, not enough hours, very backwards decision making from head office

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No flexibility no work life balance

Store Manager (Current Employee) - Brisbane - 19 January 2023

It's great when you can get workers to work. Okish incentives when KPIs are met most of the time deadlines are ridiculous and not doable. What's ok for one isn't necessarily ok for another. HO make the jobs more stressful then what it should be pretty uunealistic expectations.

Pros

Can be a cruisy job

Cons

It's toxic

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Rivers insights

Based on 3 survey responses

What people like

Time and location flexibility

Areas for improvement

General feeling of work happiness
Inclusive work environment
Trust in colleagues

Don't care about workers

Ex manager (Former Employee) - Melbourne VIC - 3 July 2022

A company that expects staff and managers to work extended hours, turn up when sick, do more than 7 days in a row then ask to work without it being timesheeted. The company can't decide what specials to run so just change them everyday. Company is run by a pack of morons

Pros

Nothing

Cons

Long hours, extreme stress

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Great Co-Workers, Terrible Company.

Sales Assistant (Current Employee) - Queensland - 10 May 2022

My co-workers and managers are fantastic people and I really enjoy working with them. Unfortunately, Rivers itself is terrible. The upper management is incompetent, telling us to do store changes via emails riddled with spelling errors. These store changes are expected to be finished within an hour of receiving them even though they cut hours and usually you have to work on your own. They also forced every casual including myself to become part-time with 3 days' notice and never pay overtime despite working over my rostered hours every single week. I am treated as a casual with part-time pay. They've also refused maternity leave to a co-worker of mine despite her working with the company for a total of 3 years. I am hoping to leave very soon and wouldn't be surprised if this company goes under in the not too distant future.

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Fast paced, Unrealistic expectations

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Australia - 25 January 2022

Fast paced environment and you learn lots of ideal skills for future jobs. Upper management is ridiculous, having to do a store flip and price change while serving/recovery and must have high KPI's with no extra staff to get everything completed only for head office to change their minds every 5 seconds. Also very unreasonable and unrealistic expectations especially when there's only one person on their own for most of the day.

Pros

Great customers, fun staff in store

Cons

Upper management

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Task loaded and high stress

Manager (Part-time) (Former Employee) - Melbourne VIC - 17 November 2021

Enjoyable most days, but they expect so much from you. Weekly, sometimes daily promo changes and store restructure, high levels of stock processing and reduced store hours.Lots of friendly customers, great staff discount and you do learn a lot.

Pros

60 percent off for staff

Cons

task load, working alone, high expectations

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It’s ok for a kickstart into the retail sector

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - Adelaide SA - 29 September 2021

You have to learn to be resilient in retail today. Some staff members can be fantastic to work with, others are notorious for bullying and creating an unhappy workplace. Hours can be cut or extended at last minute and expect to be pressured into going over and above for a company that won’t do the same for you

Pros

Discounts across the banner stores

Cons

Poor treatment

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Stressful, anxiety riddled job. Toxic environment. Not worth working there

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Brisbane QLD - 29 September 2021

The head office and management are terrible. It's not a good place to work at all. The pressure they place on staff is ridiculous. I would suggest finding a job with another company. If you dont meet KPI standards, you have to go on the phone 3-4 times a day and explain why, they never give you actual productive advice to upsell. Upper management arent encouraging and they berate people for not hitting the KPI mark. I would go home and still feel the anxiety and pressure from my work and dread having to go into work the next day knowing how stressed and anxious I would be for the whole day. I felt like there was no one I could talk to and I didnt feel supported during my time there. It's a retail environment that is so stressful it's not worth risking your mental health over, they dont appreciate you and they are extremely toxic. Not to mention, during my time there my manager would regularly talk to me with little to no respect and belittle me if I did the smallest thing wrong, and threaten to performance review me and my other team if we did the smallest thing wrong in the store. I got threatened with performance reviews if I kept putting the wrong side of a shoe in a box. When I would get threatened with performance reviews, it was made abundantly clear to me that if I got performance reviewed more than 3 times, I would lose my job.

Pros

Long hours, good pay

Cons

Pressure and Stress

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I wouldn't recommend working here

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - SA - 20 March 2021

I had a fantastic team to work with over my years at Rivers. However the upper management was a nightmare. You had to constantly hit impossible KPI goals and if your store didn't you were on the phone 4-5 times a day with your reginal manager and even when your store did well there was very little praise or it still wasn't good enough. Stores never have enough staff due to so little store hours so when you are sick it is stressful trying to find a cover so half the time you end up coming in sick.Towards the end of my time there it felt like the company (Mosaic) was growing more and more toxic.

Pros

The people who work in the stores were wonderful, staff discount was descent however prices were constantly hiked up

Cons

Never enough staff employed, if your a casual you can't get enough hours to live on

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Upper management were very unorganised expectations way too high due to minimal hours given to stores.

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Brisbane QLD - 28 February 2021

Most fellow employees I encountered were pleasant, 4 out of 5 of my store managers were lovely (i worked at 2 stores during the 5 years I was with the company) but due to the way upper management run the company from behind a computer with no actual in store sales experience made things very challenging. Every time we had a catalogue change, sale or a seasonal flip it was chaotic as they would change their minds several times on the day it was due to be completed as to how to lay out the store for the catalogue that started the next day. Only for us to be doing the final touches on set up ... but then.. we would receive an email telling us they had changed their minds and we now have to set up for a flash sale they decided to spring on us ..just one hour before closing time. So all our hard work was a complete waste of time and we would have to run around like crazy trying to now set up for the new sale, whilst trying to also close the store and be out of there on time as we were never allowed extra hours to be able to relay the entire store again for their new sale. We would then get into trouble for not completing other tasks we had to do, like unpacking new stock and doing a store tidy, filing from excess ect all of which was physically impossible with only 1 maybe 2 (for a couple of hours) employees on running around like crazy firstly making sure customers were attended to promptly, then trying to get the store set up.. TWICE. We had no time to tidy the store so it was presented well, we barely touched the 100 cartons of stock we get in everyday.. due to things like -

Pros

Staff discount, great shoes

Cons

Unorganised management, a culture of bullying unless your friends outside of work, minimal hours unless it’s Christmas

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Fun and fast paced

Store Manager (Full Time) (Current Employee) - Melbourne, Australia - 14 October 2020

The stores are large, there is always something to do. There are so many customers around to interact with and learning new things every day on the job.

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Wouldn't recommend.

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Ringwood VIC - 21 June 2020

Was always standing around, was told not to interact with customers unless they looked desperate, was repeatedly told off for doing things that management didn't like. Was never give the opportunity to progress or push forward, was kept on my feel for extremely long hours.

Pros

Friendly staff

Cons

Long hours, limited breaks, poor and unsafe work environment

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Slow paced work place.

Casual Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - Wangaratta VIC - 8 January 2020

Retail assistance, Majority of customers are in the senior years. Slow paced work place, friendly staff and management, perfect job for a junior to experience customer service for the first time.

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Productive yet easily balance job

Sales Assistant (Part-time) (Former Employee) - Lutwyche QLD - 16 December 2019

Working at rivers there was always something to do that required time effort and detail. The work was never overly challenging but the most rewarding part of it all, making sure the customers left happier then when they came in.

Pros

Manageable length shifts

Cons

Slow work days

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fun place to work

Casual retail assistant (Former Employee) - cranbourne - 3 September 2019

fun place to work, i enjoyed the staff, customers and experience. The manager was great, in the time i worked there the company had been bought out but all the loyalty stayed, great company.

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Colleagues are good at store level, upper managment is terrible.

Retail Assistant (Current Employee) - Mount Barker SA - 10 August 2019

Most people working in the stores are friendly and easy to get on with, including the store managers, the big issues come from head office, unreasonable expectations and constant threatening and bullying behaviour with no praise when targets are met, instead, people are threatened with their jobs if these ridiculous targets aren't met and no reason is ever good enough good enough for them, some members of head office have also personally attacked employees for no reason, an absolutely toxic culture.

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Friendly management, great staff

Assistant Store Manager (Former Employee) - Jindalee QLD - 5 June 2019

Larger stores have more staff which I luckily enough to be able to work in. Smaller stores have only brief cover for lunches and other jobs such as banking, rosters and replying to emails. Head office was a little poor at time expectations of jobs that needed to be completed leaving lots of staff feeling under pressure and sometimes working in their own time. overall I had a good time there, would work there again.

Pros

Great staff discount, good hours and friendly managers

Cons

KPI's sometimes unachievable, lots of stock and not enough space to store it.

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strict workplace

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Busselton WA - 26 February 2019

The management for when I was a sales assistant was barely present as the higher ups didn't seem to take much care in coming to visit the store or even phone to see how it was coming along. Most enjoyable part? was working with my colleagues

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very good

Warehouse Assistant (Former Employee) - Cheltenham VIC - 25 September 2018

work life balance good,management treat staffs exceptionally good free lunch free gifts,free every things,exceptionally good place to work for,job secure guranteed

Pros

freee lunches/chrismas gifts

Cons

long hours

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Great place

Retail Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - Essendon Fields VIC - 25 July 2018

Good management Good pay Fun environment Great staff Good hours Amazing break schedule Discount of products (30%) Have to wear merchandise Loved working there

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Culture of bullying

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - Ballarat VIC - 14 July 2018

There is problem bullying. Staff members could only deal with it by leaving. The toxic cultural attitudes heads up the chain of command. Instead of leadership that inspires workers and makes them feel excited to perform, there is a lot of pressure to comply and execute, creating ugly competitiveness. Many of the customers were a pleasure. There is job satisfaction when you have helped customers and they thank you for it. It makes you feel good that you have helped make someone's day a little better. In spite of the above, there are still some staff members who are good to work with. The pay is normal for retail. The uniform is wear what you like from the brand which means you can be comfortable in your choice of clothes.