Avantages
Probably the only good thing about working for Card Factory are the colleagues you work with in store. Although it sounds cliché, they do become like your second family as you spend so much time working with them, they have your back and you have theirs. I had respect for them and in turn, they had respect for me and we really did great things as a team. I think we built great rapport with our customers and a lot of our customers commented on how they really loved coming in to our store because it was such a friendly environment. That is where the Pros end.
Inconvénients
Where do I begin - I contemplated writing this review for a number of weeks and at first I decided that I wouldn't however after weeks of thinking, I decided I have nothing to lose and wanted people to know what it really is like to work for this company. - As a Store Manager, I had a Line Manager (Regional Manager) who I quite honestly believe is not capable of doing his job. The first problem with him is that he has picked his favourites across the region and if you are not one of those favourites then you do not stand any chance of receiving any help or support. I ran quite a high turnover store and in my last few months at the company, he probably spent about fifteen minutes with me in store talking about my store - by the way, not talking about it constructively, just pointing out what he didn't like about it. Now, I have had plenty of Regional Managers over my very long career at Card Factory, and picking favourites is not a new thing, it happens on every region and by every Regional Manager but by far, my last Regional Manager was the worst for this, and I really do not think that this is how a region should be run - everyone should be treated as equals regardless of who they are, what store they run or how much they cosy up to their boss. The second reason, as I have already mentioned, is the lack of support I (and I know others) received from this manager. I once went seven weeks without hearing from him, this is the person that is supposed to be line managing me and supporting me to run my store. I understand that a job of a regional manager is hard and is very time consuming and I would not expect to hear from my Line Manager, every day nor every week, but to not hear from your Line Manager for over 7 weeks, it really is quite shocking, especially when I know for a fact that some managers were called EVERY day and were even visited most days. Card Factory have been very open about supporting their people recently and have said their is a massive focus on this, not on this region. I know others feel the same but are probably too worried to speak out while they still work there. - Myself and my colleagues understood that we were in a Customer Service role and that the customer came first, however Card Factory's insistence that we offer EVERY customer additional sales had become borderline obsessive. If I was pestered the way we were made to pester customers when I went in to a store, I would turn around and leave. But no, we were forced to offer every customer an additional item, no matter what they were buying, so tell me if somebody has had a death in the family and is buying some sympathy cards, what the hell are we supposed to offer with that?? That being said, it really astounds me then that we were spoken down to by Regional Managers when our Average Units or Average Spend didn't meet their requirements. It got to the point that on conference calls, our Regional Manager would not care about showing his disappointment in us if our results as a region were in a negative, not great to hear when everyday you come in and work yourself to the bone for a company that seemingly doesn't think you are doing enough. - My final point (believe me there are more, but I would go on for years) is loyalty and gratitude. I like to pride myself on the length of service I gave to Card Factory but what I have realised is that you really are just a number to the company and to your managers. I never wanted a fanfare when I left the company but a simple thank you would have been nice. When I say I made myself unwell for the company sometimes, I am not exaggerating. Even my own line manager could only manage a phone call to say bye, not even a visit to the store to see if I was leaving it in a good way - but then again I hadn't seen him since March so I wasn't expecting it. There were times in my Card Factory career when I was managing 3-4 shops, when I was taking on additional responsibilities to support whatever region I was on, when I have opened new stores and closed old ones but this is all completely forgotten when that leavers form is submitted. Don't fret though, because if you are the minority that is in a Regional Manager's clique, I'm certain that you will never be forgotten.
