Customer Assistant - Service & Safety Assistant - Cheltenham

Work Pattern:

• Sunday 10:00–16:30
• Monday 08:00–16:00
• Wednesday 08:00–16:00
• Thursday 08:00–16:00
• Friday 08:00–16:00
• Week 2: Monday 08:00–16:00
• Tuesday 08:00–16:00
• Wednesday 08:00–16:00
• Friday 08:00–16:00
• Saturday 08:00–16:00

Under 18 Disclaimer: To comply with health and safety legislation and keep our colleagues safe in the workplace, colleagues in this role must be 18 years of age or older.

Key Accountabilities and Measures:

• Provide customers with a visible presence at the beginning of their shopping journey.
• Welcome customers to the store with a smile and by making eye contact, using a range of greeting techniques known to deter theft from the store.
• Support other areas within the store (e.g. Foods, C&H, Operations).
• Be knowledgeable of the store, support key marketing messages, latest products and top questions (e.g. what time do you close?).
• Assist customers in navigating the store, recognising when a customer needs help and provide the right level of support.
• Thank customers for shopping with us when they exit.
• Deal calmly and empathetically with people in a variety of retail circumstances, including confrontational situations.
• Respond to door alarms in a sincere and apologetic manner, resolving any issues the customer may have.
• Be a visible deterrent against violence, anti-social behaviour, targeted theft, till snatches and criminal activity to support a safe shopping environment.
• Identify and monitor suspicious persons, activity or theft and take appropriate customer engaging actions as required to deter.
• Ensure all incidents are reported through the M&S Incident reporting process either through the Hicom app (on the Honeywell) or into the Security Operations Centre, and to the police where necessary.
• Ensure that persons served with a trespass notice do not re-enter the site.
• Responsible for carrying store radio and engaging with police and other security personnel to improve service to M&S, which may include crime partnership meetings, agreed police meetings, shop watch schemes.
• Apprehend external thieves (only if necessary) in line with business policy and only if all components of theft are seen.
• Report any incidents of known or suspected internal theft or malpractice.

Key Skills:

• Being confident with an easily felt presence and friendly and natural personality is essential.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage customers with ease.
• Ability to remain focused at greeting customers and deterring suspicious activity.
• Natural empathy with our M&S brand and values, including service behaviours.
• Self-motivated, willing to improvise and suggest or try new approaches.
• Able to maintain high standards of appearance and uniform standards.
• No requirement to be licensed, but good observation skills would be a benefit.

Key Relationships and Stakeholders:

• Store Management team
• Store Colleagues
• Operational Security Manager
• Regional teams (RLPMs/RCOMs)
• Store Detectives
• SOC
• Police
• Local Networks

Everyone’s Welcome: M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the retail industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact.

We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working. If you consider yourself to require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.