Working for Waterstones

Recruitment policy

Waterstones is committed to providing equality of opportunity and to maximising the talents of our people. Waterstones is committed to providing equality of opportunity and to maximising the talents of our people. Our recruitment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications, skills and ability to do the job. This commitment to equal opportunities includes:

  • The promotion of equality of opportunity in employment

  • The development, implementation, regular monitoring and review of employment policies with the aim of ensuring that colleagues receive fair and consistent treatment

  • A continuing programme of action to make the policy and its implementation fully effective, including training and guidance

  • The elimination of discrimination of any kind

    • The law sets out that our policies must at least ensure that current and potential colleagues are offered the same opportunities regardless of gender, colour, race, religion or belief, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, part-time or fixed term status. Our stance is that the promotion of equal opportunities is essential and therefore all colleagues should be treated with respect, whether they are specifically protected by legislation or not.

    Colleague progression

    Waterstones is committed to nurturing talent and promoting from within, wherever possible. Various internal training programmes are available, as well as assistance to gain professional qualifications where relevant.

    For colleagues in Waterstones stores who wish to progress along the career ladder, fast track training programmes are also provided. Three such schemes are available; Lead Bookseller to Assistant Manager, Assistant Manager to Branch Manager, and Branch Manager to Regional Manager. All are designed to help ease colleagues to the next career phase and provide a network of support of head office colleagues and other course delegates. In 2008/09, 100 people took part in these programmes, with 73% going on to achieve promotions. Waterstones support centre colleagues attended a variety of workshops, including managing performance, motivation, delegation and influencing skills.

    Colleague engagement

    The views of everyone in Waterstones are collected through annual Colleague Opinion Surveys. In addition Waterstones operates a colleague forum structure, allowing everyone in the Company to have their say on issues that affect or concern them.

    Regular performance reviews for all colleagues ensure that our people have clear objectives and targets, covering training and career progression. Colleagues are kept informed about Company issues through a variety of communication channels, including quarterly business updates on DVD, regular publications and e-mail bulletins, the Company Intranet system and attendance at Company conferences.

    We know that our booksellers feel passionately about books, and they want to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with customers and with the rest of the company. We can only encourage this, and our booksellers' voices are heard in many ways:

  • Every store has at least one bay of Staff Recommends. Booksellers can use this area to highlight titles they think others might like, ordering stock in for the purpose and writing review notices to help promote these books.

  • Booksellers are huge readers, and it is important that they not only know what is available, but also what books will be released in the future. Where possible, we help booksellers obtain advance copies of titles so they have the opportunity to read them, thus enabling them to offer very accurate, informed advice on title selection to book buyers.

  • Store buyers help tailor their branch's range to fit their local market, expanding areas that do well in their region, and working with local authors and publishers to help make their range as relevant and topical as possible.

    • People benefits

    At Waterstones we believe the physical and mental welfare of our colleagues is of the upmost importance. Various schemes and initiatives run to help our booksellers get the most out of their working life:

  • We offer various healthcare schemes as well as, in the UK, childcare vouchers, flexible working and a share incentive scheme. The Employee Assistance Programme offers confidential support and professional short-term counselling and guidance to all colleagues.

  • We recognise and celebrate the value that our experienced colleagues bring to Waterstones through Long Service Awards. People are rewarded at 10 years service and every five years thereafter. Rewards are provided in the form of additional annual paid leave and points that can be redeemed against a choice of gifts.

  • We also offer colleagues the opportunity to take a career break, varying from three months after three years' continuous service, to a break of up to one year after a period of five years' continuous service. The policy objective is to provide support and understanding for individuals who wish to take a break from work to develop new skills and interests. Examples of this include a return to further education, volunteer work or fulfilling an ambition to travel.

    • Day for Good

    Day for Good is our scheme that gives everyone who has worked for Waterstones for at least three months the opportunity to take paid time off to carry out voluntary work. Examples of Day for Good activities include:

  • local environmental projects

  • reading in schools

  • helping in a local library

  • cleaning a local river

  • working with a local charity

    • Waterstones IT Solutions team on their Day for Good Hazel Cleaver and the rest of the Waterstones IT Solutions Team did their "Day for Good" refurbishing a classroom for Dyslexia Action. And Hazel said: "We had great fun, and although the task initially looked daunting, we worked well as a team and achieved far more than we thought possible. This was an excellent opportunity to do a Day for Good with our chosen charity, and enabled us to work as a team in a completely different environment to normal."

    Bookseller's Bursary

    Russell Thomas - one of the winners of the Bookseller's Bursary 2009.

  • Waterstones has a long history of producing great creative talent from our stores. Writers such as David Mitchell, Sonia Overall, Jeremy Dyson and many others have spent time behind our tills. The Bookseller's Bursary is an annual award that was created to discover and sponsor new writing talent from within Waterstones. Winners of the bursary receive a place on an Arvon writing course and a week's holiday to attend, plus £500. Over 170 Waterstones booksellers entered the inaugural 2008 competition, submitting samples of writing of up to 3,000 words in length. These entries were then read by a Waterstones panel, before final judging. The judging panel consisted of one of London's most senior literary agents, a commissioning editor from publisher Simon & Schuster, and a Director of the Arvon Foundation, alongside one of Waterstones Category Managers. This is an amazing opportunity for undiscovered writers to get their work seen and appraised by influential, important figures in the literary world, and we hope one day will lead to one or more of our writers being published. The winners of the 2008 bursary were Paul Kerins from Waterstones, Windsor and Richard Strachan from Glasgow, Argyle Street. The winners of the 2009 bursary were Russell Thomas, a Senior Bookseller at Sheffield, and Sara Crowley, a Bookseller at Brighton.

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