ARAMARK Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Aramark is a family, we work hard together as a team. Its great to work with people who care about their customers and it's nice that they are not all worried about the time clock.
Great pay, great benefits.

Cons

I would like if the training programs and reward programs were more consistent. I think it would allow employees to be even more qualified and do their jobs that much better. A more consistent Thrive program would reward the more qualified employees, so the two fuel each other.

Advice to Senior Management

I think management forgets what it means to be hospitality leaders. It would be better to improve our day to day functions with a keener eye on the big picture.

Pros

There is flexibility in location and divisions of the company. There is a large network to exchange information and ideas which is helpful. They have an expert for everything or they have consulted with an expert and the information is typically available.

Cons

It's a large company easy to feel like a number depending on the position. The compensation could be better - staff hired directly by a client makes more that ARAMARK is willing to pay, most of the time. Some big wigs may have forgotten what it is like to work in the field and the expectation when they add additional tasks is unreasonable because time precious.

Advice to Senior Management

Show your employees that they are a great supporting cast. Show the employees that corporate listens to what they have to say and wants to work to make resolutions. Pay your employees competitively even if it affects the profit because the employees performance.

Pros

Aramark's IT department lets you work with a lot of technologies. You get the opportunity to do and learn things.

Cons

Projects are numerous and fast-paced, not leaving a lot of time to learn the things you are expected to implement.

Pros

work/life balance-average 45 hr work week
intelligent, large law firm trained colleagues
flexibility in hours
autonomy in work
salary is competitive

Cons

health benefits are pretty bad- you will be paying out of pocket for at least a percentage of medical services
lack of communication from legal managers
personalities of some colleauges- arrongant, pompous

Advice to Senior Management

Better communication is necessary at all levels of organization. Get better sales people-- the sales people are can be difficult to work with-- just want the deal done regardless of the level of risk.

Pros

The people you work with are fantastic. Some of my lifelong friends have been made by working in different ARAMARK groups.

Cons

The company has multiple business units that are managed and act as if each is its own silo. It is hard to break down these barriers.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend that the walls that have formed around each line of business be broken down in order that the teams communicate the best practices with one another.

Pros

Had a great boss and had a lot of latitude.

Cons

Wasn't reviewed in 4 years. No position above mine to advance to. Retirement plan for Band 4-5 was a non-qualified plan.

Pros

The people and the atmosphere are very good to work with and in. Overall the quality of work is very entrepreneurial.

Cons

A lot of hours and hard work. A lot of people may not be able to handle the pace at which you have to work

Advice to Senior Management

The organization changes very frequently, it may be better if we stayed with the same leadership for longer periods of time in order to maintain continuity with our leadership and work flow.

Pros

Coworkers nice, good benefits and, overall, interesting work.

Cons

Management has NO idea what they are doing. They also did corporate layoffs in November yet did not tell the employees this would happen. As a result, there was much tension and upset by current employees surrounded by others being let go one by one in the corporate tower. Management in HR did not get there by skills or education. They are incompetent and it seems that diversity is key to holding a position there. Know the right people at the right time and don't worry whether you have a PHR, SPHR or higher education degree because that is not what will help you land a job the further up you go. Extremely dissatisfying and a waste of time if you are a hard working person who wants to advance based on merit and skills.

Advice to Senior Management

Look at your HR corporate management team. How many of them are truly qualified for the job? Most of the time I found the higher up you go, (band 5+), the more the HR management team would be on coffee breaks, pretending they were busy behind closed doors or, better yet, they were "working from home." You are losing valuable talent that is vital to the success of this organization. Need new, fresh ideas and not corporate BS.

Pros

Its a big company with tremendous resoures

Cons

The company lacks strategic focus and direction in the Business Services unit. Fighting fires is JOB 1

Advice to Senior Management

Lead, follow or get out of the way...You cannot do all three

Pros

Aramark provides good opportunities for growth either upward or latterally in other segments of the corporation, also senior management communicates well down the ladder.

Cons

mid level managers are not given opportunity to contribute ideas. As first line supervisors they are often the first to identify a problem but not given a chance to provide input in fixing it.

Advice to Senior Management

give all management and employees a voice to make suggestions for improvements