Big Y Foods – “An OK place to work”

Pros

There are many company activities and it is a fairly social place to work. The company picnic is held at Six Flags New England, and there are company trips every so often. Each month, they have birthday cakes in the break room to recognize all of the birthdays in that month. Every employee is sent both a Christmas card and a birthday card. There is a decent amount of available recognition for achievements, such as "world class performance" slips, which managers and supervisors can hand out, although they lose some of their meaning when they are overused. They are an active participant in community events.

Cons

Low-level management lacks competence. The dress code for non-management employees is a bit much. Management focuses more on unimportant issues than on the big picture. Related to the dress code, I've seen cashiers, whose feet cannot be seen while they are working, be sent home for incorrectly colored shoes. The stores become like a clique. Don't expect it will be easy to get promotions without being in the in-crowd. Full-time employees are transferred to distant store locations unnecessarily, with very little notice. Don't expect to be able to keep a short commute to work, or keep the same co-workers, if you are full time.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't transfer full-timers as much, and get upper/mid-level management to have some respect for workers and lower level management.