Meijer Reviews

Pros

Management seems to care about their employees as a person - It seems like a large disjointed family, albiet family. They call you by name and seem to want you to succeed.

Cons

Physically demanding - the cashier job is actually 2 jobs as you are also the bagger. You are being timed as soon as the 1st item is scanned.The pay is $7.20 per hour and it certainly is worth much more. I have been told the turnover rate is pretty high. The Meijer" family image" is conflicting with what they pay you. It doesen't take a genius to understand that no person can live on $7.20 per hour.

Advice to Senior Management

You have a good concept. You have some really good people working for you. If you paid enough to live on, you would have less turnover; and more loyal employees who would take pride in their work. Unless you are lucky enough to make it to a management position, truth is - you cannot live on what Meijer pays.

Pros

I enjoy working here. Started out working at one store and was able to transfer stores easily.

Cons

Don't like the hours, but its retail what do you expect.

Pros

- Family owned company really shows in the culture
- Great people at the company
- Good challenging work load

Cons

There were not many cons. The only thing that I could pick up on was that there were some politics within certain departments

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work. Make sure the culture does not change, and make sure you recognize those who do the best work

Pros

It's a job, anyway. In this economy, most are happy to have a job at all. I was really glad to get something because I don't qualify for retirement. I was a stay-at-home mom for 25 years, and had a seizure disorder, so at a job wasn't possible. Even after I go on Social Security in a year, I will have to work.

Cons

1. I have been threatened by team leaders, and bullied into taking a lower pay position because I am "slow". That means I am not able to scan 100 items in 100 seconds. I've been called excessively friendly. The motto is "fast and friendly", but it's not friendly at all. It's courteous, but not friendly. The only things Meijer wants me to say are:
     a. How are you today?
     b. Did you find everything you wanted to find today?
     c. Do you have coupons or bottle slips?
     d. Thank you for shopping at Meijer.
These are marks of courtesy, but not friendly. I work in a small town, and know people because I grew up here. Besides this, I have lost some of the strength in my hands due to age, which makes the two-hand scan close to impossible. .
2. In the five months since I started working at Meijer, I've been scolded many times for mistakes I made or for being a minute late even when I had a good reason and told my team leader. Conversely, I've gotten a positive comment about something I did only one time. ONCE! That's discouraging, and makes me worry about losing my job. When I talked with the team leader about my performance as a cashier (you can see—I was demoted. They say I wasn't, but I was.), the team leader said my scanning rate "wouldn't cut it". I asked what the consequences might be, but he wouldn't tell me. It was a veiled threat that if I didn't start scanning at a rate of 100%, I would be fired.
3. I work in the general merchandise, straightening stock and keeping things tidy. There is one person doing this job for each shift. I understand the need for customers to see a neat, clean store. However, people, when they hear I work at Meijer, always tell me they would like to see more open lanes.
4. I am sometimes called to run a lane when things get busy. I don't mind that, because I enjoy helping people. When that happens, I still have to complete all my work within the alloted hours. If the time I spend running a lane is more than one hour, or the time I have been scheduled to work is somewhat short, it makes it really difficult.
5. The union. I'm not really a union kind of person. However, when I know my rights in the workplace have been violated, I do want to know to whom I should register my complaints. No one has ever stepped forward to say, "I'm your union rep." Wouldn't that have been the friendly thing to do?

Advice to Senior Management

1. Open more cashier lanes. The public has told us a thousand times that's what they want. Also, it would mean that speed scanning wouldn't be so critical, and cashiers could be friendly if the situation warrants it.
2. Compliment your people when they do a good job. We have the "You're Remarkable" cards, but I've only gotten them for attending huddles, not for anything I've done. I've gone so far as to tell a team leader about something I did that should warrant at least a "Good job!" Customers have filled out the comment cards saying that I'd been very helpful, but no has ever said anything to me about it. In fact, last week, a co-worker told me that a guest had filled out a favorable comment about my work, but I have never heard anything about it. How often does that occur?
3. It's fine to promote a person because they perform well, but it's a poor use of your resources when you move a high-rate cashier into a position in which their skills won't be used.

Pros

- Meijer starts hourly employees at a little bit over minimum wage, and now employees are offered health insurance right away.
-Meijer isn't publicly traded, so instead of profit sharing or stocks you get a little extra money each quarter depending on how well the store did on sales, friendly scores, etc. There's a little more freedom there.
-Meijer is usually pretty flexible with scheduling, if you have another job or go to school or have kids or something.
-Meijer at least gives their employees shirts! I can't believe that Walmart and Target just let their employees wear whatever blue or red shirts they own! At least that's what it looks like to me.
-There are some awesome team leaders at Meijer, the type you would probably follow to another department or store if you could.

Cons

The store I work at doesn't seem to have "employee morale" in their vocabulary. Meijer treats most, if not all, of their employees as expendable. This coming from a store that has a very hard time filling positions and keeping employees because of this exact attitude! Also, some stores not only have some horrible management, but horrible customers as well! We're understaffed and being yelled at and treated like idiots because our idiot customers feel the need to vandalize the store constantly. It's very demoralizing, and I'm sure it happens at plenty of other stores, but Meijer used to be able to handle these situations better. Like other stores, Meijer has slashed away at leadership and hourly workers and works the few they have left to death. When leadership leaves they're replaced with worse and worse candidates who treat their employees like garbage. Meijer says they have plenty of opportunities to advance, but it appears they're more likely to hire leadership from outside the store. There are some Meijers that are unionized, but they just seem to be a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." They don't seem to be much better off than a non-union store.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your employees with some respect! Instead of half-baked "raises" that are only earned after a year of service, give your employees a liveable wage! Discipline and fire bad team leaders, not just team members who make little mistakes! I'm afraid Meijer will just turn into Wal-mart after Fred Meijer dies, and I'm searching frantically for a new job. I don't even want to shop at Meijer anymore after being told I'm worthless and can be readily replaced.

Pros

A good entry level job that allows one to experince a wide variety of differnt retail positions.

Cons

Lower level managment can be quite in ineffective with regular employees often knowing more than managment.

Advice to Senior Management

Hank does a great job in leading Meijer, he is a very sensable man whom has a great understanding of the pulse of his company.

Pros

Meijer is not a bad place to work as long as you work in their hometown of Grand Rapids Michigan where everything is closely monitored.

Cons

The company promises to treat all of its employees with dignity and respect and expects its employees to do the same, but this rule only seems to apply to employees and management can treat people however they like.
The company has an honesty policy and they expect employees to be honest at all times but again management is not held to this policy.
The company comes up with programs to reward hard working employees but unless you work in Grand Rapids these programs only last a short time and then are forgotten. Most supervisors only reward their favorite employees and not always the employees that have earned it.
Promotions are mostly given to people from outside the company or relatives of management.
Hard work is rarely recognized or rewarded.
In the distribution centers most equipment is shabby and probably close to unsafe. The company does very little preventive maintenance on the buildings or equipment, only fixing things after they break.
The Union takes money from every check you earn and gives nothing in return.

Advice to Senior Management

Make good on your promises to treat all employees and customers with dignity and respect or simply do not make a promise.
Know what is going on outside of Grand Rapids.
Know what your entire management team is doing.
Hold your entire management team accountable for their actions.
Hold management to a higher standard than basic employees.
Promote from within the company based on knowledge and merit not on relation and friendship.

Pros

The work itself isn't hard

Cons

Really strict time limits on breaks (down to the minute)
Can be repetitive
Mind-numbingly boring

Advice to Senior Management

Pay your employees more. Provide longer breaks. Provide more opportunities for advancement. Provide for easier ways for management to take criticism from the people they manage.

Pros

You got a paycheck
No immediate over your shoulder type management

Cons

Hot or cold conditions
3rd shift was not fun
People were weird

Advice to Senior Management

Try and incorporate team effort...

Pros

Some good Team Members and good prices

Cons

Total joke of a company. No one knows what is going on from top to bottom.
Can't keep help, don't train people properly, huge turnaround even in management and regional office personell, that should tell you right there things are not right,if in this economy people continue to leave the company. Stay away...trust me!

Advice to Senior Management

Get a clue! You guys are so disorganized its embarassing. Prices are great, but your ordering system stinks and the help you have is poor and or very inexperienced. You will never be able to stay long term in the Chicago Market if don't stop thinking this is Michigan, because it isn't...sorry but very disappointed in the way the company was run. Look at your average leadership in tenure, pretty bad considering your competition, Jewel/Dominicks have for the most part had long term loyal, smart leaders..not someone to fill a need. Just sayin!