Publix Reviews

Pros

Good stock options and benefits (if you work there long enough.) Flexible hours with school if part-time employee. If you like helping people, the customers have learned to rely on your knowledge.

Cons

Horrible compensation and pay raises. Overworked and understaffed. Upper management doesn't listen to employees. You have to have a "guardian angel" if you want to move up fast. Everything is a waiting game, including raises and school reimbursement. They give you all the rules at the beginning orientation so that you will not sue them if something happens to you, but yet they ask you to break almost every single one of them in order to get the job down. You have no idea if your particular store is doing good or bad, only statistics mentioned is Publix as a whole. They find every excuse under the sun to not pay you for your work even with next to perfect evaluations (which are never on time.) Only half of Publix employees are actually helping to make a difference and end up forking out most of the work load.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees, they ultimately deal with the customer 24/7. Share the upper management wealth with the rest of the underpaid employees. Get out of the back offices and on to the "dance floor" where the customers are.

Pros

-Benefits even for part-timers, if you have enough hours
-Advancement opportunity
-Co-workers generally adhere to professional standards more than at other companies
-Open-door policy for speaking with managers

Cons

-Corporate mentality common to retail: "You must be available to us for scheduling 24/7, even though we may only give you a few hours a week, and in return we will have no regard for your needs as a human being or for how our scheduling policies affect you."
-Seemingly no written policy for advancing to full-time
-Divergent policies among managers, or even the same manager on different day or depending on who is asking
-Seniority counts for, apparently, nothing whatsoever

Advice to Senior Management

Realize that your employees are human beings and that your schedule has a huge effect on their lives. A well-rested employee (one who has a consistent enough schedule to have a regular sleeping pattern) will be visibly happier to come to work, perform better and faster, make fewer costly mistakes leading to shrink or customer dissatisfaction, and be healthier, putting less strain on company health insurance. Also, if a person's schedule is somewhat regular, they will have to ask off work for special occasions and appointments less often, since they will have a good idea in advance what they will probably be working, and they can schedule such things on days they will probably be off work. Instead, company policy seems to be exactly the opposite, as schedules are completely mixed-up and inconsistent as if on purpose. Perhaps the company fears dealing with complaints from people who begin to feel entitled to certain shifts. But that sounds like a pretty stupid reason to the people who have to live by these schedules that so arbitrarily insist on having complete claim on their time.

Have a written policy for moving to full-time, or publish it if there is one. Otherwise, it's too easy to base it on favoritism.

Also, the "Associate Voice Survey" is a joke. There is not even a space for comments. It's only like a scantron with questions like "How much do you think such-and-such about your store? Choose from 1-5, with 5 being Strongly Agree and 1 being Strongly Disagree." There is no chance to say why you think any of this, which is why instead of telling the company directly, I now have to publish on the internet for everyone to see.

Pros

Publix offers some of the best employee benefits and customer training services in the business. Likewise, the employees - regardless of level - are treated fairly and equally. Even at the lower-status jobs everyone is treated well. The employee-owned stock options are excellent as well, meaning managers, cashiers, and truck drivers all have a secure future.

Cons

At first you feel like you are working for "the man" at such a large company until you realize that Publix has a very "local" feel to it. Customers know you by name, and district managers are often conversational with the most entry-level employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great work. You treated everyone well while I was there, and I hope it is the same now.

Pros

good benefits, actual job is not hard, the people are good to work with, the managers are good to work with

Cons

bad upper management, pay is not enough for the stress that is given to you, not enough help, upper management is worried to much about what the papper says and how the numbers look rather than how the actual dept is run

Pros

good rate of pay
clean work environment
good hours

Cons

no discounts
no vacation packages
if this is your secondary job then the balance between the two would have to be clear with all supervisory heads.

Advice to Senior Management

a little bit of leniency in times of need for your employees.

Pros

Good stock. Flexible schedule. Easy to get hired.

Cons

Bad benefits (must work there at least a year to qualify). Poor pay. Poor evaluation system (raises are skimpy and if you don't do perfect, you won't get a raise. Even if you are late by 1 minute, 5 times in the year, you won't get a raise). Managers are usually incompetent. Horrible upper management. Wasteful.

Advice to Senior Management

Their motto is "no waste" yet Publix wastes more than any other company I have been at. They throw away tons of food each day, where they could be donating it or using it. Also, they treat their employees poorly. Show more respect to those who make Publix successful.

Pros

Great flexibility with hours. Great first job

Cons

Very low pay. Even after 5 years

Advice to Senior Management

Be more Aware of your employees and who really works hard. Also don't worry so much about items to labor hours. You'll just end up with unhappy employees.

Pros

Working staff are friendly and easy to get along with

Cons

You only get .25 cent raise every six months

Pros

Great place to work. Competent management and most co-workers are sane/competent. Lots of opportunities to advance to management if you are motivated and committed to work. Great benefits such as stock private to Publix associates only, 401k contribution matching (up to $750 a year in Publix stock), and you are given stock in an ESOP every year plus dividends on that free stock. Pay is ok but you'll hit the pay cap pretty quick if you aren't able to move up.

Cons

To even be considered for full time, you must have complete availability for work seven days a week. Disappointing considering I have been interested in FT for the longest time and this new requirement will not make FT possible for me until I am out of school.

Boca/Delray area customers are for the most part AWFUL and downright rude a lot of the time. You need to have tough skin and an ability to deflect the nastiness or you will get eaten alive.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay caps need to be considered for raises more often, especially considering inflation and this crap economy. Full time is already so hard for hardworking and deserving associates to reach and the new availability requirement excludes many of these associates that can't give total availability. Publix upper management needs to man up and give store managers more leeway to fire associates that are deadweight. Too many associates that were made FT are a drag on payroll and abuse the crap out of the system.

Pros

It really is like joining a family when you work here. I've gotten very attached to my coworkers as well as my managers, and they have all treated me with respect. My managers have been very understand with personal and medical emergencies, and I was able to be promoted very quickly. It is generally a very easy job, and it is a great company as a whole.

Cons

Once you make it to customer service staff, it is very hard to get promoted any further unless you have been there for years and years. It is impossible to get full time unless you have been there for years as well, at least in my smaller-sized store. I am very dissatisfied with pay; baggers and cashiers who have been working there for less time are making more money than me, and I only receive 15 cent raises.