Safeway Reviews

Pros

I am happy with the workload and salary

Cons

Complex IT structure and environments

Pros

Fast paced, easy, time goes by quickly, very flexible

Cons

Early morning shifts, low pay

Advice to Senior Management

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Pros

Good Benefits, fair pay, clean environment, very nice people to work for, companies policy on customer service extends not only to customers but to employees also.

Cons

The company seems a little frantic at times about certain promotion ideas and implimenting them at the expense of core working tasks.

Pros

Somewhat easy employment possibility. Union. Great to have a job opportunity in these difficult times. They hire people!

Cons

Union. Senior store management just cares about there pocket books. Bonuses for safety record days and all that are much more important then the overall well being of the store employees. Corporate culture didn't seem to promote advancement within the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Some empathy training for management and mgmt interns would be great.

Pros

Location. Steady employment. Campus gym.

Cons

Pay is on the low side. Very old school and bureaucratic organization. Silo'd to a fault. If you come from a fast pace organization... the slow crawl and politics will drive you mad.

Advice to Senior Management

The organization needs to learn to simplify and coule use some flattening. There are a ton of talented managers / directors but rarely are they empowered to do thier jobs.

Pros

They hire anyone
Job experience
Easy to impress management (just don't be lazy!)
Discount on Safeway brand merchandise
Hours given to employees who work hard (IF management likes you)
Easy to transfer to different departments and learn ins and outs of a grocery store

Cons

Absurd "secret shopper" program. Seems to have gotten bloated and over-emphasized since it's creation. Why are they spending money on this instead of paying employees better?

Incredible amount of micro-management, to the point where you're unable to do your job! Same sense that the programs started decades ago have since become bloated and distracting. Probably due to new CEO's trying to impress the company with their new ideas. Some ideas (for instance, having employees make recommendations to customers based on items in their cart/basket, which is crossing a line. If I'm buying preparation H, I don't want an employee snooping through my groceries with their eyes.)

Union dues for employees making min wage, and the union(s) seemed to have no teeth whatsoever. Due to poor communication, I was under the impression new employees didn't pay dues for the first 6 months. Well, apparently I should have been paying from Day 1, and for the rest of my time there, I had to pay $50 in union dues a month, taken from my minimum wage paycheck. And for what? The union only came in to talk to us when they were holding elections. Completely unhelpful.

No performance based pay raises, no real reward for working harder than someone else unless you're sucking up to management (and even then, the only way to get a pay raise to take on more soul-crushing responsibilities).

Horrible scheduling practices, much like all grocery stores it seems. I had a co-worker who never said "no" to more hours, and she was worked so hard that she slept in her car between shifts. This happened to her constantly, and after 7 years there she wouldn't get another raise from her $14/hr. Absolutely terrible.

The list goes on, but I don't want anyone to disregard this as just an angry rant. Safeway is truly an unpleasant place to work, and don't expect to feel appreciated in the slightest.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your employees better, give raises based on merit, relax the conservative 1950's dress code, keep up with community food trends. Corporate seems slow as molasses to carry local food or keep up with the organic/local/green food movement, which is *huge* here. At this rate, New Seasons and even Fred Meyer (Kroger) are going to drive Safeway out of town, and I say "Good riddance"

Pros

The pay and vacation time is good and making my schedule

Cons

to much paperwork and all the little things they want done add up real quick to try to get done in a eight hour day

Advice to Senior Management

give more hours to the departments

Pros

Flexible with school scheduel, the pay is good for someone in college, opportunities for job advancement

Cons

Management, disrepsectful customers, long hours,

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in your employees instead of finding ways to fire them

Pros

being able to run the station as if you are an owner

Cons

forced to make employees offer customers selling suggestion window washing and oil check for minimal pay.

Pros

Opportunities for promotion and flexible scheduling. Management took notice of employees' skills and contributions to the company. Good job to work if you have another job or go to school.

Cons

Company was cheap; when I received a customer service award I was given a pin and a coupon to Quizno's. No discounts for employees, had to pay union dues while making minimum wage. Was promoted to produce, but stayed on the books as a courtesy clerk so they didn't have to give me a pay raise.