Shoppers Drug Mart Reviews in Toronto, ON Area

Pros

Timings weren't that bad, and some of my co-workers were quite nice. The pay was okay..not bad. Locations are plentiful...one right by my house.

Cons

My boss was horrible. The management was atrocious. During the busy hours work would get really tedious and hectic. Ended up coming home with a sore wrist every evening.

Advice to Senior Management

Get an MBA

Pros

Flexible Hours
Do you're own tasks

Cons

Alot of work depending on the store

Advice to Senior Management

More recognition to the workers

Pros

great place for a part time job for student, benefits for full time employees are pretty good, great staff discount

Cons

DM is a bully, comes in and makes you feel completely inadequate, expectations from HO are extremely unreasonable, management works many long hours,in order to get work done because of cutbacks in staff hours from corporate office.......it goes on and on, and as a result, customers are not getting the attention they deserve, fewer hours available means fewer cashiers and longer line ups

Advice to Senior Management

twenty years ago this was an amazing place to work. get rid of infinity, it doesn't work and the stores are making stuff up to pass the insane certification, I mean really, you lose a point if your yellow lines for skid dropping in the stockroom are fading? the pharmacy has one spot for a box of kleenex, and it better not be anywhere else??? and heaven forbid if the cosemetician is helping a customer and did not smile at the guy walking toward the post office, and the clickers!!!????? NO ONE USES THEM except when the bully of a DM is around, the process boards???? I'm pretty sure the cashier doesn't care how many skids we got and how long it took to drop them, and the girl in the post office has no use for how many holes we have, the board is a waste of time, we know what needs to be done in our store, we know our customers, let us decide if we need a low stock or a category fill today, let us decide where we keep extra bonus packs in the back room, let us decide what stock we need and stop sending automatic shipments of items that just sit in our back room until we mark it down for a crazy loss.....I could go on forever. I would welcome a DM who would listen to us and take our concerns back to corporate rather than bark orders and give me heck because I'm trying to keep up with their crazy demands.

Pros

Discount, coworkers are nice - mostly.

Cons

no opportunity to grow
no positions to move up into
no raises (other then cost of living)
no encouragement to grow
kept in the dark with upper management decisions
"culture of fear"
no accountability

Advice to Senior Management

How about you focus on encouraging the growth of employees and stop kissing upper managements butts? you're not perfect or half as great as you think you are. Try doing some of the work rather then just taking credit for it.

Pros

Excellent co-workers are always warm and friendly.

Cons

Bad Management! Treat you like crap.

Pros

great benefits such as 30 percent off merchandise.
same work each day no suprises
transferable skills to many closeby locations , likely to be recommended to other pharmacies in the surrounding area

Cons

pay was ok not great
expectations very high in the workplace
demanding of performance, but not strict
some not well equipped

Advice to Senior Management

better pay, more up to date equipment in some stores,
stop putting in time consuming non necessary requirements to pharmacy as theyare too busy, and put the customer service back in pharmacy it is becomign more and more of just a fast food chain

Pros

The regular customers that always have a smile and a say THANK YOU for always helping me out when I come in. Getting 30% off discount and the friends you hand up making and keeping even when they leave for other jobs or school.

Cons

*but the on the other end when the Infinity project was launching we all thought wow this will be good but now that it has we have worked all our butts off to make this a sucess in our store. We didnt get our raises until nov. we thought we get a bigger one cause of it but we got the same, they have this grid which shouldnt be used because we all have our own merits and some work harder then others and it's not fair that we are judged on a grid. It should be on what we have done and how we do with the respect of customers, how we treat and greet them and spend the time to show where the product is and making sure that they are well served. Isn't this what Shoppers is all about??? we should NOT to be told to hurry up with the customer so we can put the DC order out. Especially now with the Infinity everyone has different jobs to do.

*We need more full time staff. Every day is different and we have theft in the store ( customers ) they know when to come in. The amount that is being stolen can be the amount for another full or part time person can get paid.

*The job that were to do daily or asked to do we all feel that we have to be rushed to do it then it doesnt get down properly were told to get it done or find other job that there is lots of people out there looking for a good job.

*whatever happened to getting a christmas bonus other jobs do it why not us at sdm for a big company like us you would think they would care for us. The full time staff get the exact same as the part time which isnt fair.

Advice to Senior Management

We should all be treated differently but yet the same everyone is unique and everyone has different issues in their lives. YOU need to care and take care of us especially when we are sick. Get rid of the So Called Grid. Some would get a 20 cent raise when others get more when they didnt deserve it. and for the full time staff that has shown you many years of service 5-10 years. They deserve reconition. We all need to work so lets work together and also Please keep in mind that a
"Happy worker is a Good worker.

Pros

- My coworkers are a great bunch of people.

- Associate/FSM also very friendly, FSM in particular goes out of his way to tell me how he values my work, and have been personally rewarded by him via the extra mile program. Inspiring to work with.

- Work not particularly stressful if store is fully staffed and

- My FSM recognizes that my university education is the most important thing going on in my life at the moment and is able to work a schedule around it using my fairly specific availability hours.

Cons

- Project Infinity. I think some parts of it are great, extra mile program is nice, FSM lists are useful as a general guide of what the FSM needs done, but the rest of it seems like a time management nightmare, my manager can barely get the hours to staff the store as is.

- I'm pretty sure as a supervisor (where I'll regularly be required to perform ALL the cashier work and the merchandising in addition to my regular responsibilities), I'm entitled to more than a tad above minimum wage, even though its increasing yearly.

- Due to the low number (usually none) of available staff able to take my shift in case of an emergency/sick day, I will often find myself coming to work while sick because nobody can take my shift. Now, being that this is a drug store, I'd rather not come in sick if I don't have to, and risk either getting myself MORE sick, or getting a customer or co-worker sick as well. In addition, I honestly don't even know if I HAVE sick days (although I should probably go ask the associate, so thats not really a fault on the companies part), and if I do, how I would be able to cash them in on short notice.

Advice to Senior Management

My FSM works like a dog to make his store be the best it can be, but he can't do it with the hours he's been given for scheduling. Give the FSMs more hours and you'll have more satisfied employees.

Pros

The pay is competitive and the new stores are very nice.

Cons

You are micro managed, they are not looking for managers. If you are a good merchandiser and dont mind working six days a week and enjoy getting put down every time you get a visit this is the place for you.
This was the worse job I have ever had, unless there is a culture change fast it will start to effect sales. Most managers are burned out, but the company really doesent care, they know this but will not do anything to change and are to self absorbed.

Advice to Senior Management

Practice what you preach. Change your culture or you will find it more difficult to fill these positions when times get better. I am sure you do not like to get treated poorly so why treat your managers this way, they are your front line people, in most complanies they look for ways to improve the customer experience however Shoppers has lost touch. Too bad, the compeition will jump all over this and customers will figure it out.

Pros

Easy to get a job, more traffic than a department store, lots of locations to choose from. Used to be fun. OK for a first job.

Cons

Shoppers Drug Mart used to be a good place to work, but that has changed. They want people to work harder for less money, the goals are unrealistic and you are penalized when you can't reach the unattainable goals. They frequently treat employees like crap; the morale is incredibly low and even the managers look beaten down. Customers are frequently angry because there aren't enough people to assist them and because SDM replace known brands with their own knockoffs. Employees used to get cost on products, now they get only 30% off. BEWARE-take care to select a location with a good associate/owner. The owner is always the head pharmacist and if he or she isn't a good manager then the morale for everybody is negatively impacted. This is not a great company for a career, most people burn out and leave.

Advice to Senior Management

Start treating people with respect. You preach it but you don't do it.