Spartan Stores Reviews

Pros

Spartan stores had good hours. The management team was really good to the crew. The workplace was made of diverse individuals.

Cons

The downsides of working at Spartan stores the inability to move up. The management team promised to move me up but it never happened.

Pros

Room to grow in the workplace. Upper Managment wants to see people succeed in the company. Plenty of area to learn new things: Cash office, Starbucks, Deli. They hire young, promote young.

Cons

Lower pay than other companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Spartan is clearly a good company to work for, because many of the employees in the store have been long term employees. I can't say I have any major advise for managment. I just know as an associate how much it means to get told when you're doing a good job.

Pros

Free yes card (It's your associate rewards carf as well)
Associate rewards for people that work on average 24 hours a week
Low turnover, most turnover happens by associate choice
Pay raises happen once a year, which is more raises overall than I've gotten in similar jobs.

Cons

Yes card. It's required to get sales and even associates who don't want are forced to have one
For the most part, higher end management doesn't listen to low end store associate opinions

Pros

It is a decent place to work, it's overall relatively clean and my fellow employees are nice to work with.

Cons

The management upstairs does their best to encourage work habits but when they do it, they send the message through so many people, it is like playing a big game of telephone. Up front, there are never enough cashiers to cover the mid afternoon rush, and the service clerks complain about front end managment because of the repetitive chores that seem to get done once an hour. The training should be more with an employee from the floor in their department, and not by the management. It seems as though the service clerks are used to not havig breaks when certain managers are working. On top of all of that, the pay doesnt make it worth being there for the stress we are put through as employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Weekly or monthly store status meetings could be held, not necessarily manditory, but as needed, to make the store feel like a team and not "us versus them".

Pros

The customers are usually nice. The other employees are a benefit when learning the job. Third shift was great for getting work done. We have decent benefits.

Cons

When I came to days, I always worked first shift. After a short time my shifts started to be spred around and the hours were cut down. It made me seriously think about going back to third shift.

Advice to Senior Management

Watch your temper. If there is something that is getting you or one of the top store people and you can't think of what or who it is, set yourself aside and think. Take notes. Things will calm down and then the thinking can start again.

Pros

Most of the people I work with are awesome. The department managers are very nice, except Customer Service Manager.

Cons

The raises are pitiful. There is not a good system of counting the registers down, the people counting it could be stealing and it gets blamed on the cashier. Which I have no doubt has happened more than once, but there's no way to prove it. The bottle machines are a pain and never work properly, the manager simply tells us we need to clean it better, without actually listening to us. 95% of the time there is only one cashier on duty, even when it is very busy. The sale ads can be very confusing and misleading, and I'm sure that's done on purpose. The insurance benefits that are offered are absolutely ridiculous. Pretty much every cashier is 'casual-part-time', even if they are getting more than 24 hours a week (which isn't often), so we don't get benefits such as vacation or even the measley employee discount.

Overall, it seems like the corporate bigwigs care more about their salary and bonuses than anything else. I know the employee satisfaction at my store is VERY low.

Advice to Senior Management

Without the 'little' people, your company would be nothing. Show a little appreciation and maybe some decent pay and benefits and I'm positive the employees would be happier and work harder.

Pros

The customers. If you concentrate on making them happy you can actually walk out at the end of the day thinking you had a good day and made some people happy.

Cons

They spend millions on brick and mortar buildings
They spend pennies on employees to work in them.

They put out shiny paper newsletters bragging how well they are doing and then give you a 8 cent raise on a part-time job so they can keep their 50 employee minimum employee tax break.

Customer Reward Programs are for some stores and not others.

Weekly ad papers are confusing on purpose.

Advice to Senior Management

Admit to the employee's that most of the decisions that you make are based on your personal monthly bonus. When you cut an employee's hours that saves the company money. When you save that money for the company you in turn get a bonus for that month.

Stick it to the employee, management gets rewarded.

Pros

1. Helping customers make their food purchases is very rewarding.
2. My fellow associates are fun to work with.
3. My compensation package is adequate and fair.
4. Corporate and Store level Management is attentive to my needs and attempts to build a Company that I can be proudly reccomend to others.

Cons

1. Yearly pay increases are minimal.
2. The store is open for business on Holidays and Sundays.
3. Unrealistic expectations of sales growth can sometimes be demoralizing.

Advice to Senior Management

At store level, our two most frequently made complaints from our customers are 1. broken down or slow bottle return machines, and 2. the self-checkout machines require too many PIC over-rides which slows down the check-out process. When these two problems are corrected, we'll have much happier customers who will faithfully shop at only our store.

Pros

You are always moving. During the day the customers are the important part of your job. You must make sure that they are satisfied. Say "hi" to as many people as you can without ignoring your work.

Cons

You are always working in the middle of the day. It is hard to take any classes if you are full time and not on night stock. I like this place but I don't have extra time.

Pros

The best reasons for me to work at Spartan Stores, was because the management always went out of their way to accomodate my personal and professional needs. It gave me great pleasure in working there and I learned so much as far as lifeskills are concerned. The Gladwin store always went way above to please both their employees as well as the customers. If I could I would go back to work there in a New York minute. Due to health issues, I had to quit work, and when I did quit, I regretted quitting in the way I did. Spartan stores should be one of those businesses who should do the show where the ceo goes undercover to see exactly how they need to improve and to see how dedicated most of their employees really are.

Cons

Some of the downsides to working for Sparan Stores, is the pay is not good enough for one to sustain life comfortably. The raises are lousy, It is hard to get promoted. It is hard to get more than part time work. Also, while being employed there, promotions on part of it were given to the wrong people some of the times. Those are the ones who would get swelled heads and end up stealing or getting fired for not following the policies and procedures. They seem to work on very limited employees. and seem to be so undermanned. The prices in most areas are a bit pricey. That is why they have places such as save-a-lot for the public. In this economy, one can not spend an outrageous amount on certain items and tend to go elsewhere. Hopefully once the economy gets back to normal, which is not going to be too awful soon, people will hopefully go back to the store, just because the store has awesome employees who love their customers and clientelle (sp).

Advice to Senior Management

To the Gladwin,Mi store? Be a bit more generous with those evaluations and raises. My name is Maureen Mattice and I loved my job while in your employment. To that store alone, Take a close look at the management and who generally gets the fallback from your ones you have to answer to. Lets give the credit to those who actually are there to do the walk throughs, and the dirty work without getting the recognition she deserves. Other than that, keep up the good work, and I miss working with each and every one of you.