Walgreens Reviews

Pros

Pay really sucks starts at 7.25
Hours- go out of their way to help certain people maintain their full-time status and don't care about others.
No room for advancement-usually stuck at the position that you come in at.

Cons

Some great co-workers- there are a few nice people that you work with.
Management is okay (at times)- Depending on the day and how they on duty manager feels, depends on how your day will go. My store has great managers NOW.
Discount on most items - comes in handy, especially on sales.

Advice to Senior Management

You should try and make sure that your employees have enough hours (if they want them). Should ask for more pay increases. People are working for nothing after taxes.

Pros

Great people to work with, feels like a family atmosphere at each store among the staffs, great benefits and profit sharing options

Cons

No opportunity for overtime for any hourly employee or management

Advice to Senior Management

You need to take care of your employees first to be able to take care of your stock holders later. As an assistant manager of 12 years, I was very disappointed mentally and financially when you took away our "guaranteed" four hours of weekly overtime. We are the workhorses for this company and deserve this overtime. I have enjoyed working for this company, but I know my time is running out. Looking for new opportunities as I am writing this. Thanks for the memories.

Pros

Walgreen's seems to be a good stable place to work for now. The company has been in business for over a 100 years and seems to be adapting well to the ever changing retail climate. The company is very conservative and the pay level is O.K. for management and on par for the other positions.

Cons

Yearly pay raises are small, for all positions (except for store managers and pharmacists) and are not based on performance, but based on a corporate formulated rate sheet. Also the benefits are starting to get worse every year. The main issue now is health insurance. Fewer options appear each year and our out of pocket costs seem to go up each year. My main dissatisfaction is mostly centered around the limited opportunities for advancement that assistant managers and executive assistant managers have up to the level of store manager and beyond. I realize part of this is due to the fact that the company is not building many new stores and most markets that have Walgreen's stores are saturated. But my main problem is not this, it is the fact that the few opportunities that come up for promotion to store management positions are not filled fairly. It has occurred to me that promotions are based on not what you know, how hard you work, or how long you have been with the company but on who you know (the executive assistant managers that seem to get promoted to store manager are those that work for a particular store manager that is "buddy buddy" with the person that makes the promotion decisions; the district manager). From what I hear thru the grape vine, this is common in most markets, not just mine. Promotions should be based first on performance, then on seniority if all factors are equal.

Pros

I love that I can always develop as an individual. I have pushed myself to become the best and do the best that I can.

Cons

They do not inform you of the changes that are being made at the corporate level. They make sudden moves and fail to inform staff and even store management.

Pros

The pay is "industry standard". I think they go a good job of promoting company culture within their various programs, and they're pretty stable to work for.

Cons

Salary could be higher. A little more flexibility in schedule would be nice.

Advice to Senior Management

Need better people management skills. It's important in an industry where you make money making people happy. Happy employees mean happy customers.

Pros

Company with solid foundation and history

Cons

Too much hours without corresponding pay for salaried exas

Pros

Some pros to working at Walgreens is the free vaccines and semi-relaxed atmosphere. Also knowing when the good deals come out.

Cons

It is just a job for people to get by in life with little pay. It would not be a good place to work at for the rest of your life.

Pros

Walgreens provides many ways to advance your career with them, be it to a management position or the pharmacy route. The benefits you become eligible for with certain milestones are clearly outlined and a nice addition to an hourly salary. They have an open door policy that they make sure employees know about. If there is an issue with another employee or management, one has the ability to report it without having to worry about repercussions from their report.

Cons

Generally there are few people working in the actual store part of Walgreens unless it is a holiday or a lot of traffic is expected. Some job performance goals are unrealistic given the amount of time one has in their shift and the amount of days scheduled in a week. Suggestive selling bothers me as well; many people going to Walgreens aren't interested in candy as they are barely meeting their monthly budgets as is, or they are dieting, allergic, or are already buying candy. There are times I've bought candy from myself, having another employee ring me up with me signed in to the register, to avoid having zero suggestive sells during a shift.

Advice to Senior Management

What is expected of an employee is not always clearcut or realistic; it would be good to review employee progress periodically and make sure they know what is needed to be a satisfactory employee. Also some performance ideals don't work in all locations or for all positions. If an employee is working less than 15 hours a week, it is usually not reasonable to expect all out dates in a section of store to be checked by them in addition to their standard duties.
Training materials make it appear as if an employee always has to put the customer first, but sometimes in real world experience there is not enough time or workforce to go out of ones way to help customers. I help customers where I can, while being polite and respectful, but the utopia of Walgreens training materials doesn't exist.

Pros

Flexible scheduling; nice coworkers; Learned good skills

Cons

Some managers were hard to work for; Sometimes late night hours

Pros

its a great plact to work because it is a very relaxed environment where you have room to improve and be promoted

Cons

hours change as the days do and with multiple sick individuals coming into the pharmacy there is a higher risk of getting sick at work requiring days off of work.

Advice to Senior Management

Do your job but don't be a slave driver if you can't handle your own tasks and push them onto the lower employees