Whole Foods Reviews

Pros

Reputable company with room to grow (over time).

Cons

Competitive work environment for low pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Articulate your desires with positive feedback.

Pros

The pay is pretty decent compared to other grocery retail jobs. They care about their team members and take care of them as best they can. The discount is very generous and benefits are really good as well.

Cons

Whole Foods has plenty of opportunity for advancement but you have to work really hard to get there. There's not a formal training like other places so you have to your own action plan with your leaders.

Pros

in-store education, promotions, 20% discount, profit sharing, paid time off (PTO), and benefits - vision, dental, health, life, & short/long term disability

Cons

stagnant leadership, retail hours are hard on the family, time off is frowned upon, and scheduling is hard when work weeks are posted less than a week in advance

Advice to Senior Management

When a team leader (manager) gets a poor review multiple years (even in a row) by their team, then he/she might need some refining on how to be a better "team" leader vs. being a dictator, manipulator, or brown noser to the store manager.

Pros

You can learn a lot about food.

Cons

My managers are lazy backstabbers.

Advice to Senior Management

When obtaining a new store do away with old leadership.

Pros

Work life balance, positive work environment, overall competent and pleasant co workers and team leaders. It puts you in a healthy environment and you can learn a lot if you want to.

Cons

Despite them trying, it is still corporate. There is no getting around that, but as long as you know from the start you will be fine. Upper management does a good job at keeping things real ( CEO salary cap)

Advice to Senior Management

There are a few too many managers in any given department. This can frustrate an asst. manager who gets paid by the hour and doesn't get 40 hours poet week.

Pros

The employees and management of this particular department is very friendly, and very knowledgeable about the products that are offered. Customer requests are put to the front of all operations.

Cons

The compensation for the employees work seems to be a bit biased. It is almost impossible to get fired from this company, which can be very bad. If there is an employee who is not completely holding up his end of the work it is very difficult to remove this person from the company.

Advice to Senior Management

The leardership needs to understand that while what they might think is the most important facet that needs to be addressed , it is not always the case. Let your team leaders know that things need to be fixed up or taken care of, but ultimately have faith that they will do it when they deem it pertinent because they might be dealing with a bigger problem that the store leaders do not know of yet.

Pros

If you get a good team leader, you'll love the company and what it can give you. Good health care, real cheap for team members.

Cons

If you get a bad team leader, you'll want to move out of that department as soon as your allowed. My manager makes about $30/hr and refuses to give anyone a raise. I've got stuck in the position of closing every weekend and get to have no life, its retail, what are you going to do. I'm stuck in a position with no potential for growth because of my team leader, he holds people back, not the company.

Advice to Senior Management

People deserve raises, but if your team leader and store team leader have worked together for decades how does one go about trying to talk to someone about the problems in your department?I do enjoy the atmosphere at whole foods and will probably stay, but not in my current department.

Pros

Flexible schedule if you do not mind working on weekends
Team Members are always willing to help
Better pay than most retail places

Cons

Management promotes who they know, not who deserves
WFM has become a money driven corporation, Team Member happines does not exist any longer, if hours worked have to be cut to reach goals, they will cut them...
Inexperienced management
Lots of nepotism

Advice to Senior Management

Read the Core Values of the company, i do believe that you have erased the TM happiness one...
Promote who deserves, not who you like.
Cut some of your hours and find out how hard it is to live pay cheque by paycheque

Pros

Employee support, benefits, opportunity for growth.

Cons

Sometimes difficult schedules, not much else!

Pros

Atmoshpere here is a major plus. Lots of laughter and comraderie. Everyone is included in dialogue about how things are going in the store.

Cons

Favoratism does not pass by this company. Amazing how little work the "pets" can get away with. Management is castrated when it comes to cracking down on slack performance.