Whole Foods Reviews in Denver, CO Area

Pros

Wonderful for students or anyone in a transition.

Cons

Even with the discount, Whole Foods is expensive.

Pros

Interaction with lots of different types of customers
Good discounts
Free samples of expensive food
Ability to check out books from library about health and healthy diets
Good camaraderie among team members
Flexible with work schedules and time off

Cons

Management not listening to employees' concerns (such as not taking someone seriously when they are afraid someone took money out of their till...personal experience)
Getting written up for being ill - even with doctor's notes (personal experience)
No workman's comp given, no investigation into what happened, getting written up for not being able to work because in so much pain (another personal experience)
Management/supervisors not recognizing good work and even yelling at employees that they aren't working hard when really, they are working their butts off
Management/supervisors nice to one person, turn around and yell at others
Making employees think they are going to make a difference, then never giving them the chance
Rewarding those who do not work hard
Cultish atmosphere - like the "cool kids" vs the "losers" in high school

Advice to Senior Management

Another employee said Whole Foods just blows "happy gas up our a**es," and I think he was right. It will not be a great place to work if you are portraying the company as perfect, a place where you can make a difference, a place where you have a say, if you turn around and do the things listed in my "cons." Listen to your employees, sympathize with them, realize they have personal lives and are human and sometimes get sick and have children, and don't act hypocritical in almost every situation.

Pros

The people I work with are outstanding. There is a great company culture and I learned a lot about food working for the company. The health benefits are great even for part time employees. It is also a very customer service oriented company.

Cons

The downside is the odd hours. Schedules tend to change weekly and it is tough to plan things around work. The pay isn't very good.

Advice to Senior Management

There aren't a lot of opportunities for team members to move to senior management positions. The company could use a program to develop more talent in-house.

Pros

The benefits are great if you stick around. But there is a culture change going on, and it's troubling to those who've been around. Leaders are stretched thin, so the beneficial relationships that once flourished now dwindle. This is relative, however. Compared to other corporations, WFM beats most on employee happiness. I miss my great days there!

Cons

Changing culture. Growth will do that to a company. A culture stretches to thin, and values can slip through the cracks.

Advice to Senior Management

Aww, I know the job is tough, leading grocery department teams. Demand mentorship from your own leaders, and keep fostering nurturing relationships, upward and downward.

Pros

-Great Place to Work
-Great Benefits, had 5 weeks of vacation after only 2 years
-20% store discount

Cons

-Very few opportunities to move up in the company
-Biz is somewhat run as a hobby and not a business
-The usual office politics

Advice to Senior Management

-More emphasis on people development

Pros

Whole Foods is a fantastic place to work if you genuinly care about the environment & if you care about the integrity & quality of your food. Over all they have a consistent mission statement & most of the leadership really cares about taking care of our customers, & never compromising quality.

Cons

Retail enviroments are always tough on people with families & even tougher on single parents. If I were a single person rather than a single parent I would have a lot fewer negative things to say. Most team leaders- especially at the store level- are not interested in working with schedule issues of single parents- the comapny as a whole is less than sympathetice to those people who are struggling with issues like inadequate day care, & impossible hours for school or school events. It is true that Whole Foods is usually easier to work with than other retail organizations, but the GIG book has specifications regarding absences from illness that are unfair to parents who might have sick children. When I started with the company they were a lot more open minded & had a number of different benefits & helps for parents. These have diminished greatly in the last 5 years. It has also become much harder to get ahead or be promoted if you really want to focus on life outside of Whole Foods. Which is even more frustrating when you see regional presidents going off on trips to Tibet & taking a whole month off too help his wife with premature labor. A normal Team Member in the same situation would have lost his job or position for taking that time off- Not to mention the fact that a normal team member who has a child could not afford to take that time off--- the financial disparity between TMs & Regional Leadershipe seems extreme. Of course when compared to other companise that disparity is relatively small, but that does not excuse the disparities that do exist in a company that has Team Member Happiness listed as a core value.

Advice to Senior Management

Honestly, when I've seen John Mackey speak & heard what his vision is it has made sense & I do approve of his over all policies & ideas. However I do not feel that the current Regional Management is acting on our Core Values as consistently as they could. In the economic down turn we've allowed people with narrow & fearful vision to cut out products that have great value to individual stores (example: most Denver stores no longer carry The Women's Bean Project- but we have a nutrionally defunct 'buy a bag of Groceries for the Hungry Program' which feels less like donations & community support & more like a way for us to increase the look of our profit margins)
If Whole Foods is to remain a leader in the community we need to stop compromising our values for the dollar.

We are a business. We must be profitable. I understand that. When we choose profit ove quality however we are just like the rest of the pack. That is not the behavior that made Whole Foods great.... & in the long run it is not a sustainable business model. The only way to continue to succeed is to reexamine/reinstate our Core Values. Currently we are only honoring them when convenient.

Pros

Freedom in leading my team, there are guidelines, but I really have the opportunity to be as creative as I want. Everyone's encouraged to take things into their own hands and are not micromanaged. There are so many opportunities for growth and whatever your passion is you can find way to use it in this company.

Cons

Sometimes there are too many bosses to report to. Team Leaders, Store Team Leaders, Regional and department specific regional. No one holds your hand through growing with the company, if you want to get a promotion, you have to work hard, take things into your own hands and figure it out.

Advice to Senior Management

Right now while the economy is not that great Regional is scared and making, what I feel are, knee-jerk reactions. They are cutting expenses as much as they can and we are starting to feel it in the stores.

Pros

They have a great benefits package including medical, dental options and vision options. They are detailed and extremely helpful with the insurance decisions as well. The leadership of the store and the leadership in my department are well trained, helpful, and empower us as team members to feel good at work and to do our best.

Cons

Since it's a large company there are obvious restrictions that have to be complied with. Salaries can't be changed due to just job performance, they change only with a job change or each year. Hiring sometimes seems unfair with money issues.

Advice to Senior Management

It really sets an awesome example when you take as much pride in your work as you do. I think this is one of Whole Foods strongest aspects, those in management and higher positions really take a lot of pride in their jobs and it spreads.

Pros

Culture that values a stakeholder approach to business. This means that the organization values every party that it does business with including: employees, suppliers, customers, vendors, and shareholders. Each of these parties often feel that the organization acts in their best interests. This is exemplified in the organizations environmental focus and stewardship of natural resources. Team Leaders are encouraged to engage team members within and outside of the department they lead. Monthly rallies that involve rewarding and recognizing exemplary efforts boost morale and bring about a sense of community. This helps bond a stores employees and encourages a healthy competitive attitude.

Cons

On the retail side there is a limit to the salary increases due to the nature of retail. The organization can become politically charged due to the passion exemplified by the managment to social issues and the conflict with the financial aspect of a business. The financial benefit of gainsharing and the calculation of gainsharing rewards is a bit mystical. Not sure how these payouts are arrived at and what methods are used to engage employees in this aspect of the organization. This is one area which someone should bring transparency too. Employees deserve to know what they are working toward.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on invovlement at the store level so that there isn't a chain of information being fed to them by middle managment. Look at Costco's managment structure and senior managment engagement.

Pros

The benefit package is awsome! it is a core value driven company, and so far in the last 8 years i have not seen the company stray from the core values. I love that everything we do is about creating an excellent experiance for our customers. Customer service is one of my favorite parts of my job (and can be one of the worst some days...)

Cons

The slow economy makes all parts of the business more difficult, when sales are good, the work is a lot easier, when the sales are not there, there is a lot of pressure to make them happen.

Advice to Senior Management

connect with the team members more