Whole Foods Reviews in Vancouver, BC Area

Pros

I worked the summer of 2009 at Whole Foods. I greatly enjoyed the training and respect for new-coming employees. Praise, salary and job allocation was done to a large extent on competence rather than seniority. Team leaders were very personable and overall it was a good experience

Cons

Tasks could get very repetitive and there was often emotional labor to be done. Senior management could be a little withdrawn. Mostly, for an "green business" it was astounding how much food we threw out. Also frustrating that employees could not take home any of it.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a dissonance between the image whole foods displays to its employees and what is actually done. If you hope to be a caring and "small-feeling" business treat the employees as such.

Pros

the team environment, the ability to empower team members to do their best, create an environment of continual learning and team work. The encouragment to the team members to grow and move up or around within the company. Learning more and more about organics and gourmet products bringing that to the customer is rewarding. The benefits package and 20 percent discount for the staff and families is awesome. Also the fact that they pay for 45 percent of your annual bus pass helps financially but also incourages you to be greener in your comute options.

Cons

Like most retail jobs working some holidays, weekends and the occassional night shift

Advice to Senior Management

Mostly they are there to support you, but there is like all companies a bottom line.

Pros

Income, benefits, and in my particular situation, the people I work with. My Team Leader(s) have been inestimably helpful in helping me move forward and succeed at Whole Foods while still accomodating my outside-of-work interests and passions. The product quality is fabulous, the core values are admirable, and the health and lifestyle choices encouraged are great, and have helped me in more ways than just pay. I have learned an increadible wealth of information about our products, and am still continuing to learn in my current position. Also, the benefits package is awesome.

Cons

It is very large and very corporate. I often feel the repercussions of Regional meddling within the local store. Also, the Data team tends to be slow and/or difficult to deal with.

Advice to Senior Management

Less micromanaging, more power to individual stores. More requests for local input with regards to regional initiatives. For example, we recently had a new data system put into place without local-level consultation, and as a result we've have spent the last six months working out kinks and wondering why things don't work the way they should. In fact, we're still doing it.