cashier

produce clerk

front end associate

supervisor

grocery associate

Calgary Co-operative Association Limited

Coop was a great place to work, 5 years ago. If you do decide to work here, do not plan on advancing in the company. Head office chooses people in other departments with no experience for manager positions in which they have no idea how to handle. Or, they hire people who have never worked for coop and have no idea how the company works. 
It was a laid-back place, but now we have scheduled breaks, no I'm not a cashier so there is no reason for me to have a scheduled break. You have to get a manager to sign off if you want to change it at all, oh and don't forget it has to be a GOOD reason. 
With the new contract (coop is unionized), part time people do not have the potential to have more than the guaranteed hours, while casual employees have the option to get 40 hours, even though they get no benefits. This is great if you are getting hired for a casual position, which is most likely what will happen since coop does not hire supervisors or part time's unless they absolutely have to. 
Long story short, coop is a unionized company, with a controlling head office that wants to get rid of their long-standing, loyal employees that have benefits and guaranteed hours and replace them with casual part-time employees who get paid less. 
This is a great place to work if you are a student, you really need a job or a temporary second job. This is not a place to advance or grow with, and if you don't believe me, stay there for a few years and you'll watch just as I have, the company disappoint you over and over again.

I worked as a cashier and as a stockperson at two different locations. The work itself wasn't awful, definitely not something I'd want to do forever, but it wasn't bad. About half of the managers I worked with were totally awesome, good leaders, understanding, organized, and very friendly. Some were average, and a handful were just god awful, unorganized, unnecessarily controlling, and on one occasion just downright creepy. But that doesn't reflect the attitudes of the company,  it seems to me like its either hard for them to get rid of people like that because of the union, or upper management doesn't quite understand how inefficient they are as leaders. I also had a few co workers that seemed to only make my job more difficult,  people who had worked there longer than I did but still couldn't seem to remember (or care) where things go, despite multiple write-ups none of those people were ever let go,  so there is a massive amount of job security, but its hard to even bother to try my best when people are getting paid more than me to either make more work for the rest of us, or barely do any work at all,  and unfortunately I think a lot of people felt the same, many people seemed really unmotivated. And also the schedule was done in a way that morning and evening shifts were alternated, which did a great job of messing up my sleep schedule, and my life, but we did get every third weekend off, so that was good.

I've been at Co-op for over two years now, and I love most of my co-workers, I've made some great friends. A regular day at work is just going through the motions, answering customer questions (and more and more frequent complaints) My issue is that head office does not recognize just how much work has to be done (especially in the bakery) and they decide how many hours each department gets based on how much money said department makes. Now this is good in theory, but in practice it just doesn't work. Departments like the grocery department will make the most money, but have the least amount of work to do. Everyone's hours have been cut but yet the same amount of work is expected to be completed, and as a result we are always running behind. There is also the issue of wages, before minimum wage went up I had been making over the minimum, but once it went up to 12.20 I was making the same as everyone below me, its sad that after being a loyal employee for years and excelling at my job, I am worth the same to the company as a new person with no knowledge. The only way to get a raise is to work 1250 hours, and as a student this has not been possible for me. I would still have felt better if my skill over new employees was acknowledged, especially after assisting in the training of some of them.

Not the co-operative it once was.

A top heavy company that looks at their employees as numbers rather than people/customers. A negative retail environment that used to pride itself on customers being a priority which sadly is not the case.
High prices, low wages and poor moral. In a state of denial that this company is not one of the leaders in the retail sector but quite simply....followers.
Under-handed practises like raising regular prices while items are on sale and lowering prices for 1-2 days to compete with competitors for the public's misconception of "best value". Going the direction of casual employess....no benefits, pension or vacation/sick time.

Most of my co-workers were exceptional but the majority going through the motions in a mundane and unproductive way.

Management are puppets and have no voice or backbone.  

Calgary CO-OP's motto once was "Hire to retire".....it is now "Hire to fire".......looking for any method or reason to rid themselves of senior employees or full time templates.

Going downhill fast and if not for petrol and liquor...Calgary CO-OP would be doomed.

Has potential to be an alright job, largely depending on who you work with, and more importantly who's in charge. My biggest issue was ineffective or downright counterproductive supervisors. I left one location because of a manager making our lives difficult, changing rules and procedures without a real explanation. At the next location the management was pretty good with the exception of one supervisor, who was really good at destroying morale, and not very good at managing people efficiently, or accomplishing work himself for that matter. 
I did meet a lot of awesome people at both locations, both management and co workers, cashiering is pretty draining work, but I didn't mind stocking shelves for the most part.
All in all it really depends who you work with, it can be a good stable workplace, I received health coverage as a "B" employee, and scheduling was pretty flexible, every third weekend off. But with the union system I think theres a lot of potential to end up with less than sufficient management, or employees that are unwilling or unable to work efficiently.

Overall, CO-OP was a very enjoyable experience. The work was fairly straight-forward and was usually the same every day, so you pick up procedures, SKU's and product knowledge fairly quickly. I made many amazing friends here and always felt like I could be myself without judgement. The pay was more than good for the job expected of me, however it is based on experience level.

 It is incredibly difficult to move up in the company due to their policies and union. Despite having an open position in my store, if an out-of-store employee wanted the position I'd have no say due to their seniority over me. Most of the positions are considered casual even though you could be working 40 hours a week. You also only get benefits if you are a "B" or "A" position. 

Management was tricky. My supervisor was not the best to be around and often micromanaged, scolded and controlled the staff. She would go behind the managers back and talk bad about us, however our manager was absolutely the best manager I've ever had, and would do anything to help their employees succeed. 



What is the best part of working at the company?
The wages at their top rate is decent, that is the only good thing about this company.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Every part of the working day is stressfull at this company. From the continous policy changing, to mean and rude co- workers to ever demanding slue of managment and the rude and demanding customers( because they own the company)   Abuse of every sort is rampant.  They have a union at this company but the union and management are in cahoots with each other so they get away with abusing union members and screwing them over by not supporting the people they are meant to support.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
If you rock the boat or give your opinion you WILL be fired, demoted or serverly punnished. This company is cut throat and everyone is forced to look out for number one, this goes from the bottom all the way to the  top.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
They worked you as hard as they could, all day every day.

Okay place to work. Pay isn't terrible, it's what you'd expect from a grocery store. They are all about memberships so that's a big thing they push for. They seem like they want to be Superstore, but their prices sure can't compete. Some of the staff are great people to work with and friendly. Some of the management could use some serious work. Some of them are really nice and friendly and others act like they're better than you because they're management. For example if you have past experience in your field it doesn't really matter because they won't promote or train you in other jobs, they'll just pick and choose who they want or they'll hire someone new just for certain jobs. Hours suck. Sometimes you could get 30+ and other times you could get 8. They only hire casual so you don't get sick pay. Personally I think if you work here it should only be until something else comes along. The last thing you want it's to get stuck there in a dead end position.

You get benefits eventually which are mediocre, but I mean at least you have some coverage. I saw a few people go the short time I was working there. Really bad management of schedules etc. Basically, you are selling your soul for 18/hr as a supervisor. Some individual stores might have better staff management because they are all individual. I was screamed at by coworkers on the job and belittled called stupid and dumb etc. The union doesn't seem to do much but from what I saw they were supportive of the individual using them at the time of them getting dismissed. I also feel that the standard of this one was held to a higher standard (which was good don't get me wrong) but it was not worth it getting screamed at over and talked to in an unprofessional manner.
TDLR; Bad management; Hyoerfixated on themselves instead of the job they have. Customers were always friendly and nice though. Goodluck booking a day off, even with an agreed-upon schedule it was dust in the wind after 2 weeks. 

In a growing competitive retail environment, Co-op has been faced with a challenge to distinguish itself from other competition when in years past, Co-op had a reputation for being a leader and being head and shoulders above other retailers for its customer experience and strong local community culture. 

With over 3000 employees, many long term, there is potential to steer the company in a positive direction if their voices/opinions were valued.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Cashier 4 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Produce clerk 5 salaries reported	$17.15 per hour
Front end associate 4 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour
Supervisor 4 salaries reported	$18.47 per hour
Grocery associate 4 salaries reported	$17.75 per hour

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