Typical union workers... That doesn't care about quality work. Everything is left to improvisation. Which is always shocking in a automated center that 95% of the work is already predetermined. I don't think they will be around for an other 10 years unless something is changed.The entire culture or mentality has to change. Business has slowed down and not picking up. They tend to say otherwise with their numbers which is not totally accurate but being there you just know and feel something isn't right. You will never have advancement. It will take 25 years of service to even pray to gain anything remotely reasonable. Meaning good insurance , salary , schedule, you name it until then you are #300 waiting in line. Someone can jump you over also. There's no guarantee that you will be next in line. Someone with less experience can jump ahead of you out of hypocrisy. Which always caused tension. Some folks would get new roles in the company and others will complain that they waited for the same opportunity for 5 years. They would still give it to the guy with 1 year of experience instead. Just because they didn't like the guy.
The warehouse itself had lots of potential let's face it is state of the art you are in awe for your first 3 hours there really.Then the big picture settles in in a you slowly see that everything is ruined by old timers holding the youth back & holding to their glory days and benefits. Speaking of the union. It is solely built around old working pa
I started working part-time in the bakery shortly after I began my first semester at college. After baking for Tim Hortons for nearly three years prior to this job, it seemed like a vacation getaway in comparison. 30 minutes for lunch? Not having to strategically plan out bathroom breaks? It was like a dream come true.
Alas, all shops have their problems and Sobeys is no exception. I'm very fortunate to be a quick learner, and someone who is confident in my decisions. My training was very brief and unfortunately I had to make a lot of educated guesses as to how things should be done when I was working by myself. After being there for over a year, I'm 100% comfortable with any task I should happen to carry out, but the first couple of months were interesting. I see this trend continue as I train new employees, and have taken it upon myself to type up instructions or reminders to make the process of closing easier for the poor 16 year-olds who have only had 3 training shifts (closers work alone.)
Selling specialty items is my favourite part of this job, especially helping customers order their ideal cakes and desserts based on the occasion. It allows me to talk to the customer, offering them ideas and explaining what we're able to do for them in terms of custom desserts; it's quite fun, really. I've asked to be trained on actual cake decorating many times, but for now I just write on birthday cakes when requested.
The job as a whole is physically demanding but nothi
ProsGood environment, nice customers, fun job, tasty samples.
ConsNot enough hours, disorganized, "fend for yourself" atmosphere.
I worked as a part-time cashier in Sobeys for a year and a half. I was never given any employee discounts or benefits of any kind, never given even the slightest opportunity for advancement, and outlasted 4 front end managers. I was never given a proper schedule for breaks, we were always short staffed, I started to work full time hours while attending school full time, and I was only 16 at this point. Not only did the Sobeys store I worked for disobey so many labour laws, but it seems they refused to keep the store to sanitation standards (cockroaches everywhere, not to mention the state of the meat section).
The store I worked for has one of the highest turnover rates in all of Ontario, maybe even Canada. They would call me to work every day and punish me if I refused to come in by cutting my pre-scheduled shifts, they even called me to come in and work during my vacation with my family, outside of North America. Even after taking a vacation, my weekly hours were cut from a healthy 20-25 to a measly 5, maybe 8. This is when I sought out a new job.
The store manager mistreated the staff by yelling vulgar remarks at them and customers would complain to me or my superior that we were being exploited as employees. The front end managers were never properly trained and never took full responsibility, usually blaming the part timers for mistakes they made, or even stealing from the store. If a customer were to approach one of my superiors with a complaint that is completely irr
Prosmeet new friends (other employees that quit after only a few months)
Conslong shifts with no breaks, no benefits of any kind, unsanitary, exploitative treatment, you could not pay me enough to ever do this job again.
I've been a team member for Sobeys Rsc for almost 5 years now. I started as a temp and got hired as a part time then became full time. The job was easy enough and there's a lot of overtime hours for the graveyard shift order selectors. I'm in a different department now and it's a steady 40 hour week job.
Work life balance wise is not great since most the employees under 10 years will work night shift.
Relationship between Management can be a hit or miss. They will treat you right if you're willing to kiss their behind and be their work dog. (Voluntold) Management appears to train their favorite "dogs" first although the warehouse is unionize and has a seniority list. The management wont fire or demote employees that constantly hit the racking, or won't meet the ELS.
I do not care what other people says about Sobeys Rsc. Over the years ,it looks like that it became the retirement home of elderly people. I haven't seen the company hire young people. The new team members lack training, they keep bumping into things, they don't know where they are going and they put their pallets in the wrong staging lane.
Job culture is poor the warehouse is toxic. The warehouse is full of tell tales and backstabs. The supervisors have their favorites. The warehouse has a high rate of employee turnover. Lots of employees are on modified duties for a long period of time (Trust me when I say a long period of time) Senior employees hoard all the overtime even though there's less work. The re
Cons"Family Nurturing Families" (if you know, you know)
I have worked for Sobeys for 22 yrs putting in countless hours because I loved what I did, and when Safeway was purchased the writing was on the wall. In the last 5 yrs all Sobeys top personal have been let go and replaced with Safeway personal, this all started when a Vice President was appointed with a Safeway background not knowing the Sobeys culture and proceeded to, one by one bring their so called crew over removing Sobeys personal from high level, D.O's down to store management and this falls squarely on Sobeys for allowing this to happen. A Company that at one time believed In their people has turned a company that actually cared to now utter chaos . I have served many roles over the years and have been extremely happy then I was influenced by Safeway personal, let's not forget all Sobeys people are gone unless u have the last name Sobey, to jump from the Sobeys banner to the Safeway banner with promises of the short training required to having store of your own, promises Promises plus a wage cut.... Now who does that ??? Safeway people filling employees with pipe dreams.
I brought with me my Sobeys culture and attitude, look after your people and they will I turn look after your business, be kind to one another yet hold people accountable, guide them, coach them and do what ever it takes to take an employee from where they are to where they want to be, and never let go until you can sleep at night knowing you have done everything you can to help those employees s
Fun and Entertaining place with Fun Picnics and Activities for Employees
Working with Sobeys was a great experience for me. When I tell my friends, family, (and even customers), what I do typically, they are in disbelief that my job is so easy, fun, and worthwhile. This is due to the fact all I do in my shifts are cut vegetables, fruits, and package trays for picnics. When I go into work, I say hello to my co-workers, talk to my manager about if there is anything new going on (specials) and see what I should help with if I finish early. After talking to my employer, I go into my area, pick the fruits I need, and get chopping. From doing this cycle, I have learned patience, consistency, and enhanced my customer service skills. My management is amazing, and they really helped me to understand what goes on with Retail, and assisted me in my education. The co-workers in my department have become some of my closest friends. We get our work done early because of how fun we keep the environment. We invite customers to play little games with us, and help them find their items in a special way each time. For example, a lady was looking for a type of lettuce that was no longer available at our store, but I helped her in picking out 3 different types of lettuces, for making a Garden salad, by listing things she enjoys eating in a salad. This would be the hardest part of the job because I don't always understand a customer, or have a certain item available for a tray. Sometimes, I don't always have any of the items necessary for an order, so I take the respon
Prosfun work environment, friendly staff, company outings.
Conslong hours
3.0
Customer Service Associate / Cashier | Canada | Oct 22, 2015
5 Years As A Student
I spent five years working at the Sobeys in my hometown. To begin, I was a cashier. I cannot say that at the age of 16 I was a stellar employee, I was involved in a time consuming sport and required a lot of time off. As the years progressed though, I did commit more time to the store because of financial needs during and shortly after university.
However, I found that I was unable to move out of a student role- I was rarely given more than 15 hours per week (inconvenient shifts of sometimes just 3 hours at night). Only when I offered to work midnights during the one night a week that they needed coverage, did I get extra hours. The scheduling seemed very skewed towards providing the older ladies the most convenient shifts- ie in the mornings. When I moved about 20 minutes away from the store I was sharing a car with my spouse. I requested that I work in the mornings or in longer shifts so that I wouldn't have to ride my bicycle for 40 minutes to get to work. This request was not accommodated, I was often scheduled in the middle of the day, sometimes for just 3 hours at a time.
I seized an opportunity to move into the salad bar. The cashier's manager was openly annoyed by this and I was told by other staff that she made many upsetting comments behind my back.
The salad bar was a whole different experience. The work and coworkers were much more enjoyable. However, the position was very stressful and had high turnover. Corporate set standards that we were consistentl
Prosflexibility- good for students or those looking for a small amount of hours
Conslow pay, low hours, high stress depending on dept.
If you want to work here be prepared to have a company care more about the money they make compared to your mental health.
When I first started working for Sobeys I was really excited. I got told I would be trained as we went on since I was in Floral. At the time I had a boss who was very nice and understanding. That boss ended up transferring stores and that's where everything went downhill. The new boss came in expecting me to know everything (even though I was not trained properly) this caused this boss to have high expectations that I could not meet. At the beginning of this year I was pulling full time hours. When corona hit I was forced onto the cash for grocery (without being trained) this was a lot for me to handle since I wasn't used to that department and the work load it had. I explained this to the store manager I said I would work anywhere needing help. Cash was just too much. They automatically cut my hours to nothing. I was out of my job for 2 months. When I returned my department was just opening up and my hours were cut in half... It was a bit before I was almost at my regular hours until the students came back from college. Then my hours got cut to less than part time (I moved out on my own and have bills that 4 hours a week will not pay for) my boss knew my situation and still cut my hours and gave them all to a student. I asked for an explanation but never received one until I did something wrong. The store manager and my boss pulled me into the office and bullied me, called me all these names and told me the reason for my cut hours was I didn't do the job properly. Which I di
ProsThere aren't really any honestly.
ConsStore managers, department managers, no discount, rude atmosphere.
Great people to work with, but low wages and horrible hours
Just started working for Sobeys this past fall. Was off of work for a few years due to a disability and needed to get back to work ASAP for financial reasons and this was the first job I applied for. Very disappointed with the wage. Hard to live on $10 an hour and work part time. But I was warned by management that I would get any where from 18-23 hours a week. I am actually averaging from 15-20 hours, work every Saturday and Sunday. Some Sundays, I would only come in for 4 hours! Kind of a waste, when I take the bus and takes me an hour to get to the store and 2 hours to get home on a Sunday. 3 hours of travel to work only 4 hours lol. Thankfully at Christmas, it picked up to 32-38 hours/week.
But management expects a lot from you for only $10/h. Sometimes management will come up to me with a whole list of stuff to get done, when there is less than 2 hours remaining on my shift. Here I am running my butt off to get it done, when everyone else is dragging there butts. I feel that since I am the newest employee there, I have to work a little harder to make a better impression.
My co-workers are a great bunch of people. Always friendly and make my job more enjoyable to attend. If I am uncertain about where things go or how things work, they are very helpful.
The hardest (s) part of the job is when it's slow and no stock to put out, usually a 6 or 8 hour day on a Saturday. All I do is face shelves and look at my watch every 10 minutes, swearing at it because time is going so
Prospeople i work with
Conshourly wage, p/t hours
1.0
Customer Service Associate / Cashier | Fort McMurray, AB | Jul 19, 2020
Gong Show without rules.
I have worked for Sobeys Thickwood for many years, and I overall enjoyed my time there. The staff were generally friendly and I liked talking to them, joking around, and the family like atmosphere. A typical day work for me was removing moldy, bad, unpleasant looking produce from the shelves and rotating product so older product was sold first. Cleaning bulk bins, cleaning display cases, making sure department was free of garage and clean looking. I've learned a lot, most importantly how terrible the place to work. Store manager is a terrible person, she is very rude, condescending, judgemental, aggressive, and a bully. The way she treats the assistant produce manager (who should be the department manager) is disgusting. She is rude to him, gossips about him, tells people not to listen to him when he knows more the actual produce manager who doesn't even know her own job very well or at all. Her treatment of one of the courtesy clerks is horrible too, she has belittled him in front of customers and staff. Her behavior is unprofessional, like when she called someone up to the general office with a room full of people and asked them in a rude and judgemental way why said person was on POF. Favoritism is blatant and obvious, despite store manager insisting she treats everyone the same (she doesn't). Moral around the store is low or non-existent, most people are there just for a pay check and nothing more. It's oppressive and like a totalitarian regime run by a dictator who can t
ProsMost staff was cool, like to joke around to lighten the dark mood inside.
ConsStore manager is terrible, managment is not very cohesive and doesn't function well
Questions and answers about Sobeys
Why did you leave your job at Sobeys?
Asked Mar 21, 2017
Extremely poor management. Nightmarish HR department. S**ual harassment not taken at all seriously.
Answered Jul 31, 2020
Thickwood Sobeys is a chaotic mess, unprofessional and run by a school bully all grown up. No one is treated fairly if you are not in store manager's good books, even if you end up in her bad books you never know why as communication there is non-existent. She never tells you what you did ever. Managers seem to have their own set of rules while everyone else is supposed to follow a set of rules that changes daily so no one ever knows why they are written up, berated or yelled at. I remember hearing one employee being berated because she told a customer that we don't price match, Store Manager told said employee "never tell a customer no". There was a disagreement. When said employee asked "do we price match?", store manager said "no". Like all that drama for a simple "no". It's ridiculous. The favorites game is clearly played, one close manager basically was grooming young, female cashiers and yet he got a slap on the wrist when it violated Sobeys policy. The place is like a circus without a ring master, just a clown in charge. Don't apply there.
Answered Jul 27, 2020
What would you suggest Sobeys management do to prevent others from leaving?
Asked Mar 21, 2017
Nothing for now people will always move on
Answered Apr 4, 2022
I'd tell Thickwood Sobeys management to grow up and not act like a dictator. Don't tell new employees not to listen to certain staff members you don't like. Quit playing favorites, we all know you do blatantly and obviously. Stop disrespecting your employees and treat them fairly.
Answered Jul 19, 2020
What should you wear to an interview at Sobeys?
Asked Mar 10, 2017
Safety shoes
Answered May 3, 2019
Basic black dress pants, white collar shirt and black shoes and you're good to go
