The management at this company is not one that you would want to work for. There is flagrant sexism and favoritism among a slew of other problems.
Management will openly select favorites and as such, will give them easier tasks during shifts, talk to them in a more respectful manner, and allow small perks such as more leniency in time frames involving tasks. Generally if you are not on a manager or team leader's 'good' list? You're basically finished and can expect to be treated as garbage during your time at the company.
When it comes to the division of labor, if you are a male, prepare to be used for the jobs that no one else wants to do. Immediately if there is a garbage can overflowing or someone spilled a drink on the floor; expect to be called if you're a male. Female employees (at least at my location) are never made to perform maintenance tasks despite there being over triple of them in number when put in comparison to male employees. This issue stems to another involving the labor involved in your job description.
If you sign up as a front of house worker in customer service or cashier services, be prepared to do merchandising and garbage clean up for other departments. The list continues on.
Overall, join for the half decent pay check but be prepared to be worked to the bone even outside of your job description as well as a toxic work environment with managers who will slander you whenever given half the chance. Remember that if you're applying to Wh
Whole Foods being a specialty grocer was a great place to work as a Cashier and engage with customers. But work quality of life has seriously gone down the toilet - literally. Now Cashiers are no longer considered Customer Service and instead lumped with Maintenance workers into a new department called Store Support, and guess what this means? Yes Cashiers are now expected to clean toilets, empty garbage bins and wash floors, and handle food in the same shift. So do not expect if you are hired as a Cashier to be treated as a Customer Service professional that the company sees as the front line person that customers engage with, you are now Store Support and not Customer Service and your job now includes Custodial work even if you did not agree to this change in your job description. Also, Health and Safety is a joke and half the staff have repetitive stress injuries due to complete ignorance of workstation and ergonomics standards in the industry. Furthermore, they ignore employee well being in scheduling by always over or under scheduling you and most of the time also being short staffed. And they often have you close at 10:30pm and open the next morning at 8am. The only redeeming quality of WFM is the coworkers. But do not expect to see them around very lomg as there is a high turnover and retention is not valued at all whatsoever.
ProsCoworkers, Customers, Supervisors do their best despite now bad corporate culture
ConsBe prepared to clean toilets and work full 8 hour Maintenance shifts as a cashier, Disposable employees, Short staffed
The workplace is not productive and no fun to work with.
The location I was in Yorkville was chaos. I mean, the team leader in Prepared Food Department was totally disorganized, and the team members were bullying each other almost everyday. No respect to each other. The wages I got was fair and the benefits as well. But the workplace attitude was so poor that so unprofessional and ignorant. Prepared Food Service Department was the bad department in all departments at Whole Foods in Yorkville location. The team leader always tell me that, "I don't believe in RESPECT" to each other, you have to deserved to be respected. I don't know what she mean by that. In this case I loss a respect to her too. She doesn't care, she just thinking of money. She said, in our huddles sometimes, its good working in Whole Foods it pays the mortgage. That's a bad attitude whatever call it. It throws me out, that's personal, keep it to yourself. I was so disappointed to this Prepared Food Department team leader and some or few team members because they were bullies. The team leader keep hiring and the team members keep quitting because its hard emotionally working there. There's no control of emotion, not to mention the job also physical so when emotional and physical job combined it kills the person, so they quit. But many employees stays because they were afraid if they cannot find a job. They just work for money, no learning involve. No promotions, you are stuck in one place forever if you just think of the wages.
Do you enjoy working late hours and evenings? Missing fun times with your family and friends? Being bullied by upper management? Dedicating your life to putting products on shelves so the company can make as money as possible while you struggle to survive with your minimum wage? Then working at Whole Foods Market is for you!
Once upon a time, Whole Foods Market (WFM) was a mystical place that took care of their employees, offered them amazing benefits and set them up for success. Now, WFM is owned by Amazon. Elaborating more on Amazon would be a waste of my time, do your own research about this company and their plan to take over the world. Unreal expectations, adding more duties and responsibilities than what you are paid for and management breathing down your neck about the store being "perfect" according to their program Order To Shelf (OTS). In theory this program makes sense, for a robot but for humans the expectations are mostly unachievable unless you want to dedicate your life to WFM.
This was once a great company to work for. Amazon has ruined the culture and turned WFM into the Walmart of health food stores. Do yourself a favour and shop at the locally owned, small business health food stores and engage with people that care about their jobs and how they can help you (Goodness Me, Organic Garage and Nature's Emporium). Rather than the ones that are concerned about putting as much product on shelves as possible.
I would recommend this job for anybody who is all about organic food and healthy living, a student, or someone who needs some extra income, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I care about.
Good short term work. Starting pay is above minimum wage, you get 20% off everything in store and you can work that up to 30% off with healthy lifestyle choices. Coworkers are top notch people, you have to have two-thirds of the department vote yes to get the job. Health and dental for full-timers, gainsharing (pay bonuses) every two weeks gives you extra money based on your hours worked. Paid vacation for FT, plus 5 paid days off, and 5 non-paid days to spend time with family.
Downsides: while about 97% of the customers are generally great people, that leftover 3% is full of narcissistic, entitled, "me-me-me" attitude jerks who may eventually suck the life out of you; a lot of this job is about making that 3% happy, even if it comes at the expense of your own sanity. Also the work environment is generally geared towards who are the favourites. Doesn't matter how long you work there, people with less seniority can get promoted up and pay raises before you do.
I'm too lazy to keep going. Bottom line is it pays my bills, but I'm leaving soon.
Pros20-30% discount, health & dental, paid vacation & days off
Its a front....not ethical...i was told one thing and the reality was something different altogether
-as a company with a structure and general information guide...I was absolutely shocked with the way team leaders and team members carried themselves
-the vote-in thing was probably a good concept at one time but its gone off the rails obviously
-turn over was unreal
-people wanted to quit, step down to part time and transfer after 6 months
-favoring those who did not much for the business
-dept, hours were cut but secret call-ins were made to do favors
-poor conditions
-no supervision
-poor standards
-no follow through
-when members had issues they were threatened through back door tactics
-anyone would train you/ bully you/ snap on you for no reason
there was no real training
-if you got hurt there was no proper protocol and you were treated differently
-no gain sharing
-poorly managed in some dept's
-this was a company i researched and shopped at for years and the moment i signed up and got to the dept. i heard nothing but warnings and wonderment as to why i left what i did for that job by the team that i was hired into...nothing but complaints about how badly it was run as well
-will not buy food there ever again
it was a very unfortunate and disappointing experience....not nice
5.0
Customer Service Representative | Oakville, ON | Aug 25, 2014
It really is great
Whole Foods Market is not your typical store. You've meet all kinds of people. You hear all kinds of things. Everyday is unique to say the least. I have to say that I am completely blessed to work with the people that I work with. It's a family. How could it not be? You spend most of your life there. If you're comfortable going to work then you will enjoy going to work. That's always important. Creating a good relationship with a person you work with is so very important. Something I will always try to do.
I've been through absolutely everything that you can imagine.
Thanksgiving - all registers shut down. Can't be fixed. 500 people staring at you. What do you do? Whatever you can do. Sample, apologize, run around and accommodate as many people the best that you can. Pray that someone, somewhere is fixing the issue asap! We made it through that day somehow. I have to admit it was one of the best days of working there.
I've learned a lot about people, retail, management and myself. There's so much I feel like I can do in the world because not one person I have ever worked with in this company has ever told me I couldn't do it.
ProsTeam members, fun events, discount, benefits, food, education
Overall, I give Whole Foods Market every bit of credit for elevating the value of sustainability. WFM changed the way we think about food; changed our buying habits and made some of us more conscientious about what we consume. Amazing!
Easy to do your job when every decision is measured against a strong company mission, quality standards and clear values. I really liked that about WFM.
Enjoyed reporting to the Regional President at the time - very empowering and made work fun. But odd culture; couldn't put my finger on it. Corruption. Smart, passionate people but some a bit two-faced.
My passion for being a contributor to the company's vision made me blind to some of the internal obstacles. I started out loving it and left with a bad taste in my mouth. In spite of it all, came away with invaluable skills and life lessons. Also learned a good deal about my professional boundaries.
I keep in touch with a few ex-pats who feel the same way.
P.S. Make sure the benefits they offer fit your lifestyle. I found the non-traditional holiday/vac + health insurance offering extremely incompatible with my life - and expensive.
If I were to say that there is a lack of management in the produce department it would be an understatement. They couldn't handle a shot of peach schnapps let alone handle a department properly. Management is unreliable in giving you the equipment, training and people needed to do the job. But when you confront them about problems they will give pathetic excuses that they have been using since they were five years old or just straight up lie to you. They are just a bunch of yes men who have know idea how to think for themselves. They have no communication, problem solving or people skills. Management wants you to sell your soul and bleed Whole Foods green in order to get ahead. They will expect things from you that they themselves can't or don't know how to do. Favoritism is so bad to the point where some team members just do whatever they want knowing that there will be no consequences.
The inferior management, absence of responsibility and accountability in the produce department is something that should be avoided unless you are very desperate.
Worked as the dishwasher part-time. Good job for part-time. I liked the pay and as part-time, you can work this job after your classes at school are finished or if you're just looking for a part time job. When you are comfortable, you can request to work in the kitchen full-time as the prep cook or food packaging clerk. The store managers are good with fulfilling requests like broken machine and refilling equipment. Hardest part of the job is finishing up the dishes at closing time because the dishwasher is often asked to help out in the kitchen, which means pans and cookware will pile up in the dishroom. The supervisor has not worked in the dishroom before, so expect a lack of empathy from supervisor, so make a few friends in the kitchen so that you can ask the kitchen crew to help out during closing time.
Prosthe pay per hour is high compared to other businesses. workers are friendly.
Consasked to do other kitchen side-jobs resulting in your own work falling behind, sometimes another dishwasher will call in sick and you will be called to come in, no health insurance coverage for part-time
“Whole Foods is a lot like communism, it started with a nice idea in theory but in practice... ehh“
Whole Foods, organic bliss; the land of hemp milk and honey. A paradise for shoppers, if you look the other way on spending $20 for a salad that you could have made for $5.
Whole Foods is like Vegas. You go there to feel good but you leave broke and disoriented. Though everyone hates to love “Whole Paycheck”, as an employee, I quickly just flat out hated it.
Ok hate is a strong word, there are far worse jobs out there, I’ll just say once being employed there, I felt massively mislead.
The chill hippy vibe I had hoped to find wasn’t totally absent but often punctuated by crazy, demanding, inflexible, customers and leadership.
Whole Foods: Green Sheen Machine. Don’t be fooled by their earth-tone interior, granola/hipster/yogi hybrid ambiance. It’s a facade, they’re a corporation out for the other green.
A greenwashing company uses buzzwords like 'sustainability' and 'community'— words which are plastered all over every surface in a Whole Foods.
As an employee this veil of hippy camaraderie was lifted, exemplified by many things, one of which being:
RULES:
The long list of nit-picky, no-budge, hair-splitting, pedantic rules which they strictly enforce. This rule has since been changed, but when I worked there employees could not color their hair any color that was “unnatural”. I had 4 very small purple highlights that I got an actual warning for. But another e
ProsDiscount
ConsCouldn’t afford to shop there, even with discount.
5.0
Food Preparation Worker | Danbury, CT | May 27, 2014
I enjoy going to work, great atmosphere, people, food and mission.
Typical day: Providing services on the Chef's case (Cold items produced by kitchen staff and sold by counter staff) and Deli (Applegate and Wellshire items along with a great deal of in house items) More experienced members bounce back and forth between deli, CC, pizza and burger as needed. Kitchen staff will assist on the CC and other stations in a pinch.
Management:
There is a great deal of support between staff and supervisors. Everybody is on the same page and communicates well. We are sale focused, but in an excited way, as we have monthly profit sharing and half of us make the food - doing well feels like a good reflection on our ability and makes us extra pay. The supervisors also communicate with each other very well. We have a CIA chef as our head, he expects a lot from each individual in a way that shows confidence in our abilities as part of the team and is very understanding with scheduling and requesting days off.
Hardest part: Deep cleans and closing shifts. Tardiness.
Taking apart the cases all the way down to the fans and cleaning everything to the bone on Sundays and generally taking the place apart at night. The food is beautiful and elaborately displayed and it takes everyone to break it down at night - but everyone helps everyone including in the dish room until we are all set - then everyone goes home at once. This might mean staying over your shift, just be prepared. But hey, no one wants to stay late so it usually gets done pretty fast
ProsFlexible schedule, career classes and advancement opportunities, co-workers, atmosphere, cross-training, working with vendors
ConsYour job requires a detailed knowledge of products which can be intimidating.
Biggest disappointment in my entire job history.. Please reconsider applying here!
I was so excited when I got hired here but man, oh man, I could tell immediately they were very understaffed and mismanaged. My first few days there, I had NO management training or guidance. I was stuck in a room for hours doing training videos, and then I would be pulled out to go wrangle carts and bring them in. I was very confused but I wasn't mad about getting to move my legs and get active. Then, that's all they had me do for almost 2 weeks straight. I was hired as a cashier, and I hadn't ANY training in this two weeks. I also had an injury that I made every manager aware of, which made it hard for me to push carts, but I did it anyways. Since the first day, I didn't get introduced to all the management and who I should report too, and when I asked, I received a different answer every time, or it was someone I was not introduced to. I had no one I could talk to about job help or anything in general. When I tried to interact with the other cashiers, they treated me like I was trash. The girls all looked at me like I was a nobody, and were very curt and rude with their responses, and the guys just treated you like you were invisible. I had no guidance for my time at Whole Foods, and when I tried to talk to one manager, she brushed everything off and honestly, she made me feel worse, like I was the problem. I felt a pit in my stomach every time I walked into those doors, which really sucked because I adore Whole Foods and all they stand for, but it was a really awful exper
Started out promising, but some shady stuff going on.
I recently worked at the Altamonte Springs location in the prepared foods department, and at first everything seemed okay. I got sufficient training, and I was doing a good job. It was very simple, I have a cooking background, so it was very laid back than the line cook work environment that I was used to. However, things took a turn for the worse when I was told that I was doing things wrong, even though I had specific training from someone that knows what they are doing, and then to be told in front of customers at the hot bar that all of what I was doing is wrong, and just making me feel so small in front of guests. And I was angry and said that I was frustrated with how this conversation was being had, and I've been working here for weeks and then all of a sudden you guys tell me I'm doing something wrong? So that was weird. The management, including one of their supervisors, are a joke. They started out really nice and had that whole "we're a family here" facade. But it quickly faded when their true colors came out. I was in my probation period, so the rules are strict about missing work, I know. But I had a really bad, infected impacted wisdom tooth, and it had to be removed because it was interfering with my overall health. So I communicated that with my managers, and I was able to get days approved to get it taken care of. And that it was no issue, they would cover the shifts and I could get my tooth taken care of. Not even two weeks after that, me and my partner had
● Work-life balance
The hours are only available to management favorites, regardless of how much time is needed to actually finish a full day’s bake. There’s no quality check to leave all workstations clear for the next employee’s shift. Even if you do set yourself up for success, your work will be undone and your shift will begin with cleaning up after the last person who used your station. Management texts at random, even if you don’t consent to sending and receiving texts as a form of communication. There’s no balance because the work day is so stressful that it’s impossible to relax when you’re suffering from one day and dreading the next. They consider 32 hours full time.
● Pay & benefits
Pay is tricky, because you may get a good hourly rate, but you’re only working 32-35 hours, which reduces you’re salary overall significantly. Benefits are okay, insurance is pricey, sick pay is quick to accrue, but you will be punished for utilizing it - my manager even asked me inappropriate questions about my condition after I requested use of my earned sick time.
● Job security and advancement
Advancing is impossible under certain members of management. Skills and experience are undermined, priority for all positions are given based on favoritism, and even the favorites are taken advantage of. Training is minimal, they even have a trainer assigned to each team but they are treated like a free employee and they essentially just run errands for management.
● Management
Management i
1.0
Customer Service Associate / Cashier | Capitola, CA | Oct 13, 2020
Understaffed Amazon Prime Hellhole, Good Work Culture is Dead
Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Whole Foods Market is fine when staff levels aren't critical, but Amazon keeps slashing our labour budget, making management ask for more hours, then just scheduling you over avalibility and hoping you ignore that and show up. Keep an eye on Kronos. They'll also throw out your avalibility sheet if they think they can get away with it. Shifts are getting more intense, burnout is regular.
Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Whole Foods Market are good, but slowly getting worse. They have a 401k.
Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Whole Foods Market, I think that no one can ever get fired unless they don't show up on time. Stay as long as you'd like, but be prepared to share your workplace with other unfireables.
Management
In general, managers at Whole Foods Market are incompetent and petty. They lie to eachother and to their employees, and are never to blame for their mistakes. There are a few good ones in there but many of them have left, or are planning to.
Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Whole Foods Market is great. Only thing that is good about this place is the coworkers, but many of the best ones are quitting, I'll soon be honored to follow in their footsteps.
Overall
My experience working at Whole Foods Market is mixed. I professionally grew there, I made so many fun memories and I know what a good workplace can be. I loved that individuality was supported and encouraged, that every store ha
Great company, good job depending on your team and team leaders
Great place to work if you like your job. One of the best retail grocery jobs around. Some of the company guidelines and procedures are stupid but its worth the money.
I had to quit due to my impossible manager and my girlfriend having been on my team and myself in general is kinda emotional and impulsive. but that's besides the point...? haha
*Don't date someone in the same department, work hard, talk less, and you should be good.
Its a retail environment so if you don't like customers and having to fake relationships with co-workers than get a solitary job.
The hardest part of my job was staying happy at work. I get a bit down some days and when you work a repetitive job its easy to feel low. For the most part though I worked my butt off and truly had a good 1.7 years at this place.
Frankly wish I could have stayed but to be honest some things about the place also allow me to accept that I no longer work there. I had a few past friends who worked there and it got stale doing the whole "yeah we should chill sometime soon" "how have you been" thing that past friends do but never actually go hang out. As well as having had my brother work there before me and having people always ask me about him as soon as they saw me "hey so hows your brother doing?!" "why don't you call him and find out ..think of something actually creative to talk about instead of spitting out the first thing that comes to mind." haha
Other things that bummed me out was that half of the t
Prospay is a lot higher for lower skill positions compared to other stores, discount, fun meetings, meet friends, career advancement opportunities depending on skill and age and your team, learn a lot about food and the company itself, looks good on your resume, no drug tests
Conswhole foods procedures, customers can be stupid, some co-workers think they're cool as sharks and act all hipster, if not that you have to remain polite to people who are not to you, i recommend keeping stuff to yourself, bc its retail and rumors and gossip spread like crazy among bored workers, some managers dont follow the core values
In grocery, most days are filling stock, helping answer customer questions, walking customers to products, and maintaining the look of the store. It can be very fast paced as popular items sell out extremely fast, and you have to be ready to fill a hole. Depending on your shift, you may be more focused on throwing load which will involve a lot of lifting and carrying, or restocking shelves as they deplete during the day. There is not a lot of idle time, so the day can pass quickly.
Management is some of the best in all retail, but your mileage will vary. (Personally, I have a so-so manager, and I get a little envious of the departments that have better managers.) But the self-empowering corporate culture trickles down. Many times they are very hands off--initially it surprised me that team members coordinated their own lunch breaks instead of being told when to go--but very helpful when you have questions. There is thorough multi-day training before you step onto the sales floor--typically two to three days. (Out of all my retail jobs, only two of them had significant training sessions--Whole Foods and the Apple Store.)
Coworkers are great and very interesting, tho this will depend on where you work as well. (My store has two colleges close by, so most team members are young students.) They'll typically be very helpful, even when from another department; spills are common and ANY team member nearby will usually stop what they're doing immediately to help out.
The gro
ProsGreat corporate culture, great coworkers, so much food, very easy-going management
Conscan be very physical work, can get crowded, better pay than average retail but not by much
I got in before the Amazon takeover and saw a glance of what the company once was. When I first started I thought I was going to make this company my career. The pay was good and raise at first were good. When it was raised to $15 entry level it was great. Most of the coworkers are great, my direct TL is tough but fair and cares about us. Despite all that I'm looking for the door. The company progressively expected more and more from the workers, while cutting was our labor to bare minimum. They want us to work at a fast, robot pace in my department. We work almost every holiday and tend to hurt myself at least once a year from having to go so fast during a rush. It takes months to get rid of bad employees. Uneven expectations from certain employees, good employees just expected to make up work from bad. You get one 30 min. break in a shift but often are so busy you forget or can't use it. Training is hit and miss, some departments over trained and others are thrown in after a day and expected to just figure it out. The covid response was good at first compared to the rest of the industry, but quickly became bad. People are allowed to walk in maskless, rules broken constantly. The temp station is a joke the infrared camera temps people 90-95 degrees making it virtually impossible to be turned away. Covid outbreak spring up constantly from the relaxed rules. It's almost impossible to soical distance often you work shoulder to shoulder with people. You can feel how little the
ProsPaid 30 min breaks, great starting pay, pleasant coworkers
ConsNo benfits for PT, hard to get FT, overworkerd, bad covid response, corporate expect too much
don't work here if you care about your mental health
if you're thinking of working here, DON'T. i work as an in-store shopper and to whole foods, that's basically the bottom of the barrel. management makes you think that they care about you but in reality, those are all lies. according to work policy, one only gets 3 days off in a 30 day period. that may seem fine but in retrospect, it's quite hard to track. it doesn't matter if those absences are excused or unexcused, it doesn't matter if you're sick, it doesn't even matter if a relative or close friend passes - YOU WILL GET WRITTEN UP. that's exactly what happened to me. once I explained to them why I missed over 3 days, they basically said they didn't care and that it's store policy and they have to be fair to everyone. shouldn't a family-related issue be its own spectrum? death and illness are extremely unpredictable, as we have seen with this whole global pandemic. why should I have to worry about losing my job more than having to miss a funeral because I'll get written up if I go? managers will also make themselves seem friendly and caring as they have expressed that they have an "open-door policy". yet every time I ask my supervisor for help with something, they always give me an attitude and make it seem like I'm being a burden for asking. also THEY NEVER WANT TO HIRE ANYBODY. we're extremely understaffed and every time we have expressed that we wish to have more people on the team, they never want to do anything about it. if you're wondering why every time you apply to
Prospay
Conseverything
Questions and answers about Whole Foods Market
How often do you get a raise at Whole Foods Market?
Asked Nov 27, 2022
1 a year
Answered Jun 6, 2023
yearly
Answered Jun 2, 2023
How often do raises occur at Whole Foods Market?
Asked Oct 7, 2020
Once a year
Answered May 4, 2023
Outside of what they call job dialogues, which are your yearly reviews which will get you anywhere from a quarter to a $1, the only other way would be from internal promotions in your department or store, ie supervisor, buyer, team leam
Answered Mar 12, 2023
If you were to leave Whole Foods Market, what would be the reason?
Asked Jun 27, 2018
Over worked, under paid, micromanaged, timed 10 min breaks, no work life balance, negative feed back no positive, stressful work environment, low team morale.
Answered Jun 21, 2021
The management is poor, lots of favouritism group are Very cliquey.
Job assignment is not well distributed, long hours and repetitiveness overall it’s pretty tame.
stay away if you value your health.
Answered Nov 25, 2019
How is feedback from management delivered at Whole Foods Market?
Asked Nov 16, 2020
During a job dialogue I was told "some of your fellow TM's find you difficult". My manager would not give me a specific example. I felt awful, and approached my fellow TM's directly. This resulted in a 'disciplinary action'. I submitted my two weeks notice that same day.
Answered May 13, 2023
Depends on the store and department
Answered Mar 12, 2023
What is Whole Foods Market holiday leave policy? How much holiday leave do you get per year?
