ALDI reviews

The company does not allow you scheduling requests. You are expected to be available from 5am-10pm every day. And you WILL be scheduled shifts that allow you less than 5 hours sleep. You are expected to load up on caffeine to get the done! Long hours in the freezer and cooler. Horrible food safety practices. As a rule, you never get a meal break. Legally mandated breaks are offered but managers are pressured to "fake" a break! The running joke.. A good ole "Aldi break" means you punch it into the computer timecard hours afterwards. If you do not take a break? The manager will manually edit your timecard the next day. If a manager thinks you stayed too late, they will sometimes "shave" your hours. This is because the store managers get bonuses that are affected by productivity metrics. It is extremely hard to advance beyond Store Manager. The company hires young, inexperienced college graduates for the district manager position. Some are eager, bright eyed and great to be around. They have a lot of pressure on them, so naturally they will give you lots of directives. But others are demeaning, abusive, and unrealistic. Salaries are uneven. Grandfathered employees make sometimes double what new recruits receive. New employees are LOCKED at 10.50/hr.(you will never get a raise). Bonuses DO NOT HAPPEN for non-GM's. Cultures and values? This company values PROFITS PROFITS PROFITS! Nothing more, nothing less. My next job will be in the public sector or at least in a non-privately held company. The company is succeeding on the strained backs of its lower level employees, while executives reap profits. Top level management is so culturally removed from the daily life at the stores... It's disgusting.

Where should I start? From Area Manager and above it is a very toxic environment. As a Store Manager you have so much pressure from above even if you are already working like a donkey daily. It is all about KPIs. No care about people. Area managers do not care how you achieve KPIs, you just have to achieve them in any possible way. You have to put yourself in grey areas to achieve them because they are so challenging and unrealistic. If you achieve them, the Area Manager is ok. If you do not, the intimidation and bullying behaviours start. They basically push you to even not follow the company policies to achieve them. But if an external audit comes well then they throw you under the bus pretending they do not know anything and sack you. I personally know 4 Store Managers that have been sacked or ill this year for stress or depression or bullying behaviour by their boss. It is just ridiculous.