Lidl reviews

Everything about working there is a disaster. 1) Management is a joke. In fact managers are either racist Europeans who never travelled or know anything about how companies in the USA operate or they are newly recruited college graduates from the USA who are in their early 20s and don't know crap about managing people. Based on their communication skills, their thought processes are clearly juvenile and no sensible adult would put up with that kind of crap. These newly graduates are paid at least twice as much as people with 10 years of retail experience in the industry. In fact they are the ones lording over the people with 10 years of experience. That’s right. These inexperienced managers are constantly asking people with experience how to do things, when they should be the ones with the knowledge as the manager. That's beyond insulting and downright unethical. Unless you're an old college professor that likes to be taught and/or learn from students do not step foot in LIDL. 2) The HR is even worse. They were terrible recruiters and known to screw up every employee's paycheck on a regular basis. People get underpaid and overpaid and if you don't read your paycheck thoroughly every time you are paid I guarantee you there is a mistake. I know people who have been overpaid by thousands of dollars and Lidl still have not caught on, so if you are a victim of being overpaid just zip it and Lidl won’t be the wiser. 3) Overseas training: They drag your rear to Europe last minute without advanced notice. When you are in Europe, they give you no company card and drag you to an unknown hotel in an unknown location where you have to pay to use the internet. The per diem is 30 dollars. For that amount you eat one and a half meals a day or buy cold sandwiches every day. There is no microwave, there is no fridge, and they will take away your measly per diem if you are booked in a hotel with either of these appliances. LIDL will refuse to pay for your breakfast in the hotel. Oh, and they won't even pay for your laundry which costs more than my entire utilities in DC right now. Working for any reputable USA company overseas guarantees you at least a minimum of $75 dollars per day for per diem, including additional costs for laundry, etc. I bet Wal-Mart employees have better per diems. Work environment: Have you seen Jersey Shore? You will notice a lot of flirting amongst managers (college graduates especially) and even relationships mixed in a professional environment. These people have the upper hand because they form groups and are manager level and above. They all go out drinking regularly and I've noticed promotions from within, nepotism, and all kinds of HR violations. If you're an experienced employee avoid at all costs working there. It will look bad on your portfolio and will negatively influence your lifestyle. Working at LIDL is like living in a frat house. Unless you want to be managed by an obnoxious and inexperienced frat kid or sorority girl avoid LIDL. Worst of all, they were still working on their policies when I left so they were inconsistent with their promises and would randomly tell you no for certain requests while they say yes to others. They even discriminate you based on your skin color, gender, etc by not promoting you. All that combined with 10-12 hour workdays and no overtime pay will make you feel like a blue-collar worker. You are better off working for McDonalds at this cost because they at least get overtime. Turnover: I still talk to some colleagues at Lidl and more than half the people that on-boarded with me have either been fired or left the company. Some have filed complaints with the EEOC. Does that not say something?

A company once ripe with potential and glowing with optimism is now on a very straight and narrow path to self-destruction in the short-term future, mainly due to its porous and inexperienced leadership. This place has slowly but gradually evolved into a complete and utter trainwreck and only gets worse by the day. The communication is absolutely terrible in all facets, internally among US employees and even more so when it comes to communication between the US and the European parent. Employees are given little direction from their line managers (oftentimes because the line manager has just as little knowledge as their direct report) and will often find themselves putting out fires and operating under extreme duress due to the severe lack of communication. Leadership is comprised of executives transplanted from Europe who exhibited no track record of success over there and are mostly unqualified to lead a company on any continent, especially one they have never resided in. They are completely out of touch with the American consumer and the American culture in general, yet they are tasked with saturating the US retail grocery market (good luck with that). The executives are nice enough on a personal level, but clueless when it comes to many facets of the business, yet they continue trudging forward in their confused, misguided stupor. Despite the good benefits and pay, HR is a complete disaster. The vast majority of the group leaves the office before 5 PM (even though business hours are until 6) and are completely useless in the event of any type of employee support. If you complain to employee relations, chances are they will do nothing to help you and might even rat you out to whoever you are complaining about or to management. Legitimate HR functions such as benefits and payroll are outsourced to third-party consultants, so if you have a question regarding anything HR-related you likely will not receive a response until a consultant informs the local HR team of the answer. There are a handful of helpful individuals in the department, but they are few and far between. The group is rather large so you will find it quite puzzling when trying to figure out how they pass their time during the workday. Other departments are not much better. The company is otherwise loaded with mostly 20-somethings who lack relevant work experience and are more concerned with partying and hooking up with their colleagues than they are with making the company a success. There are directors who spend their days browsing the Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn, typing personal emails from their Gmail, and shopping for clothes on Banana Republic and Bonobos while their employees drown in work that has been piled onto them. Since it is not often that anybody in a position of authority has the relevant experience or knowledge to discuss topics of most importance, you often find yourself on an island struggling to work through things and with nobody to bounce ideas off of or brainstorm. There is a running joke at this place that everybody has a shelf life, and that is absolutely the truth. If the company still exists 5 years from now, I would be shocked if 95% of the current employee base is still around, especially the executive board. Lidl has been highly successful across Europe and it is a novel idea to expand into the States, but the execution of it has been far from perfect to say the least. While you will receive good pay and benefits, it will not be long before you find this place to be completely intolerable and are doing everything you can to find an exit.