Whole Foods Employee Reviews

2.0

Grocery Clerk (Current Employee)

10.11.2023, Job Location: Denver, CO

The Union Station location (Testing Store) has a bad Grocery team. There are a few people in management who have shown that they care or have been helpful when it comes to production. However, the team leader and one of the associate team leaders are pretty much useless.

Management is always on vacation but leaves notes expressing that work needs to be done before the store opens. Even when only two employees are working, and a supervisor who barely works, standing around talking or doing the bare minimum but ready to leave instead of helping, forcing the work on other employees under the guise of most experienced.

I was warned by previous employees when I first started there that they expect a lot from you but the 60 cases per hour and case per minute is unrealistic especially if you're full-time working 5 days a week. All the employees I started with had either quit, moved departments, walked off, moved to the day shift, or were fired due to constant calling out. Multiple callouts weekly but nothing is done whenever you voice concern about being stressed or anxious doing specific work.

I've also dealt with nothing but rude managers, tattle tales from managers from other departments, and being forced to work when sick because of the policies involving time off and sick leave. I informed them I have disabilities these range from physical and mental health issues yet they won't acknowledge or respect my wishes when I state I don't want to do a certain task that is triggering or painful.

Don't do overnights at this location as training is nonexistent, some supervisors are lazy, talkative, and micromanaged. While team leaders have more time off and still are bitter, rude, miserable, and unhelpful to their employees

1.0

Cashier (Current Employee)

25.9.2023, Job Location: Philadelphia, PA

I'd rather nail myself to a cross than work here again.

Ultra corporate with long hours and nonstop rushes that just leave you feeling like a husk. Would be worth a darn if they actually paid a decent wage. The breaks you get don't change anything, and the customers could get a review of their own.

Coworkers were very nice but there's been moments of favoritism shown with management (apparently a common issue with other whole foods)

1/10 job sucks more than a hoover vac

2.0

Associate Team Leader (Current Employee)

22.7.2023, Job Location: Asheville, NC

The culture has taken a nose dive since Amazon bought us. It is absolutely disheartening to watch the corporate mentality breakdown a once conscious capital business.

They promise team member happiness yet cut labor, makes us work harder, and expects increase sales when they keep discontinuing items. The regional teams are completely out of touch at the store level. We are treated like peons and with no respect for work like balance.

I work anywhere between 5am and 10pm and get no regular sleep schedule.

3.0

Front End Cashier (Current Employee)

4.6.2023, Job Location: Raleigh, NC

I started working here in 2021 and it started out great. Managers were nice, pay was good, hours were great!

But as of now everything is getting worse. I went from having 32-36 hour weeks and now I’m lucky if I can even get 25. It’s sad to see all of my coworkers upset they can’t make a living. It’s great if you’re in high school and if you’re here full time.

5.0

Grocery Associate (Former Employee)

4.6.2023, Job Location: Columbia, MD

Work was easy, and the team was very supportive of each other.

The managers were very nice and always there to help you in the beginning. However, morning shift are harder to get and if you work for closing shift, you will most likely end up going home late as you need to unload all of the products on display to put them back in the refrigerator.

1.0

Prepared Foods Team Member (Former Employee)

10.5.2023, Job Location: Denver, CO

I worked at the busiest WFM in Denver (Cherry Creek) so maybe that was the reason I had a horrible time, but we were almost always understaffed with no support from management.

My trainer left me alone for hours on my first day serving customers and within the first week I was left with another new trainee to close the deli department despite neither of us knowing what to do. The turnover rate was pretty high, even with people who had previously worked there before.

Whenever I’d speak to my managers they’d either promise to help and never show up, or tell me to just “have confidence” that I was doing my job properly.

Working here was a miserable time for me and I highly do not recommend this position or location to anyone.

1.0

Team Member (Former Employee)

28.4.2023, Job Location: Whole Foods

Try a different whole foods. Every layer of management there is a joke. There is no flexibility and managers create a culture of passive aggressive favoritism and its sad. The pay is minimum wage for 2023 and needs to be hired. If you call out or are late you will be put on disciplinary action and you’ll never hear any positive feedback either way.

1.0

Cook (Former Employee)

8.4.2023, Job Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA

Seem like the only concern of the management there is their own advancement. It was a competition to see who could be promoted who could be in charge.

They promote managers to departments that they have no experience in just to promote them! Why would you have a kitchen manager that doesn't even know how to make a sandwich? Their whole public persona about peace love and happiness...

I didn't feel any peace or happiness there. In fact you're more likely to be in trouble all the time and it's going to be for doing stuff like working hard or someone who has never worked in a kitchen telling you how to do your job when you work in a kitchen. Pull you into the office once a week to be little you.

Bring up the same thing every single time and then tell you that you can't let the past go. It's a mind f*. There's a reason why they can't hold on to employees.

1.0

Dairy Order Writer (Former Employee)

3.4.2023, Job Location: Laurelhurst, OR

Whole Foods Market wants you to think their brand identity is separate from Amazon.

At the end of the day, they engage in the same practices which alienate employees, such as training them for higher level positions while refusing to promote them and expecting to perform higher level responsibilities without compensation or title to show for it.

Combine this with an impenetrable cliqueish culture and a "We Are A Family" corpo-speak and you get Whole Foods Market.

1.0

Worker

30.3.2023, Job Location: Chattanooga

Terrible place to work. I'm in Chattanooga and about to quit. The turnover rate at both stores here remains high. Let's look at some of the reasons why.

First, $15 an hour.

Second: There's a cleaning staff but if you close, you find yourself cleaning drains. There's a crew to help clean up messes on the floor throughout the day, but not to clean drains when the store closes, although they have a sanitation person there at the time who's cleaning other things. Why not just hire more cleaners? Oh, right, that costs money.

So, after the excessive paperwork to make sure the floor remains stocked with shit products, you're left alone to clean the drains when you close. Most closers end up alone for the shift dealing with everything.

Cleaning the workstation makes sense. Making sure the displays are clean makes sense. Scrubbing drain covers and the top part of each drain after mopping the floor is just the dumbest shit ever, especially given that there's a cleaning crew person on-site at the time.

Third: Health care is terrible.

Four: Hours are awful. You open one day; close the next then open.

Five: Did I mention the excessive paperwork and counts? Endless, mind numbing, useless.

Stay away.

2.0

Meat Cutter/Seafood Clerk (Former Employee)

20.3.2023, Job Location: Portland, OR

They use a single HR manager split between two or more stores, making it difficult to get the help needed in a timely manner.

WFM is also extremely policy-heavy. Then there's the meetings. No matter what department or how relevant the information, you must frequently go to many, many meetings, at the cost of valuable productivity... which you will still need to complete. Even if you're cooking in the culinary department and have something on the stove.

And for better or for worse, this company logs items much more frequently than standard grocery stores, to the point one starts to wonder if there is also a single log book to log all the other log books...one book to rule them all

Pros
Week, month, and year. Best of all if you mess up, you can blame it on someone who works under you. You can make any mess you want, then tell someone to clean it up and still tell them to finish their normal work.

Cons
Heavy policies, excessive meetings, excessive logging, arbitrary management, and an overt double standard about productivity between managers and employees. Many, many call-outs & unannounced job quiting. Healthcare is unimpressive with unworkable deductibles.

4.0

Associate Team Leader (Former Employee)

15.3.2023, Job Location: Marlboro, NJ

If you are young and need a job, then it is a good opportunity. You'll learn a lot about the retail world and have a better perspective on how you'll set up your life for the coming years.

Try to get into a department where you can develop a skillet, like Seafood, Meat, or Prepared Foods. It will make the day much more interesting, and you won't be a mindless drone aimlessly stocking shelves. Also, it's a great opportunity to work on your social skills. Try to remember customers' names.

Develop relationships with people. I've made ligament friends by going above and beyond for people and expecting nothing in return. Trust me; the juice is worth the squeeze. If you do decide to get into management, be prepared. First, you're dealing with people on the lower end of the workforce.

A lot of younger kids who just don't give a s**t. Also, older people who are past their prime and can't be as productive as you need them to be. It's extremely difficult to find and keep quality help, and sometimes you'll feel more like a babysitter than a manager.

At the end of the day, it's retail, so you're never gonna have all your ducks in a row. Because it's a low-margin industry, you'll probably be working just as hard as people in other industries, but will be paid less comparatively.

The rotating schedules were the biggest drawback for me. It's hard to plan your life when you don't have the same days off every week. Another thing to keep in mind is the people who are willing to move to new departments and/ or stores will have greater upward mobility. You can really move up the ladder fast if you’re flexible.

Lastly, management, particularly leadership, is a skill. If you do get into leadership, you're going to have to learn to communicate with your subordinates effectively. You'll have to coordinate with your regional team to steer the department in the right direction. If you're young, getting to manage people is a great opportunity, and it will look great on your resume.

Through your trials and tribulations, you might discover that management is not for me, and I want to take my life in a different direction. That still doesn’t mean it wasn't a worthwhile endeavor. Best of luck!

2.0

Team Member (Current Employee)

1.3.2023, Job Location: Detroit, MI

It’s very easy to burn yourself out with the workload and this company couldn’t care less.

They’ve barred overtime, continued to shorten hours and neglected to hire help for our diminishing staff. Your hard work will go unnoticed and unappreciated consistently.

They’ve gotten rid of the appreciation budget so at most you’ll get a $15 gift card once every year. Healthcare is a plus though as many of my coworkers get sick from stress.

2.0

Whole Body Team Member (Current Employee)

23.2.2023, Job Location: Austin, TX

You’re working for Amazon. Whole Foods used to be a great, all inclusive environment to work in.

Now… you’re just another number on the payroll. Managers are stressed about making sales goals and it’s just a pyramid to the top.

1.0

Prepared Foods Team Member (Former Employee)

18.2.2023, Job Location: Chicago, IL

Wholefoods can be a mess to work for. Leadership expect you to go above and beyond but don't give you the tools to do so.

Pay is not fair as well. No matter which the department you work in or team you work for wholefoods can not piece things together to make things work. Team leaders to don't communicate or support you.

There's a lot of back stabbing in the company and personal motive. The only thing wholefoods does well is set you up for failure.

3.0

Florist (Current Employee)

6.2.2023, Job Location: Tulsa, OK

Wholefoods is an excellent part-time, "I need to get through college job". As long as you are part-time and give notice of availability up-front, then my management was always very flexible.

PTO is good and roll-overs every year so if your smart you can save a lot. I was able to cross-train in multiple departments so that was fun and I worked with some good people. The issues I have is that Leadership is poor and doesn't really care, and the team I started on had issues with micromanaging and being too by the book.

There is not much room to grow in the store unless I go into management. I have been there four years and I have seen so many supervisors and ATLs come and go, that I perhaps am too jaded. At the end of the day the its a decent company, you'll meet some cool people, and it got me through University.

But I would really like to work someplace where people are excited to be, and be able to grow a career.

4.0

Barista (Former Employee)

4.2.2023, Job Location: Dallas, TX

For the usual work you do, the pay is excellent. However, my store had serious staffing issues. Day shifts could get overwhelming very quickly. Be prepared to call for help often, assuming there's anyone even available to help you.

5.0

Store Support Supervisor (Current Employee)

27.1.2023, Job Location: Providence, RI

Whole Foods is a great place to work. Management really cares about their workers and does what they can to create a good environment for their staff. The job is pretty simple. It's like every other retail job, however. You're dealing with the public.

5.0

Team Leader (Current Employee)

22.1.2023, Job Location: Miami, FL

Flexible schedules, good benefits, good leadership, multiple opportunities to grow. Pay is good. Positive work environment. Only wish reviews were every 6 months not every year.

1.0

Cashier/Customer Service (Former Employee)

21.1.2023, Job Location: Katy, TX

I was so looking forward to working here. Sadly, the FRONT END supervisors and leads ruined it. They were nothing more than bullies. High school mentality and cliques. Snakes in the grass and nothing more.

I really enjoyed my job but the staff made it awful to work there.

3.0

Grocery Team Member (Former Employee)

20.1.2023, Job Location: Albany, NY

It was a great place to work, awesome team members, good managers. Pay was decent, but expectations are too high, and they do not hire enough staff. I worked in grocery, for about 5 months as a full-time team member, and I was let go for apparently not meeting expectations, granted I was still learning.

I loved the people that I worked with, but the company, not so much. As much as it pains me to say it, but Walmart or target are better companies to work for.

4.0

Store Support Supervisor (Former Employee)

11.1.2023, Job Location: Destin, FL

What is the best part of working at the company?
In my position I interacted quite a bit with all of the departments so I got to know most of team members for the entire store. I really enjoyed the social side to my job and it sort of felt like I was part of a big family. It was a mostly positive environment there, especially among the team members. To me, that was the best part and I really missed having all those social interactions throughout my day when I started at my new job. I felt so lonely.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not having enough help when we needed it. Usually the store rallies and the team members go to the department that is struggling and helps them out. But sometimes we were just short staffed as an entire store rather than just in one department. Trying to deal with an extremely busy store with a team that is stretched too thin can gets really ugly really fast.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Whole Foods culture is really cool and its history is really interesting and you get to learn all about it during your orientation and your first week of computer training. One of the best things about working for Wholefoods is the company culture and history. Unfortunately, though, Amazon has really sucked the heart right out of Wholefoods and its culture has been steadily eroding as well. I saw that store change so much after Amazon took over. It's really sad.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no such thing as a typical day at Wholefoods. You basically just clock in and head for your department like a surfer paddling out into the ocean, By the time you make it over there you will already know the surf conditions and what size wave to expect. Then you just give it your best shot, catch a wave, try not to fall down, and enjoy yourself.

1.0

Team Member (Former Employee)

10.1.2023, Job Location: Austin, TX

One of wfm core values is team members growth and happiness. This is just fancy talk that dose not exist in reality.

The Policies you learn in the hiring procedures and orientation have nothing to do with the
actual job/team.You need and I quote "thick skin" to work at wholefoods.

Let me tell you my story. Leadership at wfm aproves that if a team leader is stressed, to put their stress out on you as an employee and treat you unjustly displaying infront of a long line of customers.

Instead of actully serving the customers you become the focus of attention for 1.5 hours. In that time the whole store Leadership is working together to correct you, the employee who just clocked in following all the information provided in training.

Then during their attempt to make you wrong they read their own policy and discover that you actually were following it and that the policy was not written correctly.

If you are okay with getting bullied by management and can handle a toxic environment where you are disciplined for their lack of training and information this is the place for you!

4.0

Order Writer (Current Employee)

7.12.2022, Job Location: Bedford, NH

Before covid, My day started at 4am and i would start placing my order since they were due at 8am. Since covid, for my store, order deadline was moved to 11am. A big reason for that was because our warehouse and our positions were understaffed making the overnight load carry into the morning for the order writers/team members to stock.

We would stock anywhere from 2 hours to our entire shift. This work is grueling and exhausting when you do it every day on top of your original order writing requirements. With staffing, it does get better but i know a lot of stores that continue to struggle. I’m grateful that my department (grocery) is like a family and we all get along so there are no issues.

My department leadership do a great job but the store leadership are kinda useless watching us struggle and not help. Or they only care about specific departments and leave others to drown. Overall, WFM is a good company with good benefits and pay. It can be mentally and physically exhausting depending on your location and job title.

I have made lifetime friendships here which is the main reason why i continue to stay because i know it’s very difficult to find a work culture as good as the one i’m currently in.

3.0

Team Member – Various Roles (Current Employee)

27.11.2022, Job Location: Friendship Heights, MD

I have worked at WF for a long time, and for much of that time I genuinely looked forward to coming in to work, but at this point I can comfortably say that most of the changes implemented under Amazon ownership have been for the worse. Under the current regime, primary emphasis is on meeting metrics and having good optics, rather than on "satisfy[ing] and delight[ing] our customers" (taken directly from WF's Core Values) who are actually coming in to shop.

IMO, good customer service is one of the most important parts of retaining a customer base for any retail/food service establishment. The other major issue is that it often takes a long time (weeks or even months, in some cases) to source additional back-of-house supplies or repairs in all but the most critical cases. I am sure this is an issue in many workplaces, but it is frustrating to not have the tools I need to do my job to the best of my abilities, especially since Amazon's logistics expertise was a significant selling point when they purchased Whole Foods.

If you are the type of person who is capable of following instructions without questioning how things could be improved, I do think Whole Foods can be a great place to work. I have learned a number of skills there and have forged many lasting friendships with coworkers and customers alike. But as someone who can't see something broken without wanting to fix it, going to work these days is an endless exercise in frustration.