Trader Joe's Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Benefits are some of best around. Health dental vision gym membership. Employee discounts. Free food when tastings are held which is often. Retirement has been reduced. TJ's still has one of the best 401K's around with a 10% free contribution.

Cons – Having to deal with problem customers. Can be physical or freezing sometimes.

Advice to Senior Management – Stay connected to your employees. All of them.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Trader Joe's

Pros – good pay, friendly, slight discounted food

Cons – managers can be harsh sometimes

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's

Pros – free food, free wine, great people

Cons – to much time at cash register

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time for more than a year

Pros – Trader Joe's people and the customers are so nice and friendly, it is one of the best environments to work at! You're happy at work, you work as a team. Everyone has each other's back. If you have ideas or suggestions, the managers are always happy to hear about them and encourage you!

Cons – The only bad thing I can say about Trader Joe's is Gallager Bassett, which is the workman's compensation company that Trader Joe's is working with. If you are injured and out of work, let alone paying you on time (or ever), they make it harder for you to get a doctor's appointment, schedule an MRI or physical therapy. Since all these has to be done by them, if you want to get well soon, you have to call them about 3 times a day patiently. They have too much work to handle and no one has any idea what's going on or how they can help you.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time for less than a year

Pros – good starting salary and benefits. very flexible with employee schedules. Company is very safety consious. Great co workers good work environment.

Cons – Really no 'cons' at this time compared to other jobs I've had

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Fun people to work with, for the most part. The company tries to extend the best benefits it can, although they are getting less and less.

Cons – See above. Trader Joe's gets sued a lot -- because they always settle and don't ever fight back. It's a PR thing. The $$ comes out of their employees' pockets, for te most part.

Advice to Senior Management – Spend less on the managers and more on the crew.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Trader Joe's full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good pay, workers, flexible with scheduling as long as you planned in advance. Good nurturing environment and growth potential. Co workers were pretty positive and hard working for the most part.

Cons – sometimes people would not pull their weight or get specialized treatment from upper management. Others would work hard and not get recognized. Hard to get promoted and sometimes the work can get strenuous.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the things your crew members tell you.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -Extremely competitive compensation
-Excellent benefits
-Great sense of community and teamwork
-Performance reviews and raises every 6 months
-Works hard to create long-term employees

Cons – -"Pass/Fail" review system
-Intentionally provides fewer benefits for employees under 30, who typically spend less time with the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good benefits: Medical, Dental, 401k

Cons – Constant restructuring of raises and benefits based on the "market". Trust me.., there's enough money made where it could be handled better.

Advice to Senior Management – Back up your crew members. When there's a problem and you know they are right, back them up. Stop kissing ass for someone that looks down on you for working in a grocery store in the first place. We're supposed to be a team. Also...worrying about morale should be more of a priority.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Trader Joe's part-time

Pros – Excellent and diverse crew

Decent pay for longtime employees

Many friendly customers

Cons – -hours are not guaranteed even to those with full availability (4am-11pm, 7 days a week)
- Raises are now only slightly higher than safeway $.90 a year if you manage to "meet expectations" which constantly increase

-Kaizen used as a weapon against those not favored by management

- Favoring the industry standard which is rife with employee disatisfaction rather than remaining a beacon of light in the grocery/retail industry

- Certain Captains get away with murder against their employees and smile while doing it

- Discrimination against those with disabilities, instead of utilizing their talents, they are cast into the fire for having a disability

Advice to Senior Management – -treat your crew aka the only reason you succeed with respect
- quit reducing benefits, cut from $1 every 6 months to .45 in my tenure
-follow your own value system
-find ways to promote more longtime staff, (The merchant classification is a joke, and allows the captains personal favortism to take precedence over all else_

-PLEASE RESTORE THE OLD WAYS TO SAVE THIS COMPANY, OTHERWISE THE PROFIT WILL NOT LAST, as customers will perform a slow but steady exit, when they finally begin to notice the decreased moral and inherent employee turnover

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company