Avoid - Assistant Store Manager ALDI Employee Review

I would not recommend working for Aldi. Having worked for the company for a number of years in the Darlington region I spent a large part of my time engaged and wanting to do the best I could for the company. When the pandemic began we were told not to wear masks as it does not encourage customer confidence, the company was constantly reactive to what other retailers would do and we worked in excess of 60 hours per week. Once the pandemic began to settle down the Operations Directors decided that we should have our work-life balance removed and the company would ride the wave of our reactions. They did not care. We were actually told we were only a number and there was a "talent pool large enough to replace us, so just go" if we did not like having our lives taken away from us regardless of our life commitments. All autonomy was removed from our job roles to the point we were told exactly where something should be put and all commerciality removed from our job. My physical health suffered, my mental health suffered. Aldi is more concerned about amusing social media posts than the health and wellbeing of their staff. They will say "we provide X,Y and Z" to look after our teams but as managers, we are told to not listen to staff and their problems and send them to an external provider. This cold hearted approach is not modern management. The concept of Aldi is 'no news is good news'. You won't be told your store is performing well or looking good but you will be dragged down if there's something people don't like. There is no engagement. If your face fits and you know the word 'yes', then this job is perfect for you. If you believe in engaging your teams and want to stick up for them...avoid.