line cook

ALDI

I worked for Aldi for a few years and it depends on the store you work at but my one I have many different opinions on it. Most of the time it was a stressful, demotivating and hectic environment to work in, always finishing late and not enough appreciation, a simple well done etc goes a long way but instead you are bombarded with negative feedback like go faster etc. They don't give out the workload evenly in my store that I worked at, some sit on tills all day, while others run like crazy on shop floor. People not rotated around store enough, and when they do rotate you rarely such as put you on produce they expect you to work to a very crazy target when you have not been on this section for ages so what do they expect, like with any skill in life if you don't do it for a long time you need to build it up again. I have seen so many staff come and go over time and it is ridiculous the turnover, but hey they can get your replacement in the next day so they don't care. The work itself is dull but each to their own, if you enjoy it then fine. A lot of managers didn't do date checks properly and on the chiller a lot of staff didn't rotate when this was raised nothing ever happened. Food constantly left out of chiller for ages, freezer same as well, out of date food on a daily basis, over worked staff. As with Covid they breached the restrictions many times, allowing so many in the store during the height of the pandemic and taking off the door marshall not long after they implemented it, meaning it was a free for all, even this stupid traffic light system still allowed too many in and they would refuse to lower the amount allowed in the store. Some staff and also managers were homophobic to me  making comments which were horrible, but when raised I get told I am too sensitive when any other workplace would not tolerate this rubbish. No proper cleaning station always blocked off, broken mops, brushes etc so always a marathon to clean a spillage. Tills are literally falling apart, tape is keeping some of the card machines working at the moment, crazy they think this looks okay, its the opposite makes the store look like a dump. Lots of two faced people. Also they like to pick and choose their policies they follow, e.g. don't clean baskets especially during covid when they told their customers they did, not deep cleaning stores, allowing people to breach working times. leaving old food on shelves, keeping food out of chiller and freezer for too long, keeping people on tills for too long, plenty of more reasons to add but we will be here all day if I continued. They also look down on you for taking 30min unpaid break and make the team turn on you for doing this, when 1hr break should be encouraged for 10hr or more as health is most important. 
 However some nice staff, friends for life, taught me  some good skills such as communication and giving feedback. I worked in two other stores for a day during my time here and they are much better so its not every store.

I'm on a 25 hour week contract,  so this is the minimum amount of hours per week. The only time I did my contract hours was while in training.  Now I get anything from 30 to 40 hours a week. You get a 4 week rota which is updated on a Tuesday. You're shift pattern can be anything from doing 5am to 3pm or 12 to 10.15pm. They can be different from day to day and week to week, this makes it very hard to get the right amount of work life balance. There are lots of different shifts from 5 hours to 10 hour shifts. Once the rota is published on Tuesday if there is a shift you can't do ,they will tell you they can't change it and you have to find your own cover. The rate of pay is okay and we are get a pay rise in January 2023  of about 50p over the new minimum wage.  But you are expected to work hard for it.  You will be expected to work every area from tills to doing delivery so it's not boring,  no time to be bored. You get a half hour paid lunch break for working 8 or more hours, 20 minutes for 6 to 8 hours and 15 minutes for 4 hour to 6. You can arrange to take an hour break either as one or to half's but even then it's hard to take it as there is never enough staff, so be prepared to work a 10 hour shift with half hour break. And don't expect to leave on your finish shift time either. Aldi don't do any discount s for customers or staff. You have to be fit as there is lots of lifting and bending so if you already have any problems with your back it's a no go job. It's pretty much like most jobs it has its good and bad days.  They are very quick letting you know about everything everyone is doing wrong but not very quick and show their  Appreciation or  Acknowledging anything that anybody's done that's good. All this is through a Aldi WhatsApp group.  It's the they want you to be flexible, but they won't be flexible for you. It's an okay job. It's a job and pays the bills, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

ALDI is a brilliant company to work for, they really take care of their staff. The job can be challenging at times and physically draining but the team work easily makes the shifts fly by. 

I cannot stress enough about the amazing team work at ALDI stores, everybody has the same training and knows exactly how things should be and how tough a long shift can be there was always a lot of respect for each other. 

Management were always understanding and would do their best to provide a reasonable solution to any issues that would arise and were always ready to roll up their sleeves should the occasion call for it. 

The most enjoyable park of the job was helping customers in store, ALDI staff are well trained and knowledgeable about their company, store and products. 

Date checks were probably my least favourite part of the job, it was not difficult, just tedious. 

Given the chance I would happily work for this company again.

You will never have a set schedule, especially if you are full time they will ask you to come in anywhere from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. The store model is meant to operate with as little workers as possible which means you will be expected to make up for others if they are not as efficient. It varies by location, but typically the store will employ anywhere from 10-15 employees and 6-8 will work daily, this limits your ability to have your shift covered for whatever reason it may be. There will be moments, especially on the registers where you will simply not have enough workers to meet all the needs required for the moment and this is quite common. They don’t want you staying late, 14 minutes after your scheduled shift, even in cases where the store made more than the predicted budget and are expected to complete your work regardless of how busy it was that day before your scheduled clock out time. Turn over rate is high.

I worked for Aldi for 6 years. Started as an associate and left as an Assistant Store Manager. 

Most days were fine. Always physically demanding no matter the day. You get used to it though. 

We started experiencing high turn over in the middle of COVID. We received raises (like $1 or so per hour), but nothing was ever solved. It became a very stressful environment very quickly and the solution was to pay you to be quiet about it. 

I was fine with the extra money for a little bit, but I eventually/inevitably burned out and decided to leave.

The worst part was coworkers calling in sick literally every day. At Aldi, they only schedule    4-8 people per day and I would arrive at work to see 3 names crossed out because they called in. Nothing was ever done about that either. Just another thing you have to deal with because they pay more than most other grocery stores.

The process it self is the most unprofessional I have seen in years. 

It took so long that I was promoted at my existing role (4 moths) and funny enough they even got surprise that I will not accept the offer . How can you work for someone that takes 4 months to hire a manager ?

The ops manager itself and the area managers are pretty much kids straight after Uni , no experiences whatsoever in processes and large scale ops.  Even their own people speak bad about the company the day I went to meet some of them. But  what I expected? is Aldi , the cheapest supermarket , with I suppose the cheapest labour and management they can find .

Really was awfull , expect not clear coms at any given point and pre fabric email making no sense. 

Before you apply think twice , other supermarkets are more professional.

Working at aldi is okay but there is no social life even though you only get a 25/30 hour contract, they expect you to always be available even though they say they are flexible when you interview for them, it's a very tedious and boring job they act all nice but don't treat you nicely behind your back , if you ring in sick you get blanked through most of the day because it's frowned upon. There is no communication between managers they will pass the blame so they don't get in trouble with an area manager. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone there are better jobs out there if you look.

This job is not for everyone! If you don’t have a strong work ethic and the ability to multitask and remember tons of information then run away now. Very mentally and physically demanding, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been from working here. Aldi tries to take care of its people and they do recognize and reward hard work. As a store manager you need to be very hands on to succeed at Aldi. Ultimately your numbers come down to you if you know what you’re doing and control your payroll. loss, store conditions etc. you will succeed but every day is a lot of work. No sitting behind a desk all day here you will be on the floor face to face with customers every day.

I am surprised  that everyone  thinks  30 minutes is enough  break at a fast paced environment , your health  is more important. Taking unpaid .akes them look down on you but i take it if they stick  me on tills all day which may i add is bad for you, would i watch  TV for 8hr, not personally  so why  is sitting on a till any better. Pallet times etc can be unrealistic because you need to empty carding cage and help customer etc. Till speed can be tricky because  some pack  very slow  and its harder to speak  to a customer if your throwing the items at them. No proper cleaning equipment  so when spillage we have to use cardboard  and stuff. Everyone  acts  like machine.

Everyone was expected to work as fast as possible as a cashier or stocking, there was plenty of time regardless. Most employees were friendly and helpful, management was generally good at listening and helping people. However, they were not very good at managing the staffing needs and getting people consistent hours without sending them to different stores constantly. Self-check out stores out doubled down on this issue, wanted a staff to manage inventory and sales but refused to give hours to anyone who needed to earn more. The company offers mediocre benefits and pension programs, but did not have a union to negotiate or protect workers. 

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