Is Trader Joe's a good company to work for?

Trader Joe's has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 10,946 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 81% of employees would recommend working at Trader Joe's to a friend and 71% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Trader Joe's have been left by employees working as Crewmate , Part-time Crew Member and Crew Mate .

Does Trader Joe's pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Trader Joe's employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Trader Joe's. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Trader Joe's?

81% of Trader Joe's employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Trader Joe's 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Trader Joe's?

Crew Member (5953) , Cashier (341) , Crew (315) , Mate (216) , Part Time Crew Member (152) , Sales Associate/Cashier (119) , Manager (113) , Sales Associate (113) , Section Leader (74) , Trader Joes Crew Member (63) , Assistant Manager (56) , Mate (Assistant Manager) (52) , Grocery Clerk (51) , Trader Joe's Crew Member (42) , Stocker (34)

What are the pros of working at Trader Joe's according to real employee reviews?

"Benefits are great and affordable" ((in 1093 reviews)); "Good pay and good whatever you want" ((in 899 reviews)); "The people they hire are always great people and the customers tend to be usually nice." ((in 811 reviews)); "Your coworkers are great and easy to work with" ((in 592 reviews)); "Flexible hours for crew members who have other jobs or school in the larger stores." ((in 368 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Trader Joe's according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management not enough to do" ((in 449 reviews)); "Managers have a lot of discretion which can be good and bad depending on the manager." ((in 254 reviews)); "There is blatant favoritism and the lack of standardized procedures nationwide make it impossible to hold leadership accountable" ((in 195 reviews)); "They also tend to choose favorites which is obvious, and very unprofessional." ((in 57 reviews)); "Poor upper management is a reality" ((in 52 reviews))

What are employees saying about Trader Joe's layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Trader Joe's layoffs and their outlook for job security at Trader Joe's in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Trader Joe's locations?

New York , Los Angeles , San Francisco , San Diego , Chicago , Seattle , Washington , Atlanta , Brooklyn , Philadelphia , Boston , Dallas , Portland , San Jose , Denver , Austin , Houston , Charlotte , Kansas City , Phoenix , Miami , Paramus , Santa Barbara , Monrovia , Nashville , Irvine , Pittsburgh , Saint Louis , Orange , Sacramento

Trader Joe's reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(10,608 total reviews)

Bryan Palbaum

72% approve of CEO

71% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.2

Diversity & inclusion

4.1

Culture & values

4.1

Compensation and benefits

4.0

Work/Life balance

3.6

Senior management

3.6

Career opportunities

Trader Joe's has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 10,608 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Trader Joe's employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

11K reviews

1.0

Jul 20, 2014

crew

Crew member

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

"Seemingly" fun work environment. It's retail ok? except with the "be happy or else" mentality. I've never been treated so poorly in my life. No matter what store I work at within the company. False enthusiasm. Certain things I can not speak of in fear it will be connected back to me, but its really really bad there. No on is happy but if you can pretend you will go far. If not you can "walk the plank" as they say. Harassment is rewarded, there are no unions, device tactics that make us compete for bread crumbs while stepping on your fellows to get some more crumbs. Intimidation and neurotic fear is the underlining current in the air among workers. But as long as we are forced to smile you think we are happy.

Cons

rediculously high job "performance" standards. Performance as in acting happy and fake. you get to cower to the whims of your "mates" as the employ favoritism and bully mentality. If you are lucky you might not get verbally abused on any given day.

3.0

Jul 10, 2014

Fun, physically demanding and customer focused job

Crew member

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

A fun company to work for as crew, very physical work with a strong customer focus. Tends to only hire extroverts withe big smiles on their faces. Management is held accountable to the crew which tends to keep things from getting too hierarchical. They pay pretty well for an hourly position - health insurance is good.

Cons

Difficult if you want to advance into salary/full time, you are put under excessive scrutiny which can make your life pretty miserable. It is very much a popularity contest - you ONLY advance if everyone likes you - their (often faulty) logic being that it makes a happier work place.

3.0

May 24, 2014

Cool and Quirky "worker bees" and less than cool management decisions

Crew member

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The raises and salaries are better than most retail positions. The crew members are some of the most interesting and quirky people I have ever met. Most are musicians, writers, artists and highly educated. I am friends with several people outside of work. The work is not boring because every day one gets different schedules which is positive. Most of the crew members are college educated or working on their degree.

Cons

It used to be a positive work environment. Now it is fair at best. I would have given 4 stars about 3 months ago. Recently there have been big changes in management and brand new rules every day I walk in. This is my first big corporation that I have ever worked for so these changes are disconcerting to me. The benefits have changed negatively in the past 8 months and it is not as attractive to work here as 2 years ago when I started here. The paid time off is okay but not enough, around 4 or 5 days a year. It is hard labor- one has to lift up to 50 Lbs and many of my friends have hurt themselves. It is hard emotionally because the customers are very needy and annoying.

Viewing 331 - 333 of 10,608 Reviews

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Fun, physically demanding and customer focused job

Cool and Quirky "worker bees" and less than cool management decisions

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