Trader Joe's reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(10,591 total reviews)
avatar

Bryan Palbaum

73% approve of CEO

71% positive business outlook

Trader Joe's has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 10,591 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).

Reviews by job title

11K reviews
2.0
May 22, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Awesome coworkers, casual, fun, silly. When everyone communicates, honestly, and everyone is working productively, things go a lot smoother. The supervisors are usually awesome in many ways, some way more then others. Even they turn against each other often times

Cons

Lots of secrecy, and back stabbing, that includes management. Often times management creates a such a strong division between the employees by playing into blatant favoritism and this creates a somewhat hostile working environment. Also, when it comes time for the once every 6 months review, management looks and searches for any little reason to not give employees a $.60 raise. This lasts for an entire 6 months. For instance an employee can be a very strong and productive worker, but maybe has one small area of needing improvement, that employee won't get the raise for at least another 6 months. A lot of this has to do with keeping payroll and store cost down so the higher up management receive their large bonuses. On top of their already 6 figure salary. When employees are not feeling as if they are valued for all their hard work, it will eventually show in the quality of work and dedication. Also many new employees are getting hired at least $1 and up more then many employees who have worked there for years, simply because minimum wage went up so hiring wage goes up, but should existing wages go up as well to reflect the difference

3.0
May 15, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent pay and raises for retail, though the raises have declined over the years. Still better than any other retail job I've worked. Fairly good health benefits, though they changed their qualifications with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act. 10% employee discount. (Note: All pros stop once you're past college or have a marketable skill)

Cons

It's a company that started as one thing and has slowly been making its way closer to retail monotony. It wants to be cool and different without actually pushing boundaries. At times it feels like a puppy mill for groceries and wine. Part of this, though, is simply its popularity is too great in some areas, causing crowds beyond the store's size. 10% employee discount. At the end of the day, it's still a retail chain corporation. Decisions about how the store should be run are generally made above the store level; i.e. not by people working in the store. They have a motto at Trader Joe's: No Bureaucracy. So what do you do when you break your own rules? Change the definition.

3.0
May 7, 2015

sign artist

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Started out great. Great products! Flexibility was great with my second job. Tastings are wonderful. Coworkers are great team players and a bunch of weirdos in a good way.

Cons

Management is getting sloppy with crew morale. Cuttings hours and hiring new people (at higher pay rates) is not keeping with the company's vision of the upside down pyramid. Neither is spying on your crew and making notes of all their mistakes. Positive reinforcement...what happened to that? Also, Walmart is hiring people at 10 an hour. Shouldn't TRADER JOES have higher standards and pay their people more than a pitance of a living wage?

Viewing 169 - 171 of 10,591 Reviews

Glassdoor has 10,928 Trader Joe's reviews submitted anonymously by Trader Joe's employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Trader Joe's is right for you.