- No consistency between stores, even those within 2 miles of each other. I often help other stores when people call in sick, but there have been times when I walk into a new store (or a store with a new bakery manager) and feel out of my league, despite being very familiar with my job at my "main" store.
- Discouraged from using sick hours for when you are sick. I have been calling in sick about once every month and a half, for one day only, often for symptoms such as fever or vomiting (which you are required by law to report to management, and are restricted from working in food areas until 24-hours after symptoms are gone). I have recently been informed that my amount of sick leave may be considered excessive. Current manager has also praised a coworker for working shifts while obviously sick, further reinforcing the idea that sick leave is a bad thing.
- Inadequate training/follow up by management. I was "trained" by a coworker, which amounted to them delegating certain tasks to me during their shift. 2 days later, I was expected to know the shift well enough to perform on my own. Manager had a list of things I had missed or done wrong, but there was no personal follow up. Just coming into work the next day or after days off and finding out what I had done wrong.
- "Employee owned" is now what you think it is. Shares are held in a trust, so employees own the company only in theory. You cannot borrow against your shares, and unless you're retiring age, you don't even get the money for your shares until 5 years after you leave.
- Employees are now required to do more customer service with the same amount of hours. With a new policy in place called "World Class Service", employees are now required to bend over backwards for customers, even if it means walking across the store with them to help them find a product. That, in and of itself, wouldn't be bad, but managers are often still expecting you to do your work within the Winco time standards, and don't often accept the excuse "I was helping a customer" as a valid one. I personally have been keeping detailed time logs so my manager will start taking me seriously when I say 1 customer took me 15-20 minutes to help.
