What is it like to work for Aldi?

[aa6972]

Was just browsing jobs for a possible change of career and notice Aldi, while the hourly rate isn't too bad, but noticed that the contracted hours is only 25, does that mean you will always be part time but expected to work when required? Are you allowed to take on a second job while in employment?

And what is it actually like working in a store like Aldi? I am familiar with traditional retail like supermarkets as I was a supervisor before my current job, are there any differences?

Thank you

 

[Rifte]

When we were in the UK my wife worked for them for about 6 months before we both agreed that she had to quit.

She was an assistant manager there and the money was good, but the total operation is a **** take.

There is a reason its a budget retailer, zero staff with the entire workload sitting on the back of a few people.

My wife regularly used to pull more than 70 hour weeks.

It might just have been her store, but I have a distinct feeling that its all of them.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

Everyone in Iceland seems happy and I hear they're a good employer.

 

[hornetstinger]

Try appyling if you're old and/or fat
You won't get the job.

 

[Malevolence]

The Son of a friend of a friend went to work there via their graduate scheme, I believe he started on something like £40k which can rise to over £75k and they provide a decent Audi (A4 I think).

 

[Rroff]

Don't really know much about it but working in retail I've come across a few people who've worked there who've said the money is good but they quit after a few months due to the expectations on them (EDIT: not really spent enough time with any of these people to know what their attitude and aptitude towards work was like however).

 

[Uther]

Hard work apparently but the money is pretty good for the role. Staff in my local one always look happy enough.

 

[tom_e]

The guys in store are paid well but you're certainly expected to work for it, it's not like places like Tesco where they've got so many staff you can stand around staring at the ceiling for half your shift and still get paid.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Have also heard of/seen in action the "one cashier, one manager for a whole store" tactic in all the Aldi and Lidl branches I've been to. **** business model, IMO.

 

[tom_e]

Have also heard of/seen in action the "one cashier, one manager for a whole store" tactic in all the Aldi and Lidl branches I've been to. **** business model, IMO.

The bigger supermarkets are starting to follow it's not sustainable to have a million levels of management and half your staff aimlessly wondering around the shop when you're trying to make a profit these days.

 

[Rroff]

The bigger supermarkets are starting to follow it's not sustainable to have a million levels of management and half your staff aimlessly wondering around the shop when you're trying to make a profit these days.

Yeah - lot of places trying to move to as much self-service model as possible it seems.

 

[Scania]

Aldi pay well but expect serious graft in return - and why not?

I know a girl at my local store - a fat bird too @hornetstinger - your talking crap!

Long ish hours, but flexible and she’s always happy.

I know a few people on their distribution side as well (I deliver to Atherstone regularly) again, paid well but expected to work for it.

They certainly show the other supermarkets up on how to operate!

 

[flea.rider]

one round by us always has 6-8 staff on but yeah there always busy filling shelfs ..talking away on there headsets .. sounds to me like there having a laugh ..
I'd love a job there except for the customers .. it would be great

 

[Werewolf]

one round by us always has 6-8 staff on but yeah there always busy filling shelfs ..talking away on there headsets .. sounds to me like there having a laugh ..
I'd love a job there except for the customers .. it would be great

That sounds like ours, I think they basically expect everyone to do all the shop floor roles (till, shelf stacking, cleaning etc), so they can vary the number of open tills very quickly, as opposed to the normal "till operator" and other roles (or "till operator between X hours, floor at other times").

Our store always seems to have fairly happy staff, and they tend to be much more efficient than many of their contemparies in Morrisons/Tesco etc.

 

[Eurofighter]

I applied, they wouldn't have me. Not an easy job to get.

 

[Rroff]

That sounds like ours, I think they basically expect everyone to do all the shop floor roles (till, shelf stacking, cleaning etc), so they can vary the number of open tills very quickly, as opposed to the normal "till operator" and other roles (or "till operator between X hours, floor at other times").

This seems to be the way with a lot of companies increasingly expecting everyone to be "multiskilled" - I'm not a fan of it personally as while it might seem a good idea on paper to management you generally find that people who are prepared to get their heads down and work repetitively restocking, etc. are usually people who like to minimise their time customer facing and will leave if they spend too much time doing that and the people who are outgoing and people driven go crazy if they are spending too much time doing stock putaway, etc. and will leave and you need those kind of people as they are the ones that newer or less naturally able types learn from by seeing what they do, etc. and pulls up the overall level of staff ability.

Going all full on "multiskilled" just ends up with a very average workforce who aren't particularly good at anything or particularly invested in what they are doing and with the result that the customer experience is reduced due to the higher level of inaccuracy in stock handling and less proficient people skills and overall competency of the staff when it comes to dealing with people which results in customers more likely to look elsewhere to shop.

(On the other hand going completely polarised the other way isn't necessarily a good thing either - as with many things it is about striking a happy balance).

 

[MassiveJim]

This seems to be the way with a lot of companies increasingly expecting everyone to be "multiskilled" - I'm not a fan of it personally as while it might seem a good idea on paper to management you generally find that people who are prepared to get their heads down and work repetitively restocking, etc. are usually people who like to minimise their time customer facing and will leave if they spend too much time doing that and the people who are outgoing and people driven go crazy if they are spending too much time doing stock putaway, etc. and will leave and you need those kind of people as they are the ones that newer or less naturally able types learn from by seeing what they do, etc. and pulls up the overall level of staff ability.

Going all full on "multiskilled" just ends up with a very average workforce who aren't particularly good at anything or particularly invested in what they are doing and with the result that the customer experience is reduced due to the higher level of inaccuracy in stock handling and less proficient people skills and overall competency of the staff when it comes to dealing with people which results in customers more likely to look elsewhere to shop.

(On the other hand going completely polarised the other way isn't necessarily a good thing either - as with many things it is about striking a happy balance).

Kind of makes sense what you are saying, but the business model is much more efficient.
Its very poor IMO if you go to a supermarket who has only 3 tills open and can't open any more up despite having 12 other members of staff on shift because they aren't trained on till operation.

A good team leader would have the right staff in the right jobs though, ie the ones who don't like too much customer interaction get to do shelf stacking and then just fill-in as required on tills, then return to restocking when it dies down.

 

[Rroff]

A good team leader would have the right staff in the right jobs though, ie the ones who don't like too much customer interaction get to do shelf stacking and then just fill-in as required on tills, then return to restocking when it dies down.

Problem is that kind of system in the long term tends to squeeze out the good teamleaders, etc. heh. Though agreed good teamleader/supervisor hands on can reduce the issues with that kind of system if they know their staff and support them.

We went through it for a bit with a higher up guy that was very hot on the theory with mostly negative results to be honest - fortunately he has now moved on and the replacement is much more about investing in people with much more positive results seen lately IMO.

 

[explicit4u]

I used to work for a supermarket and people complained that the likes of Aldi paid more than us despite them being a budget operation. It was pointed out that the 'roles' are very different and that Aldi has better pay but you're expected to do more. It's not exactly working hard for your pay, more that for example, an ordinary member of staff at Aldi would be expected to cover some responsibilities of our equivalent to team leaders so comparing pay isn't a fair metric.

Funnily enough we started to move towards a more Aldi like model where everyone was trained to do pretty much everything so they can shift staff around during the day. They also made a habit of promoting a tonne of people to more senior roles, they later found out that this was a massive mistake as you lose so much experience and people who have almost perfected a role can no longer use their expertise.

 

[tom_e]

I don't know about the store recruitment process but elsewhere in the business they spend a lot of time making sure they've got the right fit of person for the team, just as much focus if not more is put on how you are as a person in comparison to your actual skill set.

I'm going to guess a similar outlook is used at store level as you need people happy to be customer facing one minute and working out the back the next and again the lean staffing model means you need a team that gets on.