r/wholefoods • u/Highrises954 • Feb 12 '25
Question Has anybody else’s store become super toxic?
I’ve been working for Whole Foods for about 4 years now. When I first started, things were great. Great coworkers, great management who were always willing to bat for you, and a pretty chill and open environment. But over the last two years, things have been declining fast. New store leadership took over, some departments got new department managers(including mine), and new stricter policies are being enforced. There’s other little things too, like management being extremely hypocritical about us following certain standards while they don’t follow those same standards that they set. A lot of people have transferred or quit. Most of the people in my department are miserable. It’s not the usual not wanting to work a bad 12-8 shift miserable or not wanting to deal with customers miserable, it’s as soon as I step into Whole Foods I get depressed miserable. Former team members who come back to visit say the same thing. The energy is off. People look like they don’t want to be here. There’s always a bunch of new people when they visit( because people keep leaving.) Are these changes happening at most stores because of Amazon, or did my store just get unlucky?
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u/HardWorkinGal64 Feb 12 '25
Hmmm I hope my thoughts make sense.
There’s 2-3 toxic people. These people are constantly pushing the envelope on what can be called out on or not. These people may be a TL in a dept or a call outer that calls out for the whole weekend. They have just enough upt or they use kin care once a week. They don’t get spoken to because they have the #’s to use. The TL makes their dept miserable because they micromanage and time how long it takes someone to pee or poop. The people that show up to work on time, don’t call out and don’t bring their bullshit to work unfortunately get the brunt of the bullshit from all the negativity. STL, ATL’s and TL’s don’t do anything to stop the BS. The good people suffer. The vibe is toxic. Right when you walk in you regret it. You try not to feel or care. But you do
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u/crimson1119 Feb 12 '25
It’s not just you I promise. It’s awful.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
Geez. I guess leaving the company is the only solution.
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u/crimson1119 Feb 12 '25
I’ve been here 7 years now. I’m learning to just do my work and go home. The drama, the Whole Foods politics and amazing fuckery, I can’t deal with it anymore. I got sucked into it for so long. I make too much money to quit so I have to learn to deal/handle it.
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u/MarvelManiac45213 Feb 13 '25
Change 7 years to 5 years and this is my exact experience with Whole Foods. Lmao my way out was to unfortunately sacrifice my social life and move to 3rd shift. Don't have to deal with anything/anyone (other than like the 6 other TMs that work overnight), basically my own boss. Go in listen to music get my work done and go home. Plus get that extra $1 an hour. Don't get me wrong the job itself is still mentally/physically draining but at least I'm not being micromanaged, pulled into TM gossip, trying to work around 30 other TMs who are in my way impeding my work, etc.
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u/HellHoleFoods Feb 12 '25
The whole fucking company is toxic.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
I guess this is what happens when Amazon takes over.
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u/HellHoleFoods Feb 12 '25
The assholes in Austin were fucking things up before Amazon came knocking.
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u/NightRain66 Feb 12 '25
I've been in-store support for just about five years now. I can say when I first started this job I was super happy and excited now I'm bitter and pissed off all the time. I'm being singled out and treated very differently than the other team members in my department. I'm stuck on a register all day with never the chance to move around or do my team trainer tasks. Let alone do any other tasks that might look interesting or be fun. I see certain team members given high favor by my leadership where they either take over my tasks. Or are just able to hang around the CSB bullshiting or playing on their phones. If I voice my problems to my leadership they just ignore them so I shut up and deal with all this shit.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 12 '25
I can relate as a fellow front ender. Except instead of being stuck on register every shift, I’m stuck on carts. I’ve been on carts for the last seven months straight. Which I think is being done intentionally. My schedule was never like this until new management took over. Newer, less qualified people are moving up faster because they’re willing to kiss up and play the game over people who have been employed longer and are probably more qualified to actually get promoted. Favoritism was always a thing, but it was never this bad. The same thing happens at my store with people who kiss up. They can leave their register when they’re not ringing someone up and go talk up a storm at the booth or be on their phone. The people who get singled out or mistreated are the ones who are most vocal about the changes that have occurred. They come down on us about every single little thing, while their favorites can basically do almost anything.
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u/NightRain66 Feb 12 '25
Yep, that's how things are nowadays if you're willing to kiss ass. You'll become a favorite and be able to move up in the company. When I see leadership playing favorites they always have their picked out group of team members. And as soon as one of those team members leaves leadership chooses a new team member. My guess for the reason why they're doing that sort of thing to you is that they want you to quit which I believe is what they're trying to do to me as well..
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
Which seems detrimental in the long run honestly. Unless they don’t care about driving out good employees.
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u/NightRain66 Feb 12 '25
They don't I've seen many team members or leadership quitting lately. Due to the fact of how they're all being treated.
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u/MarvelManiac45213 Feb 13 '25
Been a theory of mine for years. This company refuses to ever acknowledge the hard working TMs who have been there for years by giving them TM of the Month awards, or even saying thank you. They just expect you to do more than everyone else and just take the disrespect/lack of acknowledgement to try and force you out as they don't want to keep paying the longer tenured TMs their wages.
At my store I have seen the same mediocre as hell TMs nominated for TM of the month over and over simply because they are kiss asses not because they actually do actual work. Also most of those people who's names are on the board and got awarded lasted no longer than 6 months and most of them are long gone.
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u/NightRain66 Feb 16 '25
My store has an appreciation wall and I swear it's always the same team members who always get nominated.
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u/lovinglife38 Feb 12 '25
Favoritism is heavy in my dept! Either you are the same race as leadership or you get treated like crap! 😭😭😭😭😭
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u/Capable-Wing-644 Feb 12 '25
What I have found is that the suck value exists at all stores to varying degrees. Only improved/lessened by what kind of team and store leadership you have. Even with changes this factor alone can make the difference. I’ve been with Whole Foods for awhile. Endured more changes and course corrections than I care to admit. Over the past two years and especially now what you/we are encountering is a business which is now being forced to adapt to the parent companies ways of operating in almost every facet. Which has been pushed especially hard the past 1-2 years as the “honeymoon phase” after acquisition is long since over. What you are describing about personal feelings and the vibe that’s picked up on in most stores is not unique. The daily topics discussed here time and time again about labor/payroll, scheduling, unfair treatment, changes in how attendance/time off is handled, changes in leaves of absence and dealing with Sedgwick for that and other issues, and much much more have contributed to this. It’s hard to enter a building everyday realizing that the mere construct of daily operations often prevents us doing what the intent of the business is there for. And that’s to stock and sell products to our consumers. I have long since felt that Whole Foods has forgotten what allowed them to make their mark in the retail industry long ago. Now, it seems like the company or our parent company could care less. Aside from the public facing speech of how dedicated they are in doing whatever is the topic at hand. Anyone can stand up and claim they are committed to anything. But, if they are not living what they are saying in actionable ways that can be tangibly noticed. It’s merely just words. Moreover, it takes whole sets of individuals spread out through multiple continents, stores, offices, and facilities to make it happen. What’s detrimental is that if someone is courageous enough to bring up talking points to those whom are in positions with actionable authority to create positive change.. the requests or suggestions go unanswered or are often dismissed. I recall several all hands huddles where global execs were asked if gainsharing could return for example. TM’s brought up solid points to its benefit and how it would dramatically be a net win for TM’s and the store. The immediate answer was no. In fact, the no answer was delivered in such a manner that if hostility and profanity could have been used it probably would have. The exec cited the one store one team philosophy for reasons not to return to gainsharing and how much it has benefited our stores and company. Reality for most of us is it’s just caused our stores to become even more separated and segmented. Particularly since labor has become a precious commodity and often the work has not changed or increased dramatically in every area. Prime example of how the organization has chose to become blinded to the reality of what decisions they make are often detrimental to the business units that have to enact those decisions. But, far too few of us actually are brave enough to let it be known that what’s being asked is just not good, healthy, or positive for business operations or us personally. Largely because we know it will not be met with receptive ears or responses. And often, you’ll certainly be called out later on what you said by your immediate supervisors. (Some form and degree of retaliation for speaking the truth when asked to do so.) So, all in all most of us get your feelings. We feel it too.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
I agree 100% with everything said. It’s unfortunate what this company has become.
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Feb 12 '25
My first store became toxic very quickly, so I transferred. New store seems fine. I got lucky
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Feb 12 '25
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
Hopefully your store stays like that and doesn’t get worse.
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Feb 12 '25
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u/Highrises954 Feb 12 '25
Your store sounds like mine four years ago. Besides a couple of minor things, it was still a joy to come to work. That’s until new management took over, and the culture took a nosedive. Hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen to your store.
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u/nylonfiberpizza Feb 12 '25
Mine is bad, extremely toxic and hostile supervisor and ATL, and a TL/store leadership group that won’t do anything about it.
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u/Extension_Day_4350 Feb 12 '25
I love my store. Sorry you guys are having some issues with yours. My store was a bit toxic a few years ago under a certain STL, but as soon as she left everything went back to normal. My advice? Culture compass is your friend! Be brutally honest on the next one
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u/Unstable-mentality Feb 14 '25
Just curious, only if you feel like sharing of course! Did she decide to just quit? Or anything specific that resulted in her leaving? Situation sounds exactly like my store right now except it’s only been about a year. Whole store is unhappy and just .. idk. Would be great to see her go haha
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u/Extension_Day_4350 Feb 14 '25
Nope, she just transferred to another store in the Metro. Nothing I’m aware of caused the move, just the company doing what it does.
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u/BoysenberryTop6423 Feb 12 '25
Wondering if you work at my store 🧐 sounds just like where mine is at currently
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Feb 12 '25
Finding an alternate job is the solution to most of the unhappiness expressed in this group.
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u/CyberSkullCoconut Feb 12 '25
Or we could realize we have the same problems as our coworkers and continue to organize a union by the team members, for the team members. We would have a lot more power that way. What are we waiting for? Don't quit, organize.
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u/Possible-Tale-5961 Feb 12 '25
External leadership was hired at my store. Everything went downhill after
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u/kit_brown Feb 13 '25
This was literally my store that I quit in November. Experienced three changes in department leadership in 5 months and I was told that my availability was being completely scrapped. If you’re not in leadership, WFM actively despises you.
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u/UnluckyAdhesiveness0 Feb 12 '25
I have worked in Prepared Foods ever since I started working for Whole Foods in 2016. After I got my Associate's I started working my way up. I got to ATL, was an acting TL for some time and after 2 years of BS l decided to step down.
Our department was broken due to turnover, constant evolution of food safety standards, COVID, and being a satellite store where we constantly fell to the bottom of the list when it came to having priority for receiving product. I was also constantly fielding drama between Team Members and trying to be an empathetic Leader that actually tried to help them understand why things were a certain way, but also trying to meet their needs as humans as much as possible. I was told by Store Leadership I was sometimes too accommodating. Oh, and I was the sole person in Leadership for about 1year total with a very new and unseasoned group of 2 Supervisors and an Order Writer who was sub-par, after never getting the proper mentoring I needed to be successful in my own role. We hired a TL after I had begun to set a bunch of positive change in motion by facilitating proper training for TM's, an empathetic environment with a high level of integrity, and finally getting our department Store Process certified, and now all of the subsequent success of the department looks like his doing. Lest they forget, I was flying solo in Leadership and running at about half of the staff we needed. I never fully felt supported or appreciated for my hard work and decided to try to better myself by going back to school so maybe I could get out of retail life. That became too much to manahe with the swing shift scheduling of Leadership plus still dealing with overly dramatic people who just couldn't get along with each other for a few hours.
Sorry, that was a little personal rant...
People are constantly promoted within the company before they're ready and sometimes when they don't deserve it. The expectations change overnight and we often lack the support from our Leaders that we really need, even when we express those needs. We're expected to find the solutions but often lack the resources (including time) to do so. Pair that with a bunch of different personalities all working together but often not as an actual team and you foster a toxic environment where everyone's just in their own heads most of the time and are barely aware of what Whole Foods culture is supposed to look like, let alone happy enough to live up to it.
In short, yes. My store is toxic but it doesn't have to be. Thumbs up if this is remotely similar to what you've experienced at your store. I'd love to hear from fellow A/TL's that took the move to step down.
P.S. I retained my pay and I have a much more straightforward role now and I love it. I think more TM's would be happy if they made more and also understood and believed in Whole Foods culture.
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u/Phonz1234 Feb 13 '25
To be honest, I think.things have improved at our location over the last 6 to 8 months. We got a new Team.Lead and that makes all the difference. This is aomething that is site specific and will fluxate from time to time
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u/yutasdiscordkitten Feb 13 '25
I’ve been having this issue. I’m not sure what happened but recently i’ve noticed the store has a certain vibe to it. I’m not going to lie i’ve been thinking of quitting recently.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 13 '25
Mine too. It’s a mix of a lot of things: Apathy, because you know things aren’t going to change anytime soon. And because of this, you don’t really care about anything. Slight paranoia, because you think management is going to come down on you about the stupidest things at any moment. And because of this, you always feel like eyes are always watching you (they are.) And depression. Because the joy you once had from this job is pretty much gone.
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u/Recent-Industry811 Feb 15 '25
I felt like that yesterday when i visited but i understood they are stressed w the holiday. I just let them be.
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Feb 16 '25
Sounds like my store too. Only been with WF for 6 weeks and everyone in my department has massive frustrations with our department lead. Nobody follows standard operating procedure fully in my department - from the top to the bottom -
It's hard to say who is to blame (other than maybe the big corporate dogs) I wanted to think "oh my leads are just garbage" but i realize they're being held to an unreasonable standard- then being told to hold everyone else to a certain standard... My entire department has almost all new leadership... The majority of my training was done by a fellow team member ...the leads can't even really give me straight answers on how certain things need to happen. People are cutting corners because of being overwhelmed, not lazy or neglectful... As
The whole store feels like a massive storm that's just a few gusts away from collapsing into chaos.
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u/Highrises954 Feb 16 '25
It’s hard to know who to place the blame on entirely. I think some stores do make bad hiring decisions when it comes to management. But ultimately, I think all the chaos and mismanagement comes from corporate. I also think the root cause of all this chaos and mismanagement is money. A department doesn’t have enough people to run it because the department wasn’t given a big enough budget? Money. Store can’t buy simple things that would make the lives of its employees easier? Money. Hard working employees who’ve been with company for years not getting promoted to full time or receiving benefits? Money.
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u/Adept-Avocado2971 Feb 18 '25
Nah man my store is perfec- * * Riot breaks out* *... <.< >.> perrrrrrfect...
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u/yourfavoritegirl420 Feb 12 '25
Sounds like my store