Disappointing - Counter Help Panda Express Employee Review

Probably the biggest problem Panda Express faces is management. The company's hierarchy comes up with some really amazing ideas to promote not just the happiness of guests, but of employees as well. However, there is always that wall (management) that prevents some of these amazing ideas to get to service employees. If you were to ask a cook, a counter help, or a kitchen help, what the company mission and culture is? Most of them would tell you that they do not know. The problem is that management rarely communicates things like these to employees. They assume that because some of these employees do not know English or do not show "interest", they they are not worth explaining what the company does and hopes all their employees to enjoy and live by. The company promotes empowerment, however GM's and ACO's seem to always ignore the brilliant ideas many of these employees come up with. At the end of the day they are the ones doing the sales for the business and their bonuses. Many manager will tell you that because the way they do things is the way they have been doing it for many years, and that there is no need to change anything. Many times the answer to buying new tools (Brooms, dusters, trash cans, etc) and fixing things (Floor buffer/washer, etc) is that it is too expensive and if they fix that, employees will not get much or none for their bonuses. Which is a funny thing, because bonuses for service employees come from Sales, and it is the managers' bonuses that depends on P&L balances as well as revenue and expenses. Cooks at Panda Express are not only cooks and responsible for the cleanliness of the Back-of-the-House, but they are also electricians, painters, maintenance crew, etc. They are always told to do more than they can in one day. For line employees, we are most of the times discourage to act on our own. If an employee comes up with an idea of what would be best on how to clean the floors or to keep quality of food, a manager or assistant manager would tell you that they have been working for Panda for longer than you, and that you do not need to tell them what and how to do things. Most of us are discourage to even share our ideas, because we are more likely to be told no by management. Also, most employees are not trained on how to react to situations that happen all the time at work: guests incidents, malfunction of a piece of equipment, etc. Most of these employees are just taught how to serve, clean, ring up transactions. There seems to be no active/strategic Human Resources department in the company. When new recipes come up, new training techniques, etc. HR does not asks managers or employees if they feel these techniques work. Training for new employees is the worst I have ever experience. Paraphrasing what a manager once told me, this is a technique that managers use to see how a new hire reacts to the "pressure". This so called technique consist of the new hire just standing there not knowing what to do because no training of any sort had been given to him/her. This techniques is for them to watch and see if they can pick up on how these employees react and are able to learn from watching what others are doing. Most new hires have no clue of what they are doing, and this is the best way to see if a NEW HIRE, is worth keeping. Rest and Meal breaks are supposed to be a big deal for the company, but most managers are just concerned about Sales and Labor Cost. A 10-minute rest break is supposed to be taken before the end of your fifth hour. Your Meal break is supposed to be taken every time an employee works more than 6.0 Hrs. However many employees are scheduled to come to work for six hours (and they are required to take a meal break). If an employee works 11am to 5pm, he/she is required to take a 30-minute meal break. Turning a six-hour-shift into a 5.5-hour-shift. Meal breaks are rarely taken by kitchen staff; and when they do, the sit for 10 minutes to eat, then continue working while clocked out. They say they do it so they do not get behind, because the back-of-the-house is always short on people, especially in stores that do not have big numbers in sales. I could go on and on about the many cons of Panda Express, but I do not think it is worth it.