Very Bad Experience - Grocery Clerk Publix Employee Review

1.0
Aug 13, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Weekly paycheck. Good benefits if full time.

Cons

Very poor management. Favoritism was a problem. You are expected to act robotic. You are told what to say, how to think, how to act. I was even told I should hug customers! Management too prideful to accept suggestions. They make you watch ridiculous videos on how to handle situations that require little common sense (I was forced to watch a video on how to use a box cutter!). The first day of spending three hours watching pointless videos I could have had real on the job training. Management did not lead their team. They relied on their videos to train employees. Extremely crazy schedule. One day you will work 12-8 and be expected to come back in at 4am. They are so focused on customer experience it is almost impossible to get your job done in a timely manner (can't pull pallets on the floor, no trash buggies, etc). They were lacking a routine. You walk in the door and have no clue what they will have you do for the day. No planning ahead, for example they know a truck will come at 6pm yet they do not clean the backroom to make room for it. When the truck arrives, they frantically run around panicking of where to put it. The grocery back room was always a mess and it was very hard to work around so much clutter. Their technology was good but it was not executed properly so trucks were always over ordered resulting in too much product with no space to put it. Sometimes we literally had to crawl on top of pallets to get somewhere. For a company that prides themselves on how they treat employees and customers you would think they would have a safer work area. You can't be over 4 minutes late, but if you clocked in one minute early you would get in trouble. Evaluations were a joke. I was told I need to help other associates more and that I spent too much time handling my own responsibilities (which is what I was told to do). If you ever had a question you would be talked to as if you were stupid. I have gotten belittled many times just for asking if management needed help with anything. There was no accountability. The only way to stand out is to suck up to customers or managers. Hard work, experience, intelligence, or dedication mean nothing to them.

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5.0
Apr 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Feels like family Responsive to employee needs great training

Cons

Only hire part time employees

3.0
May 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing 401K, free stock after one year of employment, health insurance is very good for part-time employees if only getting it for yourself, management always approves time off requests, hours are always available, will work around school schedules, tuition reimbursement program, will reimburse you for gas for work-related expenses as needed and will put you in a hotel as needed for work-related reasons that are more than 50 miles from your home.

Cons

Not every store is the same, some stores are run better than others, some managers look down upon people with disabilities, and some see people with disabilities the same as someone without disabilities, they are very big about favoritism, you have to work a lot to earn a vacation, the company does not give out sick time and full-time gets the most benefits and is next to impossible to get full-time. Also, you practically have to be a former employee with a clean record or related in some way to a current employee to get a job with the company though Kentucky Publix's don't quite function that way.

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