Shoppers Drug Mart Employee Reviews about "head office"

Pros

Employee discount (although it used to be a lot better back in the day)

Cons

Each store are very different. Some are decent to work for some are pure hell. Head office does give all stores security people and it puts us at risk as theft is sometimes a weekly event or more often at some stores. Some of these thieves carry pepper spray and are not afraid of hurting people. Someone I know in the company told me that head office says that bc stores are whiners. That that sound like a company that cares for its staff? They care more about sales (both in store and online) and customers than they ever will you. You are easily replaceable, customers are not. This is not a career; it’s a job. All the good ones figure this out sooner or later and leave. Good for students and even then I would t stay long. Dead end job really. Once you cap out at the maximum pay you’ll have to sell more to make more, but with more and more stores opening and online sales increasing every year its harder and harder to do that. Better off somewhere else.

Pros

The company is franchised so if you luck out and find employment at a store with an associate and colleagues that you have a good connection with then it can be a decent place to work. And positive points (in my opinion) are all based on the specific store you are employed at. Location is a huge factor.

Cons

SDM is under the Loblaws umbrella. Which is a downfall. The associate is under enormous pressure from head office to keep labor hours to a minimum. And each year it is getting worse and worse. This puts a huge amount of stress on each employee, as the workload is gradually increasing. And is becoming very stressful. In addition to the added stress; the hourly wage doesn’t match up with the work quantity. Also, the specific location that I personally am employed at, is one of the highest theft locations in Vancouver. It’s becoming increasingly more dangerous for staff as security hours are also minimal. SDM company standards do not allow for employees OR security to have any contact with shoplifters which a majority of thieves are aware of this rule, and makes shoplifting easy for any person. We have to deal with way too much abuse from customers and thieves and allow customers to verbally abuse staff. Or we run the risk of customer complaints to head office. We also have the threats of being stabbed with contaminated syringes or weapons. As well as many instances involving pepper spray. If head office would understand what we have to deal with on a daily basis, maybe they would consider having some sort of empathy and make some changes. But Loblaws doesn’t care about staff. They pay the bare minimum and we are treated like slaves.

Pros

Growth opportunities, Clear path to goals, easy for students

Cons

Very large disconnect from head office to store level. Seems most district and regional managers know nothing of front line work.

Pros

The processes set in place are clear to follow and easy and it’s nice that all locations follow it so if you move from one store to another it’s easy to get into the work flow.

Cons

Pushy head office with too many customer promotions. Pharmacy should be more focused on the patient’s health and not how many points cards etc can we scan/create each month.