laborer

production associate

grower

assembler

warehouse associate

Green Circle Growers

The GCG General Labor position was a disappointing work venture. Despite the great overtime pay, ($15 per hour), starting pay is usually low-dollar: $9.75 for most starting workers. If a person stays longer than 90 days, there is a chance for a 25-cent raise due to passing the probationary period implemented for most new workers. Beyond that, most workers won't see any change unless they are able to upgrade to a different position or stay longer than a year. Most workers will get about an additional 10 to 25-cent pay raise after a year. Paychecks are earned bi-weekly. The company uses Paycor as a payroll distributor, which can be accessed and installed on a smartphone through the Google Play Store app.

Most of the work is physical labor (for general laborers). The work locations and co-workers change frequently, and a lot of the workers speak Spanish, so it's best to learn some basic Spanish. One day you might work on an assembly line putting plants in pots. On another day, you might be out in greenhouse bays picking up fully grown plants and loading them onto wheeled carts. There are three main facilities at the GCG complex: Plants 1, 2, and an Orchid range. You may be switched around due to higher volume of shipments at a specific plant, but most workers are primarily stationed at one of the three facilities  (unless someone requests to move to a different plant). Wherever a person goes, one can always expect similarly various and poor planning.

Depending on the season and any affiliated holidays, daily expectations can vary wildly. The management staff frequently changes daily objectives throughout a day without any sort of warning or foresight. The staff might give some vague idea of what to expect before work begins, but most of their expectations are hackneyed for similar menial work; most of the work is, unfortunately, contingent on crew leaders and workers taking on more tasks than are realistically and qualitatively achievable in a single day.

Consequently, even the most "normal" day can confuse and disorientate even the most experienced and tenured workers. Anyone seeking a job at this company should do well to either request to stick with a specific person who actually knows what they are doing or persistently request crew leaders and management to actually provide training. Otherwise, management staff and crew leaders will expect an inexperienced worker to struggle and take the blame for any mishaps that could be avoided through training. The Human Resources staff might say there is an "orientation" meeting prior to starting work at GCG, but it's really an hour-long paper signing marathon with a 10 to 15-minute safety video. Prospective workers get a take-home booklet of safety documents and other paperwork. After that, the closest thing to training is the work itself. This wouldn’t be as much of a hassle if workers were given some time to focus and properly finish a job, but focus (and a job well-done) is only defined by how fast a person can finish a job. 

I do not encourage any person to apply for a job at this company, because it takes very little liability in training and managing its workers. If a prospective worker expects career-defining opportunities in greenhouse work or botany in general, don’t apply to GCG. Make a career out of realistic objectives and proper attention to quality products or services. However, if you are inexperienced in greenhouse work and join the company anyway, I recommend taking every precaution for preparing a possible long-term slog with this company, because a majority of the workers and staff  - even the most experienced - are usually unprepared for the day ahead. Fair warning.

After more than three years of dedication to Green Circle Growers, I made the difficult decision to move on. During my time there, I took on what was presented as a managerial role, leading and mentoring two designers while handling responsibilities well beyond what was expected. However, I later discovered that despite being told I was a manager, I was officially classified as a supervisor the entire time—an incredibly disappointing realization that undermined the growth and leadership I had built within the company.

For the next Creative Brand Manager stepping into this role, do not accept anything less than $85,000–$90,000. To put things into perspective, a social media position within the company is compensated around $73,000, despite producing content that consistently receives minimal engagement. If leadership truly valued the brand, they would ensure equitable pay based on impact and expertise.

The biggest challenge within the department is the lack of strategic planning. When project managers introduce new product launches, there is no upfront strategy. Instead of leveraging the brand and design team’s experience, decisions are reactive rather than proactive. Strategy is often an afterthought—long after the opportunity to make a strong market impact has passed.

Upper management functions more as a middleman that says "yes" without questioning "why." There is little effort to refine processes, encourage learning, or implement improvements. Without this, the team remains stuck in an endless cycle of last-minute execution rather than thoughtful brand building.

Beyond the workplace challenges, a deeper issue runs through the company: homophobia. I can say this from personal experience. It is not a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ individuals, and inclusivity is clearly not a priority. Additionally, career advancement is less about talent and hard work and more about having the "right" connections. The reality is that the only way to move up is to either be part of the family that owns the company or share the same religious beliefs and church affiliations as those in power.

While I gained valuable experience and worked alongside talented individuals, these structural and cultural challenges ultimately made it clear that my professional growth needed to continue elsewhere.


Over the past few years at Green Circle Growers, the work environment has been shaped by long and demanding hours combined with frequent changes in management. Employees have often been required to work extended shifts, including early mornings, late nights, weekends, and peak seasonal overtime to meet production goals. While this level of commitment helped maintain operational output, it also placed sustained physical and mental strain on staff, especially during periods of high demand.

During this same time, multiple changes in management and supervisory leadership occurred across departments. Each transition brought new expectations, priorities, and management styles, requiring employees to continually adapt to evolving procedures and performance standards. In many cases, policies and workflows were revised or restructured, sometimes with limited transition periods. This created an environment where consistency was difficult to maintain and communication challenges occasionally arose.

Despite these conditions, employees were expected to remain flexible, reliable, and productive while balancing shifting leadership directives with heavy workloads. The combination of long work hours and ongoing management changes contributed to a fast-paced, high-pressure atmosphere that required strong resilience, adaptability, and teamwork from those working on the floor and in support roles.

Working at this company is absolutely soul-sucking. The religious and ultra-conservative views of The Family (who you will be expected to know and love?) are ever-present and overwhelming. As as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I felt worried about my job frequently - other than the individuals I worked closely with daily, I never felt safe being myself. In April of this year, the company traumatized most of its employees with the most poorly managed reduction in force in history - all employees, even those who work from home, were asked to come in last minute. Then, HR tapped people on their shoulders and paraded them across the office, publically humiliating them and making the rest of us sit at the edge of our seats, waiting to see if we would be let go next. Very Crusades, which honestly lines up with the religious dogma of the company so perhaps it wasn't unintentional. They boast 'family first' until upper management makes enough poor financial decisions that leave them with no choice other than to embarrass their employees and let many of them go. But hey, they'll throw a random pizza party and have raffles every Friday to make up for it! Every day was filled with dread and disappointment. I loved my immediate coworkers, but I have never felt so disconnected from a company ever. Big bummer. Don't let them fool you - this is corporate America. 

In the interview, they made it seem like this company was a fabulous place to work. I’m only a couple months in and I have found out. They were completely lying. There is no room for advancement in this company because trust me I have tried and have gotten shut down. The leadership is horrible. They know ongoing problems, and refuse to solve it. They fire great people and or lose great people due to problems being swept under the rug. They don’t understand when people aren’t performing to either give them GOOD corrective action, or have them replaced….. yet instead, they keep them and put their blinders on. It’s pathetic, and every day that I wake up I dread going into work. Their “Bonuses” are bogus. A coworker of mine has been there for two years and got a $.30 raise LOL. 

Would be an amazing place to work but upper management continues to drop the ball. They have "managers" on the floor that have no business managing anything.  Upper management hires their friends so no matter how many complaints they get about them they just sweep it under the rug. Hr tells managers which employee brought something to their attention so you have to worry about retaliation if you say anything. Recently they fired the most knowledgeable grower in the company while the head grower knows almost nothing. They grow a few veggies so they can classify as agriculture and not have to pay overtime. Instead of promoting from within they hire from outside even with multiple Qualified people already employed here. Stay away from this toxic company and its fake "values" unless of course your from Europe or go to church with the owners, then you will be fed everything on a silver platter. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Pay is good...was able to work the schedule I wanted 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Some crew leaders are rude.....for me personally fixing and sowing was stressful. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stressful at times especially if you do not know Spanish. You HAVE to be quick and fast, and be able to work in really cold or really hot environment.you have to be able to lift stacks of trays from time to time,work can be really repetitive. Most people that you work with are friendly. A big portion of them speak Spanish 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You either do planting,sowing or fixing on a daily basis usually they assign you one specific job every week. Ex- one week you may be fixing while another week you could be planting. Very repetitive

No communication between managers means you will be given contradictory tasks and expected to complete all of them. This will not change regardless of attempt to illustrate it.
There is no culture, as 70% of the workforce cannot understand the remaining 30%, leading to constant fighting and misunderstandings.
If you are responsible for machinery, it will not be maintained (0 downtime requirement) regardless of necessity, and when it inevitably breaks down, you will be held responsible.
You will be lied to to get you in the door, deliberately under-equipped, and be expected to take on any duties of management (or any other operations) delegated to you with no corresponding compensation. You will be expected to work wildly varying schedules with no more notice than a note which may or may not be posted.

I spent two months with this company. You’re always going to be a number there. The policies seem to change a lot, and for certain people. I worked in the Orchid plant and the quality of the plants they sent out was horrible. As someone who came from a nursery background, it was really hard to watch diseased and subpar plants get shipped out the door. The hours are all over the place. You’ll be hired for a specific group/shift and you’re never going to work it. One week it’s 60 hours, the next you’re not even working 30. The hours and schedule make it really hard to have a life outside of work. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Safety is non-existent here this is a place you come to work when you're in transition from job to job.
The turnover right here is extremely high so if you get hired don't feel bad if you quit.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The incompetence of upper management especially human resource and production managers could stop buddy system here the good old boys advance onward and upward.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mandatory overtime you may come in expecting to leave at 3:00 but if they need to get orders out guess what you have to stay or else you'll be fired.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Laborer 36 salaries reported	$17.18 per hour
Production associate 12 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour
Grower 4 salaries reported	$22.94 per hour
Assembler 8 salaries reported	$17.33 per hour
Warehouse associate 4 salaries reported	$17.17 per hour

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