stocking associate

produce associate

retail sales associate

packer

delivery driver

Harmons Grocery

I usually stand at a register and ring up customer orders. On some occasions and for scenery change, I have an opportunity to help other departments. Sometimes I bag for customers. I have learned about new grocery items, tips on picking the right produce, cooking certain items that I haven't cooked before, trying new items and telling a customer what I think of that product. Management is usually supportive and laid back, but is disorganized how things should be ran. The hardest parts of this job is dealing with unhappy customers, which is typical, dealing with crazy and irrational customers is another thing, but good thing management has to interfere and mediate the situation. As a cashier, sometimes too many buttons to remember to push to proceed payments and paperwork procedures. Also having to bend down without killing backs to pick up customers' groceries since there is no belt. Dealing with some co-workers and management with totally different polar personalities and how they show how grumpy they can be on certain days. The most enjoyable part of the job is regulars that come in to tell stories and how deep down to earth some people can get. Plus the workers I deal with in the front end are all great to work with and other workers in other departments as well. 
Unfortunately, it's really hard to get full time even if there is an opening for another position without having to go through certain obstacles to get promoted. It seems the lucky ones either have the skills and experience and of course the ones that been there the longest that already had that opportunity. I have tried a few times without success and working my tail off. Most of the full time positions are either specialty areas or management of some sort. Going to pursue somewhere else that can promise me full time with benefits and steady hours right away, not having to play getting promoted full time games with this company and not getting it.

Fridays and Saturdays were pretty busy. Most other days were more so slow. Holidays were terrible. I learned some work ethics. Management was not great. Don’t get too close to coworkers (like in any job) especially as teens at harmons. The hardest part of the job was having to wear a mask even into like mid 2021 and the holidays were not great. Expensive food so don’t buy meals on your break there even though the food is good, it’ll drain a good chunk of your paycheck fast. Employee discount was barely anything. You have to work 40 hours to be considered full time and even then you don’t get full time benefits (is what I heard from some co-workers on the front end). Lower than average pay. Some of the harmons management was rude and dishonest. Training wasn’t the best but it was ok. Most of the people who worked there for a longer time on the front end are/were cool. Got to leave early sometimes which was nice. Bagging was easy for the most part and kinda fun, but also stressful as heck some days (like holidays). Had to work in other departments which was sometimes fun but also could suck depending on what department and when. Go backs were a good way to burn time and learn the store. I’d highly recommend that you try learning where everything is as quickly as possible (at any grocery store) because it’s sucks being asked where something is and being told you should know because you work there even though there’s thousands of different products. Some customers were very rude. Some customers were awesome. A lot of co-workers I had only halfed it, so I had to pick up slack a lot. You’ll spend a lot of time as a bagger with the cashiers so be nice to them but don’t prioritize your convos with your favorite cashier over your job because it makes it hard on the other baggers. Also a lot of the teen coworkers would spread rumors and lies about other coworkers but probably isn’t happening any more, at least I hope for future employees especially. It was sometimes fun but overall I would say you should probably find a job somewhere else but only do this job if you’re desperate, but if you do, proceed with caution. Theres a lot more I could say but it’s best I keep it at that.

Overall, Not great...
The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because of my coworkers. The upper management (store director/managers) dont really care about the employees and its all about the numbers. 
They promote the employees who fuel upper mgmt's egos instead of people who already do the work of a "manager". 
They promote bad behavior by ignoring complaints or targeting the "accusers" instead of doing any investigations. 
The people who I have seen be very passionate about their jobs and being positive had all lost their motivation and were burning out as I was leaving. 
Everyone was tense anytime the Store Director was in store working due to the "purges", as we all called them, happened whenever management was in a bad mood. (Including nit-picking,  constant hovering, calling people up to the office all the time, etc) 
Overall just not a great working environment.
There were constant injuries and anyone who reported them were told it was "their fault" and no action was taken to fix the problems. 
On every job description they put "And any other tasks assigned" meaning you could be doing the job of a manager and be paid 16 an hour. 
Full time employees are required to have open availability, and its not guaranteed to have your time off requests accepted, especially if a manager doesn't like you. 
I had multiple instances where my sick pay wouldn't go through and I had to contact corporate to be paid for sick leave.

Employees will complain constantly but won't take any action or say anything out of fear of being written up or being ignored.

I could go on.

There’s a lot of things to say about Harmons but I’ll start by saying it’s a great job for people who are out of high school but not into their career yet.  Expectations are very high but with hard work you can meet and go beyond them.  I have a few coworkers I don’t like but the rest are all amazing people who work hard and are easy to get along with.  The pay is pretty good if you’re at the max which I got to pretty fast (10 months).  I was originally planning on getting a degree while working at harmons so I was satisfied with the $15.95 I make, but after deciding school isn’t for me the only way to make enough to support myself without barley scraping by would to become a department manager.  Unfortunately this is where my problem with the company lies (although I feel this problem is very specific to me because of my current department manager)  even thought I’m a model employee who works super hard, has excellent customer service and is always on time, respectful and teachable management won’t help me out expanding my skill set to give me the qualifications just to apply for an assistant manager position.  The other issue is that managers make about $65,000 if they hit all their bonuses which is plenty enough for me but they’re also required to work 45 hours a week and often work over 50 and can’t get overtime or holiday pay. However any position above department manager pays well and seems significantly less stressful.  I like working here, but my current position doesn’t pay enough to support myself and I fell like I’ve hit a dead end despite being a model employee.

Working here is an anomaly. I have all the interpersonal problems of working at a small business, while also finding myself systemically 'handled' by the corporate structure of retail. I find both extremely frustrating. However for the first time in my food service career my entry level work environment is updated and modern, also things that break always get fixed. When I need time off I generally get it, and often with some pay. My health insurance is good and affordable and complete. While my paycheck still falls short of being enough for actual living it is the best pay for the type of work I do, offered by any similar company around. Harmons as a company tries harder and succeeds at more than most. There is an obvious expenditure on fostering employee culture and promoting the general well-being of their employees. They offer a clear career path and many kinds of work with the ability to change jobs within the company. They have actual functional human resources people who can respond to you on site at each store. They offer real training and take time to teach employees about their operations and policies. I have sick pay. I have vacation pay. I get holiday pay. I get overnight and Sunday incentive pay. I have a 401k with company match. We are closed on Christmas. These benefits just can't be overstated in food service. I've made food at various companies, both good and bad for 15 years. I've always dealt with the same problems, but I've never had all of or often even one of these benefits before. This company does invest in you. This may be the best job of it's kind.

My experience there @ Harmons West was definitely one I won’t forget, although I was there a short time It was something short of a test of my patience. Every day was new experience either getting blamed for errors that were not mine, or consistent interruptions between myself and I while trying to help a patient. Be prepared to have coworkers interfere while trying to do your job as a technician, or for them to just hijack the whole encounter. The lead technician is very big on preaching “ positivity in attitude, speech, and demeanor” but yet struggles to follow his own guidelines. He once Gave me a verbal written warning for not calling him, when he never even gave me his cell number, at times can be quit rude. There is another fellow Technician who tried my patience each time I worked with her, she made a habit to question, myself and all other techs and Pharmacists about each move we made, It became quite annoying to be grilled about my work and why I chose to do things.. as if nothing could be done without here guidance.. they required me to voice i was a tech in training (which I did not do, after 11 yrs as a Technician I deserve the title CPhT , not a tech in training) the rest of the crew were awesome and the RPHs a pleasure to work with. Be diligent in your job ask as many questions as you want and keep busy to avoid unnecessary drama and separate your home life from your work life don’t mix the two, be confident and speak up for yourself you’ll be fine, the customers are awesome in that area.

What is the best part of working at the company?
You get a small discount on food.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At the location I was at, mandatory training days being on Sunday (a day I was busy) and working with the management were the most stressful. It was also stressful at first to learn the cash register. You could tell who had been there awhile because they were kinda mean and seemed dead inside.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
At the location I worked at, one thing was said about diversity and unity in orientation, but the reality was that multiple departments were hostile to those in protected groups, including those with autism. When concerns were brought up to management, they were ignored. Some people's religious beliefs in my department were viewed with contempt, as were my own. Weirdly, when people left, although there were grounds for lawsuits.... no one actually sued the company. Its difficult to describe how it felt. There was a weird mentality the workers had.. it was like uniformly they wouldnt say anything when they left. It was just weird. I'm glad to not be there.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I worked as a cashier during the holiday season, and most of it was bagging groceries until I was trained. They trained you how to bag so you didn't crush bread or anything fragile. The bagger would get the bag of ice and put back items a customer didn't want.  You would assist customers with loading groceries into their vehicle.

Loving your job and putting your career first is one thing, but Harmon's took it to another level. For a company who boasts about putting their employees first, they sure didn't do much of it. They will schedule you for a certain time, but expect you to be there 15 minutes early, no matter what - I got a talking to about this on more than one occasion, and was even told on a day when traffic was bad due to road work and an accident on the road that I needed to "plan for that". In my case, this would have meant leaving my house an hour earlier than my shift (I lived 30 mins from my workplace), just in CASE there happened to be trouble on the road. My managers in particular would also would also hire many, many more employees than were needed, so that they could get away with not scheduling anyone more hours 12-20 hours a week. I worked as a "full-time reduced" employee for a time, and was eventually docked to part time because they would only schedule me 32 hours a week (which is the bare minimum for FTR employees), and because I was minutes below the minimum some weeks in a row, they were able to demote me. Harmon's is not a good place to work, and for the most part management ignores the employees unless they need to be reprimanded. They cover it up with free food in the break rooms and brief events, but in the end it never made up for the work environment.

I worked for Harmons for 12+ years. I worked from an entry-level position, to an assistant to a board member, to a department director. 

Harmons is a great place for entry level employees, and they display a beautiful front, but the company is a complete mess behind the scenes and is run largely by incompetent individuals who’ve simply been with the company for decades. They’ve had tremendous luck the last 15 years, but the drivers of innovation and excellence have, sadly, left or retired. 

The amount of exploitation of their middle-management is shocking and completely inappropriate. Goals are set so they can rarely be attained (though the board bonuses every quarter, interestingly), the responsibilities aren’t even nearly fairly compensated, and there is no loyalty shown to middle-management for time served, positive past performance nor accomplishments, nor for any amount of going above and beyond. 

After years of stress and frustration, I implore anyone looking to work for this company to please reconsider. There is no need to give your efforts to a company that will not appreciate them, especially when there are so many other companies that pay better, recognize their workers as actual humans and treat them as such. 

Working in the bakery is fast-paced with a high workload. Even though it's stressful, it's fulfilling. Overall, my coworkers are great to work with. Not always, but we care about and support each other.
My manager works harder than any other manager at my store. And they very clearly care about me personally.
The hardest part of my job is the workload and getting everything done on time, but I enjoy making cakes all day. Despite all of us being stressed out, we're still able to laugh and have fun with each other.
Upper management isn't the best. Harmons claims to care about their employees, but they're still made up of individuals who don't. I went through a personal crisis and the store director basically told me to get over it. They treat my department poorly, putting unfair expectations on us. They also don't care at all that we're understaffed and my manager has to work endless overtime to keep everything running.
Other than that, I've loved working for Harmons. My department is great, HR is great - both at my store and at the corporate level.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Stocking associate 14 salaries reported	$22.71 per hour
Produce associate 10 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour
Retail sales associate 10 salaries reported	$1,820 per week
Packer 10 salaries reported	$2,060 per week
Delivery driver 10 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour

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