sales associate

optician

optometrist

general manager

office assistant

Shopko Optical

I normally don't do these, but I just had to in this case. I have rarely been treated this poorly. 

Pros:
I think the thing I enjoyed the most here was the co-workers, everyone kind of understood that things were how they were, and just made the best of it. They were very helpful to new people.
Additionally, I was decently compensated, not everyone was.

Cons:
This company is very behind the times in several Key areas. Training, Policies, Management, and Technology, and their treatment of employees. 

Training: Mostly Computer-based learning, pretty typical, except I've never seen such...weird tones in them...almost threatening in some senses.  However, the on the job training was about a day...and I was expected to learn the store in about a day before I was expected to know where things were at on demand. I barely got a rundown on what my actual function was, and the process was.

Policies: These just seemed so outdated, Walmart, Target, and Bestbuy are more in sync with the times, and in some ways, that's good for Shopko and in some ways that's bad. An example of the good is you are sent home early there is early dismissal pay, for example. On the bad side, basically if you are a supervisor, you may not be friends, or even communicate with your coworkers outside of work. It's a very anti-team building policy, and this policy was worded in such a way that you could easily be forced to leave the company if a hint of an infraction was detected. You can't communicate on social media, you can't hang out with anyone, even for a group sort of event. Other Retailers have moved away from this somewhat.

Management: My experience was that they were generally friendly, however, there was no communication between some levels of management, and some management liked to threaten to contact HR, it seemed heavily implied that it was for punishment. Management did not handle coaching situations in the greatest way, doing it in the presence of other people and customers, and threatening to contact HR to determine "What they should do" about whatever slight they may think has been done. Management also posted memos in the office, discouraging people from talking about their schedules when they weren't happy, and in addition, tried to groom people into accepting that during black Friday, they would not get to spend any time with their family. They tried to play off the number of hours required, generally 20 hours of overtime, no holiday pay for some, and generally working 6 days in a row. This included completely odd hours, including less than 12 hours between shifts, and for other sometimes less than that. 

(This lower section is my experience with one manager, and is not reflective of all management, just my particular experience. I had another great manager, an okay one, and a not so great one.)

If you tried to get a little wiggle room in scheduling you were shot down. In my instance, I was accused of not caring about my teammates and setting a bad example simply because I wanted an hour lunch, on Thanksgiving, since I was coming in an extra hour early, and was going to be there for 12 hours. It did not feel like we were human to the manager in particular. He seemed Fanatical, and if you didn't show the same commitment, or weren't 100% on board, you weren't a solid teammate. 

Technology and Processes. 

This company is almost a screenshot of Retail in the early 1990s. This place Does not make available, or researchable any items modular information. If you are trying to find something on the floor, unlike Target, Bestbuy, or Walmart, there is no set location. The isles aren't even numbered. They use a scarce planogram system, but if you wonder why newer people can't tell you where something is, this is why. (And the technology to implement an item location system is there.)

 Years ago Walmart was using handhelds to pick their online orders. Shopko has some of that technology, and they have not been able to reach that level, their processes seem to be about 10 years or more behind Walmart, target, and BestBuy. They preach being as efficient as possible, but their process is so time-consuming and slow, it's maddening and extremely inefficient. Not to mention their layouts seem inefficient. 

(I will admit they don't make as much money and can't invest as much, but they item locate their backroom, so it wouldn't be hard to do their sales floor as well. )

General Employee treatment:
In general, the company doesn't seem to care about its employees, at all. From its signage in the break room, the training, and veterans of the company complaining about not getting a raise in years. It's just so apparent the company is desperate for money, especially in how they treat you. There are so many posters up about how to avoid scams, coupon management, and the like, and it's implied very heavily in some of these there is no mercy, there is no second chance, you mess up one time and you could be done. Even an honest mistake could be it. These mistakes can happen since the training is rather ineffective in some cases.

The holidays are an always a trying time in retail but expect little to no mercy here at all. I've already gone into some of this but from the letters telling you not to complain, to having no wiggle room at all, when a shift may be out of your normal schedule.  You are literally asked to give up your entire holiday for subs from a sandwich shop. I was told that they had that food because you are giving up your Thanksgiving. As if a cheap sub from a shop, could replace your entire time with your family, the meal that you may have had with your family, all because they were desperate to be the first one open. (They pretty much said in not so many words that they had to open this early to hope to get people to spend their money there first.) 


Not to mention you are perpetually understaffed in an already in a very inefficient system, and they expect you to meet the goal no matter how many people you are supposed to have, and how many you actually have. And temporary associates were viewed and treated poorly in some cases.

TLDR. I do recommend working here. There are some great workers, but management and technology implementation, policies, and attitudes of the company make it pretty clear they are just barely staying afloat, and sinking a bit each year. 

Save yourself the time, stress, and frustration, try somewhere else.

I joined the Shopko optical team back in August of 2016. My original intention was to get myself involved with the healthcare industry and patient relations since my overall goal is to become a medical doctor in the future. A typical day at work in the optical department is usually fast-paced and always keeping you on your toes. Learning everything to do is quite challenging but it is not impossible. I learned a lot. Everything from medical records to insurance claims, you get all the training on them. Optical equipment and glasses repair also is instructed. Although the methods of learning these processes is quite lengthy and not concrete. It is a lot of "monkey see, monkey do" kind of learning. I call it this because if it was instructed in a proper format, you wouldn't have to ask so many times before someone can actually come and SHOW you how to do something rather than just the plain explanation which never is useful when the instructions are quite complicated. Other than this, the workplace culture is quite loose. Everyone is just doing their job and kind of enjoying it. Joking around and making friends with fellow employees was very valuable to me. Some days it was awesome, and some where just plain work-place culture. The hardest part of this job is the learning curve. You learn a lot, and you need to learn it fast. As a part-time employee who was also a high school student, this was hard. I was always stuck with the jobs that nobody wanted to do which wasn't all that awful. The most enjoyable part of the job is the look on customer's faces when they get new glasses. I especially loved it when patients came in to get their first pair of glasses ever. The look on their face is priceless when they get to experience clear and crisp vision. Their smile tells me that they truly are thankful and excited to see the world in a new way, and just the fact that I got to help them with this makes that the best part of the job. Overall, this job is easy to get into, fast-paced, and requires a big learning curve.

I had a very positive experience in my employment with the Shopko Stores. There management team was very kind and inviting towards there associate or teammate family and for the most part the morale involved with the company felt quite positive as well....!! 

I held a cashiering position with the company and I never felt under appreciated either as a person and or an associate/teammate. ; D 
My coworkers were always quite friendly/excepting/understanding and accommodating as well!! As a new employee, everyone was very willing to show a newbie the ropes in the right/safe way/direction!! ; D 

The few criticisms that I would have for the smaller of companies that I was with is the luxury of a cart pushing aide/machine.( For myself personally, it was a lot more physical labor than I could handle at the time without the assistance of a machine and I found my work performance would suffer just slightly in a customer check out rush situation because of this.) Other personal criticisms that I would have to mention would have to be towards a few direct Customer Service Supervisors that I found could have stood to have shown a little more restraint in front of our customer's then some did, as far as some attitudes were concerned. And as associates/teammates as a whole, we could have all paid a little more attention to the Stores men's and women's facilities and when it comes to floor associate's/teammates participation in cashiering during an incredibly busy and cashier shorthanded situation.

Overall as a whole tho, I had a very positive experience with the Shopko Store's and  were it within the Shopko Stores Inc. means to be able to compensate a higher pay wage for those with a more experienced retail background I would definitely reconsider continuing there. I had found that we had a very great management team and that they were very accommodating with all of my personal needs/requests. Every single time.

Normal day begins with supervising a team of 8 covering responsibilities ranging from Facilities and Asset management, to budget and forecast variance analysis, to Inventory Control management. Met with Executive level leadership (I report to the CFO with a dotted line to the Chief Administrative Officer) on a weekly basis providing financial leadership and insight on Capital, Budget, Forecast, and Inventory variances, updates on current projects, and report any risk management issues in the field.  Participate in all Month End Income Statement and Balance Sheet meetings as well as Company Executive Summary meetings.
Management has always allowed me to do my job without looking over my shoulder, something I do appreciate.  They expect that the people they have hired in their roles to be the experts in their field and treat them as such.  My staff is the main reason I love my job.  The team works hard, is eager to learn, and appreciate teaching.  I love being able to provide teaching moments to my employees, helping to make them better, and in turn, the department better.  We work in a pretty relaxed atmosphere where I am available to them when they need me, whenever they need me.  The hardest part of the job is managing employee morale.  We have been through a number of job elimination episodes in the past few years and the rumors are persistent throughout the building on a daily basis.  Keeping people positive and forward-looking during these times is crucial and essential, but at times difficult. Its during these times I have learned to be a better manager, keeping focus on the task at hand at what we control and offer reassurance.  I enjoy the work I do, but looking for that secure feeling, in a role where advancement is possible, something that is in doubt in my current role.

Being customer service, you are the first and last impression of the store for everyone that comes in. Customers are the majority of the people that you see and talk to all day. I do not mind at all talking with people and helping them out and giving them a good experience. I learned the importance of a cashier in a store and just how big of a role that they play, and i also gained an entirely new respect for cashiers and customer service workers anywhere. The management was more so what I had an issue with. It is very unprofessional and very hypocritical, which I and many other co-workers were not happy about. Also the store was very corporate run. It seemed like every single thing had to be run by them. For example, theft became very high for a particular product. Instead of doing something immediately to stop it, the manager had to call corporate and make sure that it was okay to put anit-theft systems on the product which took almost another week and essentially losing the company more money due to the theft that still went on while waiting for a response. My co-workers are awesome, I loved working with every single one of them which made the job that much better. The hardest part of the job was having to deal with rude customers only because sometimes they were so rude that they made you feel worthless and as if you had no idea what you were even doing. The most enjoyable job though was also the customers. I loved being that one person that might have been the only person that that customer had talked to all day, or making someones day by saying hello and asking how they were doing. I don't mind being just someone that they can talk to. I liked being the person that could give that lasting impression about the organization, and talking with the customers enough to build a relationship with them in the aspect of wanting to come back and knowing the regular shoppers.

The pay at Shopko is extremely low and not in line with the job duties.  Although my job was problem solving, deep program knowledge, testing, customer service, requirements writing, project ownership, merchandising, SEO, and more; I was classified as "data entry" and paid as such.  I made less than a customer service specialist makes.  My rate of pay was not enough to support my family and while working at shopko I qualified for and received food stamps. 

Job seekers, beware of promises of raises and promotions, these are non existent.  I received one raise of .25 in my four years with the company.  Make sure any compensation you accept is something you can live on for the next 50 years because Shopko is never going to raise it.  

Of course, because the pay is so low and advancement does not exist, this means what employees actually do is simply leave within about 2 years.  The whole corporate office is actually just a training ground for other retailers/competitors and area businesses.  Shopko is an OK place to go if you can't find anything else.  The good news is they will let you take on as much work as you want.  Pad your resume, put some projects under your belt, and leave for a real employer for twice what you were making.  The EMT program in particular is a great way to get ready for a career - somewhere else.  

There were five rounds of layoffs in a 12 month period, the most recent being less than 4 months ago.  This is a company that is opening new stores and growing its foot print aggressively while at the same time cutting the workforce.  Things have fallen through the cracks and ultimately this isn't sustainable but it won't really matter because as described above you aren't going to actually stay with the company anyway.

I am now full time in the apparel area at Shopko.  My first task is to make sure all customers are either being helped or able to check out. I would then gather all of the returns that go to our department,  Gather up my scanning gun and report to desk.  Check the appearance of the store picking up anything out of place on the racks or on the floor.  Check the fitting rooms and fitting room return rack for merchandise.  Scan all and return to the department where it belongs.  Star Courtesy on the overhead means all available team mates report to the registers for assistance.  Check schedule for individual tasks (unloading Truck, Back Stock or New plan-o-gram) that are not on the every day list.  I answer all customers questions and phone calls.  Check the appearance of the store to make sure everything is as it should be.  
 I have learned so much working at Shopko.  I have worked as customer service specialist in charge of all the money at the end of the night, all the returns, and unhappy customers,  I have worked price accuracy putting items on clearance when we get our list from corporate office.  I even worked in optical for a few months.  Unfortunately all I did for Pharmacy was run the cash register. 
I close the store often and as a Customer service Specialist I was second in charge.  I had keys to the office but not the store.  We have several Managers there and I try to learn from all of them.  The hardest part of my job is the turn over.  We have a lot of High School and College students who I train and move on to their careers.
The most enjoyable part of my job is working with and talking to customers and fellow teammates. I feel good when I leave the place as nice as I would like to find it the next day. There is a lot of satisfaction in a job well done.

After being able to work in two different Shopkos and see the difference and similarities in which they are ran was pretty eye opening. My current managers are very well organized and really know their craft. Unfortunately experience at other Shopkos in the valley make it obvious that the company as a whole lacks real effeciency and structure. While this grants managers a large amount of flexibility, it has caused more managers to struggle then become successful.
Hours are given to managers to divide between multiple employees among departments, but does not offer any structure as to how they should be organized and divided. If a manager is unable find the balance, other departments begin fail.
My managers have higher standards than others i have had experience; while this adds some extra stress and higher expectations, it does create a more efficient and better communicated environment.
My tasks are quite varying depending upon the needs of the store. Run store in place of managers. I also run freight teams when fellow supervisors are off. Close and open store. Handle customer disputes and service. Recovery of the store, Merchandising and setting new planograms.etc
While working for Shopko became good at running teams and completing goals. Learning how to adapt by doing more with less and become comfortable with the concept of constant change and growth in the work place.
I really enjoyed working with people, taking a team and turning them into a successful group of people. I find that who you work with day in and day out are what make a job truly worth it.

Supervised and in charge of opening and closing the store, as the key carrier of store operations
Presented quarterly reports on store layouts and resets to stores management and district manager
Gathered competitive intelligence regarding pricing, promotions, products, and placement, as well as other pertinent information
Executed store resets and product placement and layout guidelines for all store employees, while maintaining company standards and procedures
Conducted daily performance reviews of employees; noted job performance, and assisted subordinate employees on the establishment and pursuit of career goals
Scheduled and maintained employees scheduled hours for the store, while maintaining payroll and requests for time off and vacations days
Coordinated meetings and building inspections; accurately inventoried and managed property valued in excess of $1,000,000, while working closely with our loss prevention team
Instructed and trained employees in complex procedures and skills; taught and ensured compliance with established safety procedures
Performed freight supervisor duties and over watched the shipment and inbound deliveries of all products and goods shipped to store, while properly taking accountability and prioritizing 	all products received throughout freight
Provided outstanding customer service and won several top employee awards and number one team in the district for the best overall performance for a supervisors team, overall

When I originally sought a career with Shopko, I did so off a solid online and teammate recommendation for being a great place to work. Unfortunately, I was onboarded during a heavy transition time and things never got better. Extremely large workloads are regularly added to your weekly tasks that consume a majority of your time already.

 Micromanagement is rampant and there are checklists for checklists that need to be done by certain times of the week or there are repercussions. Corporate visits to store locations are often unannounced and you don't here about them until there's an email from your district director asking questions about things you weren't aware of to begin with. 

Extremely poor logistics lead to delayed information on number and amount of freight shipments. Unexpected deliveries and work orders pop up regularly at any given time with no notification on what should be coming or what work is to be performed by whom. 

Very tight budgeting of payroll leaves you with barely enough coverage to tackle all the tasks you're responsible for daily, let alone provide any form of customer service. Cashier coverage is only allocated for heavier forecasted hours, so early morning and late evening hours often find customers seeing dead check outs and long lines at the service counter. 

Shopko is going the way of Sears and Kmart. Unless a major course correction occurs in the culture of the company, it won't be here in the next 10 years.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 82 salaries reported	$19.50 per hour
Optician 4 salaries reported	$16.80 per hour
Optometrist 48 salaries reported	$145,729 per year
General manager 10 salaries reported	$27.36 per hour
Office assistant 19 salaries reported	$17.84 per hour

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