order picker

cashier

customer service representative

stocking associate

cook

Wegmans Food Markets

The job itself is easy though physically demanding as runners/boxes/cases can be heavy and will wear you out.

Typical shift includes date check, shrinking damages/rotten product, filling shelves or conditioning to make it look full, and occasionally cleaning.

The pay is above average/minimum wage, but you do a lot and they do not differentiate on merit, just role and title. They do give raises ever 6 months, but my hours were cut at the same time. There are people who do more work than others and got paid the same.

Part timers do not get benefits until you hit a certain amount of hours in your first year. Other places have better benefits so idk why they keep promoting it. Best place to work rankings are notoriously paid for. Flex time is the same as sick time with no PTO. Holiday pay is only half day and very few count (not even all federal). 401K matching is only 50% match up 6% and it is quarterly not weekly. You only get coupons for purchases and holiday is only $50. Employee appreciation is just a meal/whatever they have lying around. The employee discounts/perks websites are the same fore every company/retailers. You do get free shoes every 6 months if you want to order though they do not help the pain only safety.

These benefits are mediocre compared to other retailers.

They are flexible in terms of circumstances (outside of work e.g. school/family/work) in scheduling/ emergency call outs.

It is a good opportunity if you never worked in retail before/trying to get your foot in the door, but be wary. You have to have a tough skin.

It was very unwelcoming from the get go. You have to train yourself or ask others who are good in the section for help to be trained. 
It is very cliquey and high school. You have to push to be included.

Most of the employees I met there are nice on face value, but especially overnight it is a boys club. There is a lot of two-faced/bait n switch behavior, cattiness, code switching necessary, and talk behind your back that may not be PC. I ignored and toughed through, but very difficult environment if you have never been exposed to it. 

Most of the managers are not experienced and operate on a scarcity mindset so if you are good at your job or do not fit in to their friend group you will be a target. They need ways to hold power and will push more on those who are quick/lower rank. 

There are too many middle managers/coordinator and lack of actual workers so they push those at a lower rank to do most of the work which results in bullying.

The ideal demographic is mainly young and inexperience modelled and trained to move up, but most leave before then or get pushed to being fired. There is a lot of favoritism. 

Typically retail management with race-gender alignment Upper management is male-white preference first. HR female. Lower management more diverse, but again scarcity mindset of fighting for positions/power. They do not have proper communication techniques. There are some good managers but the majority bad ruin the good.

The majority of employees and management uphold traditional values and thus not actually diverse and inclusive, especially overnight. A lot of lower managers and some staff are ignorant and do not know what bias and stereotypes are, including model minority. 

They don't do bias trainings nor renew trainings annually. Too much time and energy to talk to HR about problems and management is part of the problem/not my job. I didn't plan on moving up and it was only extra income so I try to do my job and go home.




I have worked at Wegmans for four years and I can honestly say it is great if you need extra cash, or are really young like I was when I started. Unfortunately, Wegmans has a lot of problems with management and I could list a multiplicity of things but here's four problems with examples.

1.) Wegmans Good Ole Boys Club
Wegmans has a habit of employing the young and beautiful. I'm 22, definitely not what you'd consider old, but definitely older than most of my fellow co-workers. Wegmans has no problem promoting you to front end coordinator, pushing you into different departments, or promoting you to department coordinator, as long as you do it in the first 6 months you're working there. For some reason there's this really sick atmosphere that promotes all the newest employees into positions of power while everyone else is left fighting on the bottom end of the totem pole. It's weird and extremely obnoxious considering there are people with degrees who can't get promoted to store manager, but a recent high school grad is upper management before you know it.

2.) Communication is HORRIBLE
If you ever have to call off for something, make sure you call 3 times that day to let them know you can't come in because your message WILL NOT be passed around and you may end up with a strike on your record.

3.) Work/Life Balance is a Joke
I remember when I began at Wegmans, my hours were from 4-8, I was 18 and didn't have a car- the hours were perfect because my father had cancer and had to drive me to work after his chemo. When  orientation was over, they switched me from 5-10, which I was not pleased about since I was starting college and had an 8 o'clock class the next morning. When I talked to a manager about this, she told me that "they had a business to run," and couldn't be concerned with my college schedule or my father's chemotherapy. I think about that a lot now every time I want to quit. Also, there are a lot of employees who work 7 days a week without any breaks in between and in physically demanding positions all for the hope of moving up a job ladder that doesn't exist. 

4.) No SECURITY in the store. Unless you're planning on shoplifting.
Literally, there is no security for employees. They have cameras above every register to make sure you're not stealing any precious "nickels and dimes," from the cash register, but let a man walk into the store with a gun and there's no help for you anywhere. I've had plenty of incidents late at night with hostile customers where I've felt less than safe, only to look around and realize my front end manager is not on the front end, and the closest thing to a telephone is behind the customer service desk. 

5.) 400 Employees in the store and I can count the number of people of color on one hand.
Wegmans has a horrible habit of not being as "diverse," as they pretend to be and when they do employ people of color, they're often not in the same department. The store I work at has over 400 employees, and I'm pretty sure our store employes maybe 25-30  people of color. It makes for a very unpleasant environment when we are forced to celebrate holiday traditions that are not relatable but also make us feel like we are "mocking," something that does not belong to us.

I haven't been with Wegmans long, but I would say so far that the company is very fair, and offers more opportunities than any other employers I've worked for so far. I have also not been working very long (22 y/o working since I was 14) but I have worked in a variety of different companies doing generally the same thing (retail and stocking). Wegmans has definitely paid the fairest and given the most benefits. As a PT employee you can receive medical insurance, dental, (vision, I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure FT people get all of it) 401k, scholarship opportunities, etc. As PT, you also get 1 hour PTO for every 30 hours worked. It sounds pathetic on its face, but to be completely fair, I've never even had the opportunity to earn PTO as a PT employee at any company. Never been given it, never had the chance to earn it. So the chance to earn it is really, really nice. If you work max PT hours (30/week) every week, you would earn 4 hours PTO per month. If you're a student, that's anywhere from 34-40 hours by summertime that you could have PTO. If you have a strong work ethic, good morals, and no direction in life, Wegmans is a great place for you to work. They're very flexible and offer a plethora of training opportunities. You can shadow different departments, try you hand for a few days or a week or so in another department, relocate, or if you wanted to change departments but nothing is available at your store, you could apply to another store with an opening. I highly recommend Wegmans if you have no idea what you want to do with your life. Especially if you want to go somewhere in food service. Wegmans offers their own training programs in areas like food service. I do not work in food service, but I did go to a technical school for culinary arts, and I was very fortunate to do so (for free because it was in high school) and I was able to get serv-safe certified, as well as 3 years' experience. Wegmans offers programs similar to that, and reminds me of the same experience. I don't know that you're able to get serv-safe certified officially, but I know they offer things similar to that, and I think that could be a great opportunity for some people that want to go into food service with no direction or those that don't want to go to school for food service. There's plenty of opportunities at Wegmans, and I think it could be a great opportunity to give someone direction if they need it! Also, very open and safe for trans* people. I was a little worried about that as I am with any new jobs, but Wegmans was really good about it. I have not changed my name legally and I have not had an issue yet (to my knowledge) that my coworkers or boss know anything of my legal name. I used to work at Giant, and I used to have to cross out my legal name on the schedule so that it wasn't posted for all to see, but I don't have to worry about that at Wegmans. 


First off let me just start off by saying Wegmans uses the "family owned business" term to cover up Wegmans corporate propaganda. I worked as a prep cook in the kitchen full time. My typical day would be working any time any day with two days off a week. As a prep cook you are looked at at do everything from prepping foods, orders, product rotation, setting hot bars/cold bars and assisting with catering. With such a heavy workload you aren't paid as much as line cooks, lead cooks, sous chefs and executive/store chefs even though your work load is much more hands on and physical and you are working much worse hours. Management at Wegmans is absolutely terrible. Many of the higher up chefs and cooks do not help and simply just talk all day or stay up in their office when the kitchen is short staffed and being pounded with work. Many of the managers have only worked at Wegmans their whole life or have kissed a lot of butt to get where they are so they have completely unrealistic expectations for what work that needs to be done in a day. These people are called lifers and you can sniff them out as soon as they walk through the door because everyone runs up to them to kiss there butt (instead of doing useful work to help). As a full timer you can be transferred to a different store at any time. This leaves you with a lot of uncertainty every day because you never know when you're going to be the next one to be transferred. When you want to move up with the company you have re-post for the position you want almost like you are re-applying for the company even through you already work for them. This makes it easier for them to pick and chose favorites for positions rather than just giving the most qualified person the job. On top of that once you get a job offer for the posting it usually doesn't tell you what store it's at so you are most likely just accepting a position blindly and will find out where it's located once you are transfer. This is what drove me away from the company because when I posted for a line cook they would not tell me at what location the position would be. The only time managers actually work is when the Wegmans family comes around for it's store visits. Managers will make sure the store is clean and spotless with every product properly stocked. They are only doing this to put up a fake front for the family. The stores also always celebrate being on the Fortune 500 as a top company to work for. Usually Wegmans is in the top 5, but what they don't tell you is that companies pay to be on that list. I would only recommend working at Wegmans if you're a student or a company man. This is an extremely corrupt and often unfair place to work. Wegmans does a great job of covering this up from the public and is often viewed as a great place to work, but from experience this is not the truth.

I started out at Wegmans as a full time employee in prepared foods. When I first started, things were great--and at the other stores I trained in, things were great. Now, things are miserable. The managers are always fighting and pulling employees into their personal squabbles. The morale in my department is nonexistent. No one wants to be there because there is no pleasing management. You could do everything asked of you, plus every extra project you could think of, but there will always be one thing you didn't prioritize, and you will always get lectured about it or sometimes even threatened. 

The goalposts are always moving. Policy changes like the weather and its impossible to keep up with. If you ask five different employees how to do a task, they will give you five different answers, because things are not communicated well. A given task might change 2-3x a week.

The scheduling is a nightmare. There are often times when people are scheduled alone for multiple hours at a time, and sometimes no one is scheduled in the department at all. Full timers are often stuck working 7-10 days in a row, all closing shifts or close-to-opens. There's no consistency. You could be working 2:30-11 one day and 5-1:30 the next. As a full time employee, you don't get an availability, so forget about going to school, working a second job, or having any life outside of work whatsoever. 

Requests for time off are often ignored. You could put in a request for time off three months in advance, but there's a chance the TL could just ignore it or forget to approve it, so when the time comes, you're scheduled and now it's your job to find a replacement. Except the department is way understaffed, so good luck with that. For someone with a chronic illness that requires regular doctor's visits, it was impossible to schedule my doctor's appointments around my work schedule, since you only get the work schedule 1 1/2 weeks in advance.

When I went down to part time, I went from $14.50 to $12.15 (something close to that, I don't remember to he exact). I got to keep my benefits through the year, but didn't qualify for the following year. I also have inconsistent hours. Some weeks I get 20hrs, others I get 30. Sometimes there are opportunities to pick up hours, sometimes there's not. My paychecks vary between livable and not, entirely outside of my control. 

My advice for anyone looking to work at the Charlottesville Wegmans is to stay far, far away from prepared foods/cafe. The other areas of the store are, I'm sure,  perfectly fine. But Prepared Foods is a nightmare hellscape, where employees are punished for caring about the department and putting in extra effort.

1/10, still 1/10 with rice.

Wegmans has it's own culture. It has an entire book filled with things that Wegmans takes pride in, including a quality product, excellent customer service, and it greatly cares for its employees.

It's a massive store, with so many departments that the day-to-day can vary, but I worked mostly on the Prepared Foods side. There can be a good amount of stress in the kitchen, Wegmans is regularly inspected by not only state inspectors, but food safety inspectors from within the company. These inspectors are much more thorough than typical health inspectors, for the purpose of maintaining high standards for the company. 

Holidays can also be very stressful, as the catering department gets a ton of business, especially around Thanksgiving, where my store sold well over 300 turkey dinners.

Wegmans cares about customer service above all, you will learn how to professionally deal with customers so that they have the best experience possible. If you go into Wegmans, the employees are willing to help you with whatever you need, even if it isn't in their department.

Wegmans also really cares about their employees. The pay they offer is pretty competitive, I was making about $16.50 as a full-time Pizza employee. They offer a wide arrangement of benefits, but those mostly go to Full-Time employees. They offer Healthcare plan options, dental options, and a 401k with a 6% matching investment. Keep in mind that you will get employee discounts, but not for groceries or food for the most part. Most of the employee discounts are for movie tickets, theme parks and various other fun things, there are several to look through.

Wegmans is a great place to work, and there is plenty of growth potential. The HR reps want you to be your best and will help you learn what you need to learn to move up in the company. 

A note of caution: I made the mistake of getting too comfortable with my coworkers. Wegmans advertises a fun place to work, but make sure that if you work here that you are professional at all times. If you say the wrong thing to somebody and someone else overhears it, you will be brought into an office with several company reps. They have a very strict workplace harassment policy. In short, be professional and never confront an employee personally if there's any kind of problem, always report it to the manager so that they can handle it. 

In summary, after 7 years in the company, I can honestly say that my work experience with them was phenomenal. They were there to help me with everything I needed along the way, and provided excellent pay and benefits. It was only my personal shortcomings and immaturity that led to any negativity.

Wegmans has really high standards,which I pride myself in upholding. Keeping the work space clean and providing quality products is the key. I also had zero experience in the food industry, so even though I didn't qualify for the position I wanted, they MADE a position for me, which I've never had happen for me at other employers.

The rose-tinted glasses came off when I realized that my area manager refuses to hire me on as full time, despite the fact that I already work 32 hours and he calls me in MULTIPLE times a week to work when I'm not scheduled. I could really benefit from dental insurance, but they don't want to have to cover anyone in my department for full time. 

You have to do a LOT to get fired, which is a double-edged sword. You can make a lot of mistakes, but when your co-workers are lazy and take 20-30 minute 'bathroom breaks' when you have a line out the door, they won't get fired. One guy I work with vaped something that smelled like marijuana IN THE STORE and he hasn't gotten fired yet.

You can't work to a higher position unless you know the right people, which is ridiculous since how hard you work doesn't matter. I worked 3 major holidays without complaint and never took vacation time, but got written up for 'missing too many shifts' even though I had LEGITIMATE reasons to miss my shifts such as being in a literal car accident, fracturing my tailbone outside of the job, or being physically ill. They claim they just want forewarning (2+ hours in advance) if you can't come to work, yet have zero sympathy for you when life inevitably happens. 

The customers are awful. There are some rare few regulars who are a joy to serve, but most of the customers I personally deal with are arrogant, think they are better than you because you work a entry level position, and enjoy bullying you just because they can. I once had a lady make me change my gloves every time I touched a food ingredient. Another lied to the chef about how she acted and made it seem like I was being unreasonable when I was following company policy and not wanting to get in trouble with food safety rules. The work is pretty soul crushing when you're not getting the hours you want, have ZERO benefits, and get screamed at by spoiled, rich customers who are accustomed to getting anything they want if they complain loud enough. The chefs and management claim you don't have to put up with problematic customers, but each chef will say a different thing, depending. One chef had my back, another claimed I just had to put up with being treated like garbage, because that's just how things work at Wegmans and 'exceptional service' comes at the cost of your humanity.

Maybe they are a great company to work at their other stores but the store in Allentown Pennsylvania that  I just spent 5 years working at my co workers and myself were treated like garbage. When I began my employment with them 5 years ago I was still in school and they promised me I would be moved to a full time position after I graduate college.When I graduated and I was ready for my fulltime position because they knew they could get me to work almost 40 hours part time so every time I would try to apply for a full time position they would  make up some excuse why I couldn't do it even though I was more than qualified for the position and earlier this place they unfairly disciplined me by having me on a 6 month written warning probation for something that wasn't even my fault so they can keep me from applying for another position and damaging the good career I been working really hard at everyday. When it comes to job promotions they seem to only promote employees they clearly seem to prefer a lot being attractive younger girls over others even though many of the ones they never preferred were some of the hardest and most productive workers there and the ones that they prefer also get promoted within their first year while others who been there forever never get moved up. All the managers and hr are all best friends who always agree on everything together and treated all of us unfair. One of my co workers had a mental disability and even though she tried her best she had a few difficulties preforming her job at work with the disability and every single mistake she made they held against her and she basically was forced to resign with threat of getting terminated if she made another mistake and she is now without a job.  They also for the past few years have been understaffing us for the high volume of business that we get. A few years ago when the management changed to the one we have today which I am writing about many of my co workers couldn't handle them and resigned and they only hired about maybe half the amount of the number of people that left to replace which left us doing the work of 2-3 people. Then they also have a habit of sending people home for the entire day if they make a mistake like my co worker with the disability which by that point it would be too late for them to find a replacement to come in and that would leave us really understaffed. All I can say is unless you are desperate for a job and can't find any other place to work stay away from here they may cover themselves up with this Who we are stuff but they d not treat their employees well and I don't think they deserve to be anywhere on the fortune 500 list.

The good:

Wegmans makes its employees feel like their jobs are much more than just working in a grocery store. For Wegmans, it's all in the approach. The way they go about business, relations, etc. is what marks their success; and of course the wealth, which fuels key decisions such as extensive food safety training and regulations, often exceeding state requirements. All measures taken are designed to maximize customer satisfaction. Thankfully, employees need to be happy before they can accurately serve customers, so employees do enjoy competitive benefits such as free lunch and snacks, exclusive coupons, retirement plans, and more.

The worst:

Let's say you're part time, hoping to move up to full time (management position). You see a job posting for a department lead in your current department. You've done well, and your coworkers have encouraged you to apply. But... Here's the thing about full time Wegmans opportunities: in many cases, you will not be assigned a position at your current store. You must be willing to be transferred to another store if you are selected (assuming you're in the cluster areas where Wegmans are all over the city). The store you're placed at could be any one within the area, so maybe it's 10 minutes down the road, or maybe you'd have a 45-60 minute commute... along with a total reset on store layout, employees, management, customers, culture and general atmosphere. 

I appreciate and understand the invitation for diversity by doing this, but I, like many others I've discussed this with, would feel much better about my career at Wegmans were I not tied to a dart and thrown at a map. Regardless of how much thought goes into planning the most successful outcome for me as an employee, the stress of leaving your current store and starting from scratch at a new store is enough by itself to make the full time route seem less appealing.

Now, with all of that said - it really is just a grocery store. There are rude customers. There is senseless drama amongst coworkers. Everyone complains about something whether it's the classic "I don't get paid enough", or "I deserve to move up", or "I can't wait to leave this place and find a better job". It's not a perfect company, but it's also a heck of a lot better than many others. 

Working at Wegmans as a cashier was the best job move I could have made. When I was 16 I applied and started working after about two weeks of the interviewing process. I was well trained and supervised for about a week after starting. Anytime I get confused or need help with something, I flash my light and a coordinator or someone from management is always waiting and "watching the lights" to help. The pay ranges from $12-$15 per hour depending on how long you've worked there (they increased the pay since I started so I'm not sure what the starting rate is now). If they ever ask you to stay late or cover other shifts, you can easily say no, but if you say yes they pay you an extra $1 per hour and will likely give you a "Care Card" which is a $5 coupon. Sunday is an extra $1 per hour. There is also a $1,000 scholarship program that just increased to $1,500 for employees who are in college/university and have worked at least 10 hours a week for a year. I have worked as little as 8 hours per week at one point. Part time gets as much time off as they want. If you work at one store but then move to college somewhere else you can either transfer to a nearby store if theres one near you or keep your job at your home town store and work during your breaks from college. They have been in the top 5 in the "Forbes best company to work for" for like 25 years now and pretty much also been in the "top 100 best companies to work for" since forever. I could go on and on! I HIGHLY recommend working here. 

Pros: Recently increased pay (at least $12-$15/hour), $1,500 scholarship for students who have worked 10 hrs/week for a year, $1+ extra per hour on Sundays, for staying later, or for picking up extra hours, "Care Cards" with $5 coupons for customer comments or picking up extra hours, Free snacks in the break room during football weekends and busy times, Free meals in the break room on occasion, including several options and desserts, Make your own availability and it almost always gets approved especially if you are part time, Can start at 15 years old, Great management, Professional and clean 


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Order picker 83 salaries reported	$28.76 per hour
Cashier 14 salaries reported	$17.45 per hour
Customer service representative 6 salaries reported	$16.71 per hour
Stocking associate 40 salaries reported	$27.66 per hour
Cook 136 salaries reported	$17.45 per hour

Working at Wegmans Food Markets: Company Overview and Reviews

Wegmans Food Markets

Wegmans Food Markets Ratings

Popular jobs at Wegmans Food Markets

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected