Working at Lidl (Store Management)
Discussion
TL:DR - Is Lidl a good or bad employer?
As a bit of background I'm 26, have a mortgage, a wife and 2 month old baby so it's important that I keep a reasonable income and can't afford to go back and retrain. If I make a career move it has to be sideways in terms of pay.
I've been with my current employer since I graduated uni and it's specific to my degree. I know I could stay here and make a good career out of this path but deep down I know I'm struggling to perform (I'm a middle of the road kinda guy) and I'm bored in the 9-5 office environment. One major benefit to to this current role is the flexibility with working hours but ultimately I'm not happy here. There is also a chance our office will be moving soon which will make my commute much worse.
I've been offered to interview for role in Lidl store management but it's completely different to what I currently do. My main worry is that I move and hate it and I can't go back into my current industry. I know Lidl expect their employees to work hard and I've heard that managers are on 47.5 hr weeks but this can typically run to 60 hours unpaid overtime. I understand this once in a while but if it's all the time then the good salary becomes very average. The following link paints a very grim picture.
http://franklludwig.com/lidl.html
Is there anyone here with experience who can shed some light on what the working practices are like? Is it really a slave workhouse where you can't take a break and are expected to do 10+ hours unpaid overtime every week?
As a bit of background I'm 26, have a mortgage, a wife and 2 month old baby so it's important that I keep a reasonable income and can't afford to go back and retrain. If I make a career move it has to be sideways in terms of pay.
I've been with my current employer since I graduated uni and it's specific to my degree. I know I could stay here and make a good career out of this path but deep down I know I'm struggling to perform (I'm a middle of the road kinda guy) and I'm bored in the 9-5 office environment. One major benefit to to this current role is the flexibility with working hours but ultimately I'm not happy here. There is also a chance our office will be moving soon which will make my commute much worse.
I've been offered to interview for role in Lidl store management but it's completely different to what I currently do. My main worry is that I move and hate it and I can't go back into my current industry. I know Lidl expect their employees to work hard and I've heard that managers are on 47.5 hr weeks but this can typically run to 60 hours unpaid overtime. I understand this once in a while but if it's all the time then the good salary becomes very average. The following link paints a very grim picture.
http://franklludwig.com/lidl.html
Is there anyone here with experience who can shed some light on what the working practices are like? Is it really a slave workhouse where you can't take a break and are expected to do 10+ hours unpaid overtime every week?
Retail is a harsh mistress, even more so in management
Before I found my penchant for warehousing (which came from being moved around in retail) I did various incarnations of the management training scheme at the big green supermarket (no names mentioned)
The ask is big, and this is coming from me who was single at the time and had no commitments other than my rent and car insurance. Especially more so from the 'discount' retailers like Aldi/Lidl where you can be expected to do anything from de-cardboarding shelves and being on the till, from podding the tills or tipping wagons due to the way they operate.
By all means go for it, its an experience being on the other side of the retail environment but I found unless you dedicated a lot of time to it, it was stressful and unrewarding
Before I found my penchant for warehousing (which came from being moved around in retail) I did various incarnations of the management training scheme at the big green supermarket (no names mentioned)
The ask is big, and this is coming from me who was single at the time and had no commitments other than my rent and car insurance. Especially more so from the 'discount' retailers like Aldi/Lidl where you can be expected to do anything from de-cardboarding shelves and being on the till, from podding the tills or tipping wagons due to the way they operate.
By all means go for it, its an experience being on the other side of the retail environment but I found unless you dedicated a lot of time to it, it was stressful and unrewarding
My mate does it and has done for around 10 years. Long days sometimes, but the pay is pretty decent (50k+, which for our part of the country is great)
As with all management roles it's hard graft sometimes, easy as piss other times. Seems the company is constantly striving for efficiency and time saving so some weeks he works 80 hours and can only clock on for 40 but that's the way the cookir crumbles with being a manager of a store IMO!
As with all management roles it's hard graft sometimes, easy as piss other times. Seems the company is constantly striving for efficiency and time saving so some weeks he works 80 hours and can only clock on for 40 but that's the way the cookir crumbles with being a manager of a store IMO!
Thanks for all the replies. I'm absolutely torn even though I haven't been to the interview yet. The long hours would definitely put a strain on family life. My wife is a nurse so when she goes back to work there would be no-one to collect our boy from child care etc. which seems trivial now but could be a big concern over time.
I think I'm talking myself out of this opportunity but I know I've already mentally checked out of my current job. I'll still go the interview as it'll be good experience.
I think I'm talking myself out of this opportunity but I know I've already mentally checked out of my current job. I'll still go the interview as it'll be good experience.
My daughter worked for Lidl whilst she was a student, she's bright and used to hard work, staff were poorly managed and treated badly, she left as soon as she could find another job.
The store was always understaffed even when the full shift turned in, yet those who volunteered for extra hours often had to fight for their extra pay.
A guy I know moved to be assistant manager of another Lidl store, he is a retail veteran having managed shops, garages etc, he left as soon as he could find another job because of short staffing, unpaid hours and poor job satisfaction.
In my view its not a job suitable for anyone with a family or any interests outside the job, they expect to own a manager 24/7.
The store was always understaffed even when the full shift turned in, yet those who volunteered for extra hours often had to fight for their extra pay.
A guy I know moved to be assistant manager of another Lidl store, he is a retail veteran having managed shops, garages etc, he left as soon as he could find another job because of short staffing, unpaid hours and poor job satisfaction.
In my view its not a job suitable for anyone with a family or any interests outside the job, they expect to own a manager 24/7.
BelfastBlack said:
PM sent. I'm applying for a deputy position but obviously hoping to progress reasonably quick as I have my head screwed on. I do recognise this could be a stepping stone into another retail employer if I like the role.
I worked as a dep at Lidl - but in 2005 (ish) so things may be different now - but TBH from reading that blog I am not sure....I moved to Lidl from management at one of the busiest Pizza huts in the country so was used to a fast paced 'all hands to the pump' style ethic.
In the same week I went for the same position at Threshers - and was offered the job - but turned it down due to the lure of Lidl lucre.
Interview in Lidl was an informal affair - though my capri stood out a bit in the car park amongst grey german saloons. I did at least park the same way as all the other cars - as that would have been a SERIOUS black mark even before I had walked in the door. That should have been a warning sign.
My first shift was started at some ungodly hour - and i worked right through to closing. The other dep told me with a gleam in his eye that he had worked more hours last week than I thought were in a week - and he evidently saw it as some sort of badge of pride to do all the hours god sent him.
The area manager, when she came in, told me she dreamt she was at work even when off - though no horror stories of 'tough management' were there for me - just long, long hours.
The manager and other dep didnt take a break as far as I could see. My time off for the day was nuking a microwave meal, scoffing it, then back to the coalface to again work flat out.
Day 2 I was introduced to the till with very little training and still no uniform etc - so i did my best with matching coloured tshirt and trousers. Scan faster - scan faster was the mantra! Obviously i f
ked up lots and started to think this was maybe not my calling.midway through my second day - 5am til gone 9pm IIRC we had a customer who hitched up her skirt and did a big old turd in one of the aisles. Pleasnt.
That night I went home and opened a beer, knackered, in my easy chair. The next thing I knew was my alarm going, the beer still sat unsupped in front of me and it was time for work at 5am
A decision was swiftly made - and I went in because it felt the right thing to do - and I finished the day - but I was a deputy manager at Lidl for three whole days.
They never paid me for those either - and I worked my fricking arse off.
Go for the interview - why not? you can always turn it down. But I have worked in mining, fast food prep, professional kitchens and many other places where the work level is ridicuous and Lidl is the only one i walked away from. They want you to work like Alexey Stakhanov and while they pay well, the per hour rate just doesnt add up.
Edit - just re-read the thread and see you have a young child. Unless things have magically changed. Dont turn up for the interview - just my 2p
Edited by paolow on Saturday 22 July 00:01
Lidl is long hours and hard graft. There is a reason why their food is so cheap -- they sweat their assets. Unloading baskets, stacking shelves, cashing tills, day after day, working weekends, and chasing ratboys round the aisles is not rewarding work for a good grad. Few make it to area manager or beyond.
What's more, with Amazon becoming ever more dominant, and expanding groceries, the future outlook for offline retail shopping is grim and getting grimmer by the day.
What's more, with Amazon becoming ever more dominant, and expanding groceries, the future outlook for offline retail shopping is grim and getting grimmer by the day.
BelfastBlack said:
The following link paints a very grim picture.
http://franklludwig.com/lidl.html
Based on that and other similar stuff on the internet, I wouldn't even consider shopping there, much less working for them, especially with a young family!http://franklludwig.com/lidl.html
Is your current job really so terrible that this looks like an even vaguely palatable alternative?
I've dealt with them on the logistics side. On the one hand, the volumes we took on from the customer ballooned so quickly that it paid for my first Porsche, so cheers, Lidl but it's a shoestring affair on the behind the scenes stuff too. Make all your own bookings, unload your own vehicles etc.
May not sound like much, but it flies in the face of industry norms & contributes to the price in store, like the guy in the blog said, the staff are paying a lot of the discounts customers see.
ETA, Most supermarkets take bulk loads of fast moving lines I.e. Beans, coke, peas, whatever from suppliers in 26 pallet quantities & then pick them into store orders & shift them round the country on their own vehicles where they're then dropped off at depots & added to with other stuff, eventually making up the final store deliveries. It's known as cross docking & is the major logistics operation for them. Lidl on the other hand demand that orders are delivered in smaller quantities direct to each depot, thus avoiding the inter depot transport costs which are pushed onto the supplier.
I made fortunes out of that, my customers tore their hair out.
May not sound like much, but it flies in the face of industry norms & contributes to the price in store, like the guy in the blog said, the staff are paying a lot of the discounts customers see.
ETA, Most supermarkets take bulk loads of fast moving lines I.e. Beans, coke, peas, whatever from suppliers in 26 pallet quantities & then pick them into store orders & shift them round the country on their own vehicles where they're then dropped off at depots & added to with other stuff, eventually making up the final store deliveries. It's known as cross docking & is the major logistics operation for them. Lidl on the other hand demand that orders are delivered in smaller quantities direct to each depot, thus avoiding the inter depot transport costs which are pushed onto the supplier.
I made fortunes out of that, my customers tore their hair out.
Edited by Eddie Strohacker on Saturday 22 July 14:44
What an eye opener! Thank you so much for all the detailed replies and especially the PM from fossilfuelled. I hope you feel better soon and maybe use this downtime to think about what's important.
I've decided I'm not going to go to the interview and the job search will continue. I enjoy fixing things and working with my hands and I have an engineering degree so maybe some kind of front line maintenance would suit me better than the office job.
I've always said that too many men are tricked into thinking they need to provide money for their families when what they actually need to provide is time and love to their children. If I went for this job I would be prioritising the money and would either be absent or too tired to see my son grow up.
Thanks again for showing me this isn't the right move.
I've decided I'm not going to go to the interview and the job search will continue. I enjoy fixing things and working with my hands and I have an engineering degree so maybe some kind of front line maintenance would suit me better than the office job.
I've always said that too many men are tricked into thinking they need to provide money for their families when what they actually need to provide is time and love to their children. If I went for this job I would be prioritising the money and would either be absent or too tired to see my son grow up.
Thanks again for showing me this isn't the right move.
kev b said:
My daughter worked for Lidl whilst she was a student, she's bright and used to hard work, staff were poorly managed and treated badly, she left as soon as she could find another job.
The store was always understaffed even when the full shift turned in, yet those who volunteered for extra hours often had to fight for their extra pay.
A guy I know moved to be assistant manager of another Lidl store, he is a retail veteran having managed shops, garages etc, he left as soon as he could find another job because of short staffing, unpaid hours and poor job satisfaction.
In my view its not a job suitable for anyone with a family or any interests outside the job, they expect to own a manager 24/7.
Just to clarify, were staff not paid the overtime they worked? Or did I read it wrong. Are the positions paye + overtime? . The store was always understaffed even when the full shift turned in, yet those who volunteered for extra hours often had to fight for their extra pay.
A guy I know moved to be assistant manager of another Lidl store, he is a retail veteran having managed shops, garages etc, he left as soon as he could find another job because of short staffing, unpaid hours and poor job satisfaction.
In my view its not a job suitable for anyone with a family or any interests outside the job, they expect to own a manager 24/7.
Everything written above is true imho.
I knew a guy who went from being a tradesman to being recruited into their trainee management program. He thought he'd got himself a step up in life, a first foot on the professional ladder. The reality?
It physically and mentally destroyed him within two years. Words I don't use lightly.
The fact they can do what they do to workers is a stain on this country.
I knew a guy who went from being a tradesman to being recruited into their trainee management program. He thought he'd got himself a step up in life, a first foot on the professional ladder. The reality?
It physically and mentally destroyed him within two years. Words I don't use lightly.
The fact they can do what they do to workers is a stain on this country.
I used to work for Sainsbury's 20 odd years ago; not management but as a student then a full time bod for a few years, the management there at the time were worked to death, 70-80 hour weeks weren't uncommon, don't know if it is still the same though but what I do know is retail is hard and often crap work.
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