Pros
The pay- but if you are salary based once you work out how many hours you actually do minus tax/ car allowance is it even very much for what you are expected to do? for me meeting new people was the biggest pro.
Cons
I joined as a part of the graduate management development programme- of course the salary was what initially attracted me to the role and how you would experience different departments within the business- it was stated that this would lead onto an area manager role or equivalent. The first 6 months you spend in the warehouse starting as a picker picking the stock placing onto pallets to be shipped to store- the training plan that was followed was very vague with no real mile stones or meetings to see how you were getting on. This then was followed by learning the systems in the warehouse and then analysing KPI. Often myself and colleagues would be asked to do a warehouse sale- selling off recalled alcohol at a discounted price to the staff- how this was helping in our development as managers baffles me. Often you can be approached by the regional director to work on projects- this just felt like it was to fill in gaps of time as part of the programme that they had not planned for- after this was completed you never got any real value from the feedback at all- that’s if any had been given. Spending a lot of time looking into a topic on the business and how you would improve this to receive no recognition or feedback on how you can further develop is very bad. After your time in logistics you make your way to store- this is where the fun begins. Again, you start from the position of a store assistant and should be working your way up to the role of a store manager to gain a deep understanding of everyone’s role which is great to really understand how the business works. I didn’t mind starting at 5am in the morning and working 12-14hour shifts due to sick calls nd not enough staff to fall back on but when this is not addressed or improved in anyway it gets to a point where it becomes too much. However when you have passed the store assistant level and working as a manger but still sat on a till, stocking shelves- this doesn’t allow you to really develop your understanding of the management side of the business- this is due to the little amount of staff that you have available on the shop floor- hence the high wages through underemployment of staff- therefore you are continuously pulled away from learning and developing as you never have the time to do this. This is not due to poor management skills- LIDL use the expression that they do not want a clipboard manager, that is a good point as you do have to get stuck in however you should be able to actively carry out the roles that a manager is required to do. On the scheme the training team did little to help with development- it felt like you were not listened to or supported in your development- it seemed n attitude that you ust had to get on with it and ‘things would get better’ however they didn’t they only got worse. At the moment you are running your own store and smashing targets on KPI’s you receive no recognition or feedback- instead you are moved on to a next store to sort out and this process is repeated- you are willing to do this as you are promised that it is all part of your development and it will lead to better things. This is not the case, you keep flipping stores for the better increasing their turnover and standards until you reach the stage of burnout. It is only when you get time to reflect is when you realise what is actually happening- look how high the fluctuation levels are in this company- they can easily employ other people as the wages are so high but why do you think this is? On my review I was basically told by the regional director that my age was a determining factor that I needed more time at Lidl to progress to the area manager level- I remember him saying look at everyone who is an area manager in the region- look how old they are- I remember being extremely shocked at this casual attitude. From all of my colleagues that were on the programme I now know that 90% have moved on to work for other companies and have chosen a healthy work life balance as opposed to bad management and little development. If you want to work for a company that pays well, does little to progress you and fills you with false hope to make you complete the next project by ‘dangling carrot in front of you’ which is a common phrase you will hear across all management teams then LIDL is the place for you.
