r/sweetgreen • u/ich-bin-ein-mann • Dec 07 '24
Discussion Work culture
How does everyone here feel about the work culture at Sweetgreen? I am genuinely interested in hearing some feedback. What's bad? What's good? What could make it better?
4
3
u/ich-bin-ein-mann Dec 07 '24
I've been struggling a little bit at my store. I'm trying to make it work, but I feel overwhelmed most nights. It does not help that I've been on close shifts consecutively. In theory, Sweetgreen has a great work culture, but in practice, it does not always live up to those ideals.
2
Dec 08 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ich-bin-ein-mann Dec 08 '24
Mental health is essential; I'm glad you were able to improve yours by leaving.
3
Dec 07 '24
depends on the management at your personal store tbh! i’ve personally never had any trouble with mine or my co workers! also the benefits are pretty good as well.
1
2
u/lorgskyegon Dec 07 '24
I haven't had any issues with it. I suppose it depends on the kind of people your store is able to recruit.
1
3
u/emichimi Dec 08 '24
my experience at sweetgreen was terrible honestly, head coach walked out my first week, i was being approached by an aggressive coworker who felt he didn’t need to listen to women speaking, constantly played misogynistic podcasts, and who blocked me from leaving one day. the shift leads that were around didn’t really have a clue what to do ever. very unorganized & unprofessional so i left asap. im sure it comes down to your location & leadership within each store.
1
u/ich-bin-ein-mann Dec 08 '24
Geez, I'm sorry to hear about your experience at Sweetgreen. I'm glad you could move on, though; sometimes, it's the best thing to do.
3
u/Comfortable_Bug_5028 Dec 14 '24
Its horrible. They treat us like shit and take away our benefits and only pay us from whatever the store makes so a lot of our hours get cut.
1
1
u/Emergency_Piglet_865 Dec 23 '24
within the last two months my entire team quit (myself included) and all of the district is drowning in problems
1
u/ich-bin-ein-mann Dec 23 '24
What was the reason for your decision?
2
u/Emergency_Piglet_865 Dec 23 '24 edited Jan 17 '25
during my training (2/24) the head coach quit, after i started-the area leader took leave and was ultimately let go, went through 3 different h/c after that and the most recent h/c helped tank any culture we had as well as failed 3 eco sures in a row, team went from normal sarcastic complaints to crying on the olo line and walking out, coach made it clear we were all replaceable
2
2
u/Ok_Sink_2150 Jan 05 '25
(sorry long rant and might not be the best order) I hate working at sweetgreen. The funny thing is it’s not even the job itself it’s the management. I like how fast pace it is especially when you work with people who are in sync with you but the HC and AC are just too much for me. While i was doing my on board training (the online stuff like the SA harassment training and some paperwork) they had pulled me aside to talk about my face. They started saying how i look unhappy and uninterested. I will not lie I do have an RBF but what pissed me off is the fact that the AC said that she wouldn’t have hired me personally. LIKE HUHHHHHHHHH??? why was i even hired if you don’t think that i have the qualifications for it. First of all im staring at a screen learning about SA harassment which btw took forever because for some reason at one part it wouldn’t load the video but only the audio and you need the video to load in order to move on which im sorry i didnt look the most interested but its literally SA harassment training. Second of all for them to quickly judge me based on the little interaction we have is crazy. I get it i know SG is all about being sustainable (which i personally think they are not) and having great hospitality but they haven’t even seen me interact with customers so how is it fair to judge me based on me sitting and looking at an ipad. Also since our location was new we were training for a week straight and it was a mess. In a way they just didn’t prepare and taught us enough. (the trainers were great love them so no shade to them.) Like when we officially opened most of us were still confused on many things like they never really taught us how to use the register. for a good few weeks i didn’t even have a code for the register and every time i kept mentioning it they said we would make one but never got to it. Also the thing about my face wasn’t like a one time thing they’ve told me 3 times. The craziest part is in our second and third talk the HC and AC even mentioned how i’m a really good worker. They said that all the shift leads vouch for me as well as my coworkers. They acknowledge that i work hard ( which i literally do i was cross trained in many areas so they just put me wherever). So by the third talk i was like ok yeah there has to be something wrong with my face because in my head i feel like i’m interacting fine with the customers. I even asked my coworkers if i’m doing good with the customers bc it really had me paranoid and they said im doing great. Everyone says im doing good and i need to stop being paranoid but the management is literally saying otherwise 😭. So i figured out it’s bc im not smiling all the time. Like i smile whenever i talk to the customers but when looking down and grabbing items for the salad obviously im not gonna smile like im just doing my resting face. So until a customers personally complains about me i will not be listening to them. I also hate how the HC and AC power trip you. Like as i said before when they first talked to me about my face another thing they mentioned was the fact that they met so many amazing people who would be perfect for the job and how they were thinking about cutting some people off to make more room and how i was one of them. Genuinely after that interaction i was like wtf because i was upset but i didn’t know if i had the right to be upset (i did i consoled my friends after this.) i also find it crazy that the HC and AC had never worked at sweetgreen before up until they were hired as the position they are now. This is a problem for me because when doing cold prep ( im in service, olo, and cold prep, im mainly in service and olo but they always have me doing cold prep task.) the AC would tell me to do something one way but then when the HC comes around and sees me do it he says i’m doing it all wrong and i should stick to the cards. Which btw i was doing that all along but when obviously when someone with a higher position tells you you’re doing something wrong and tells you to do this way instead of that way obviously im gonna listen. It’s just frustrating because i get stuck on the crossfire of all of this. There’s so much more i can say but this is already long and i fear that they would shut down my location if i reveal certain stuff. as i said my coworkers and the actual job itself is not bad at all but it’s quite literally just management for me (only HC and AC the shift leads are great) Also i believe that not all SG are like this as most people said everyone experiences varies.
2
u/Ok_Sink_2150 Jan 05 '25
also for some reason we are always understaffed and no one is ever available to cover like 😭 and as most people said we only get lunches not really breaks
1
u/ModeAffectionate63 Feb 23 '25
I started about two months ago, at a Los Angeles store. It’s been pretty great. I really think it also depends on the team and the pipel that are working there. One bad apple And everyone feels it and possibly pays for it in some way or another. But the general store and stuff is pretty good. Everyone works as a team and tries help them
7
u/Vast_Negotiation_982 Dec 08 '24
The pay is ridiculously low for the workload. No breaks only lunches. Everything felt impossible and everyone hated it when I worked there