1) Benefits were terrible. Very expensive healthcare that gave very little coverage. No sick time given. Salaried employees were forced to use vacation time to cover being sick (which I believe is illegal). Very little vacation time given. 1 week given after 1 year of service, 2 weeks at 5 years. By far the worst benefits of the 4 retailers I have worked for in my career.
2) Labor resources given to the stores were woefully insufficient. The average DG is open 98 hours per week. The company has a good policy that 2 people must close each day. So that is another 35 hours. That is a total of 133 hours needed just to cover the hours of business . Many (many many many) stores only were given 120 hours per week for hourly employees. So, the salaried Store Manager had to cover everything else. The 13 additional hours for being open PLUS the 50 - 60 needed for working freight, restocking, doing merchandising resets, and other projects. No matter what a DG recruiter may tell you, as a Store Manager (and also as a DM) you WILL be required to work 7 days per week. The average number of hours you consistently work each week will be at least 70. Often it is more. This is what is required and expected by leadership (again, no matter what they tell you to get you to join the company) just to attempt to meet the minimum expectations. This kind of on going week after week work schedule was not caused by "one time" special projects. It was the "forever" norm.
3) Taking into account my info in # 2 work/personal life balance is completely non-existent. It is a 24/7/364 life. You will need to adapt to and accept missing many milestone moments in your family life (if you have a family). And leadership really does not seem to care. No effort of any kind was being made to try and improve on this. In fact many conference calls or communications from Executive Leadership focused on their belief that SM's and DM's had to do more. When you are already working 7 days per week, 10 - 15 hours per day it borders on offensive to continuously hear this from your Leaders. And it made them appear extraordinarily out of touch with what the reality in the field was.
4) not surprisingly employee turnover was terrible. I have been a multi unit manager for 4 retailers. DG had by FAR the highest turn of any company. At all levels. Retailers know that part time associate turn (and even full time associate) will always be a challenge. But at DG the Store Manager turn over AND the District Manager turnover was very very high. Triple digits for Store Manager (my last company was around 10%) and high double digits for DM (I have never seen DM turn in double digits, was usually 5% - 6% at my other companies). These numbers are indicative of a very challenged and unpleasant work environment.
5) DG talks about valuing integrity (who wouldn't) but actions I saw did not align with this. I was directly told by my supervisor to "make up" reasons to fire people he did not like and not to worry about it because at DG people who were fired just "went away". When I did not do this my relationship with my supervisor became "strained". I also witnessed multiple higher level executives talk disparagingly about employees based on their race, sexual orientation, or because they were women. Sometimes this was in front of the employees in question. These were "jokes" but the employees and I knew better. It was a very uncomfortable atmosphere that I did not want to continue in.
6) DG has a very adversarial relationship with its' employees. Employees are not trusted. In some ways this is understandable after many years of high shrink rates. But leadership just does not get that the way employees are treated does not build loyalty. No loyalty plays a role in leading to employee theft. It really is a vicious circle.
7) Technology is terrible. Tech from the early 90's is in use. That is not an exaggeration. It is actual fact. The tech breaks down constantly and the company is slow on getting things repaired. This hampers the efficient running of stores. The tech also does not really support a lot of what the company is directing be done.
8) the company is very slow at dealing with facilities maintenance issues. This sends the message to employees that they are not worthy of a comfortable work environment. That, again, does nothing to create loyalty among employees. It also led to some needed repairs ending up being far more expensive than they would have been if they had been dealt with more rapidly.
Working for Dollar General was the biggest mistake of my career. It is a very poorly run company where the Leadership appears to simply ignore all the issues because the company does keep making money. In many ways they are knowingly taking advantage of their associates (creating an almost slave environment) and their customer base (as they are in many places the only game in town). It was an extremely frustrating experience. If you are being recruited to join them do NOT buy into what they are telling you. Pay attention to the reviews here on Glassdoor. They majority are painting a clear and truthful picture of what working at DG is like.
