Fred Meyer CAN do well but CAN do better
Pros
Policies and Procedures are well thought out. Job descriptions accurate. Good value. Union trying their best recently to ask for similar wages whether employees live in Eugene or Portland or the coast.. You will still see two to four generations of families working for Freddies for a reason - they believe their loved ones can reach a livable wage, secure status, and/or see the various career tracks that can be attained through Freddies. There aren't too many businesses out there that allow grunts from the bottom end up running the businesses alongside the people with the degrees. People of different cultures and women are seen at higher positions than ten-twenty years before. Kroger is listening, a little, to Fred Meyer on how to run a one-stop shopping store. Computer systems are getting better. College education training is refundable in some areas. If you are open-minded, understanding of business systems and you care about the customer, you can do well here.
Cons
1. As with any large chain (especially when it has been bought by a conglomerate) there is a tendency for management to think, "Things are different here" thusly assisting chaos between what buyers/planners/regionals want vs. what actually occurs. Corporate staff sign up to assist line staff during sales pushes (Thanksgiving, back to school) but are ostracized by people who've had enough of people lording their selves over the person who feels they do all the work. 2. Time for education of staff in the stores is being cut across the board, by local and senior management. It's horrific. Canned video talking heads create more problems than they solve by taking their information from vendors alone rather than reviewing the material with successful line employees. Three day trainings that bring all appropriate store staff together from al the states have shrunk to 18 minute videos. 3. Us vs. Them thinking is paramount, from morning to evening shift, corporate to warehouse, stores to everyone. It is hard to believe written statements from the president that family is first when Every Single Sectionhead is ordered to work midnight to morning freight crew. Staff signed an agreement during the flu season to not come to work when ill with the flu, then got evaluated as 'Not Team Workers' for taking time off. 4. It is extremely difficult to believe Fred Meyer even wants to have a commited, creative and successful sales team when, during negotiations for a contract, Fred Meyer actually refuses to come into the same room as the negotiating team members. 5. Wages are extremely low, lower than at other like companies, and FM agreed with Safeway, Albertsons and others to cut health insurance availability in half recently, just before a major holiday.