LIDL: What are they like to work for?

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potnoodler

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Spotted a few vacancies in the LIDL empire in last weeks examiner, district manager, junior purchasing manager and retail managers. Anyone have any hands one experience or even reliable hearsay on what they’re like to work for.

I do understand that it’ll be extremely tough with long hours involved, that in itself is no bother. However my understanding is the standard day is10-12 hours with no overtime being paid or time off in-lieu . In fact there salary ain’t even that spectacular to begin , in around the 30k and seemingly no annual bonus or share on profits incentive.

So on saying that outside of rapid promotion or some other magical incentive how do they keep or even recruit worthwhile staff , as 30k quickly reduces to nearly minimum wage on those excessive hours, which I also understand is barely if even legal
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

Maybe it's just me but the title of your post seems to be very leading (i.e. almost inviting people to bitch about Lidl as an employer whether warranted or not)...

Purely anecdotal but in my Lidl store more or less the same people have been working there since the store opened. A possible sign that things may not be as bad as some people might make out? Also - whatever about long hours and demanding expectations Lidl, like any other employer, will have to abide by the relevant employment rights legislation including the working time directive:


 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

LIDL demands more from their employees than most competitors.But Aldi does so as well.It is not just the "overtime" but other conditions as well,like for example they hate their staff to engage in union politics.Both,LIDL and Aldi , are well known on the continent (France and Germany and the Netherlands I know about) to control/pest their unwanted staff untill they kick the bucket themself.That is to avoid solidarity between the workers and to avoid compensation payments.In the Netherlands Aldi was stung very badly last year when they sacked an employee and the colleagues walked out -without even waiting for the union to look at the matter.The company had to give in,they sacked/"transferred" the boss who sacked the employee. With LIDL I suppose it is the same thing.They go as far as they can to get the most out of the workers,not only with the shop floor staff.
If you have the will to work hard and can still be able to stay "humane" ( i.e. don't become a "pig" just because the boss want's you turn pink ) than you can work nearly anywhere,even in LIDL . As clubman mentioned some stay there for years,for whole careers . But you need the spine,the back bone .And the sense for solidarity.
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

I interviewed somebody who had done a stint at their head office (Kildare?) and found it to be a very tough environment.
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

Lidl hq is in Newbridge Co Kildare and Aldi hq is 4 miles up the N7 dualler in Naas.

In general does any one know what the story is for unpaid overtime for people on annual salaries?
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

Ajapale,



Look into your contract for this , is overtime explicitely mentioned, if not the company is under no legal obligation to pay.

As all employees are paid same , discrimination case is not feasible , what is their incentive for working over 37.5 hours..... surely harrassment cannot be that great.

Working time directive is 47 + hours a week, this is EU law , but not adhered to in Ireland yet, but moves in 2006 - 7 to implement.

I expect Irish companies to stop overtime, and bring in bonuses , so hours are more difficult to track , .I.E Employees are given goal, and timeline is theirs to decide.


Would be interesting to see LIDL / ALDI Contract.
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

ClubMan said:
Maybe it's just me but the title of your post seems to be very leading (i.e. almost inviting people to bitch about Lidl as an employer whether warranted or not)...

thats not what I'm after anyway, as I was seriously thinking of going for a position but decided against. All I was seeking was feedback from anyone in the know good or bad.
Don't think just coz a checkout girl working 20 hours a week is still there 12months later is much of an indicator. Now if you spoke to
her it might be a different story.
 
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Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

potnoodler said:
Don't think just coz a checkout girl working 20 hours a week is still there 12months later is much of an indicator. Now if you spoke to
her it might be a different story.

I was not talking specifically about part time checkout girls (males also do that job these days by the way). However if somebody stays working for an employer for 12 months or more then it certainly suggests that they are to some extent content to stay in such an arrangement. If they are not and they stay put then, particularly in this era of practical full employment, they must be masochists. Anyway, I did point out that this was purely anecdotal evidence.
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

Speaking from experience don,t go near them!!!
 
Re: LIDL, dynamic or just abuse?

Hi Gailey,

do ya mind me asking where you worked for them and how long?
 
I know someone who worked there as a trainee manager. They said you could replace the 'ID' in their name with "HE", jumble the letters, and have a far more descriptive name!

From their point of view, the money and benefits seemed good on paper, but the "required" hours bordered on the illegal (depending on how you interpreted the Working Time directives.).

As you can probably tell, they hated it, which may have jaundiced their view!
 
I know of one position I think based in their HQ which had a relatively good salary but required you to be on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year (so I was told by someone who interviewed for it) to be able to up and head off to any of their stores around the country. Oddly enough the last I heard was that they had no takers for the job. You also needed to speak excellent German so that limited the field somewhat too. No idea if its been filled since.
 
I got a job with lidl as a systems engineer. During the initil period your required to work in all sections of the industry, such as the shop and warehouses and all that.

My contract was that I would work from 8 until 6 every day.

My first day I was required to arrive at 7am, I was given a brief intro and then instructed to drive to the shop to start work there...I didn't end up finishing until 11pm.

So 1st day was from 7am to 11pm....not a good sign and barely got a break in that time also.

2nd day was 9 until after 11 also...after 2 weeks of working in the shop I had to go work in the warehouse....which they refused to tell me what my working hours would be after me asking

They just told me that I had too work until the manager decided it was enough.

So started in the warehouse at 6am didn't get to finish until 10pm that night.

Next day was the same.

I felt I was being totally abused and basically once you work in lidl you have no life outside it.

Sure they offer a nice salary and you get to drive around in an audi, but its really like making a deal with the devil. And it also feels like that.

I would recommend staying away from them.
 
I have a relation working as a manager for Lidl. It's certainly not for someone looking for the easy life. While he's been there a lot of people have come and gone - mostly people who expected a hands-off management role - it's very different to being a manager in the other supermarkets and that comes as a shock to some. Working in the shops is very much hands on for all members of staff; including lifting and moving boxes of stock. Days are long but they are rigorous about not breaching their legal requirements on maximum working hours. Lidl are not the only employers that don't pay overtime or give time in lieu - I've never worked for anyone that gave either of these. All said it's not for you if you're afraid of hard work, but someone prepared to roll up their sleeves and get on with things can do well.
 
Lidl are not the only employers that don't pay overtime or give time in lieu.

Correct, but by the sounds of it, long hours at Lidl are a very regular occurance rather than a once off or end of month/project occurance.
 
My Brother worked as a store manager in Lidl for 2 years and his best mate worked as a district manager for the same length of time. In the end it wore both of them down, the long days, rotating weekends, bank holidays etc. Although they were well remunerated (district manager more so), they found it stressful enough at times.
They both say that it would amaze them if any other company in Ireland has a higher turnover of staff. It wears you down in the end. They reckon that morale and job satisfaction are non-existent, and that even the fairly high level of remuneration will not make employees stick around too long.
 
I got a job with lidl as a systems engineer. During the initil period your required to work in all sections of the industry, such as the shop and warehouses and all that.

My contract was that I would work from 8 until 6 every day.

My first day I was required to arrive at 7am, I was given a brief intro and then instructed to drive to the shop to start work there...I didn't end up finishing until 11pm.

So 1st day was from 7am to 11pm....not a good sign and barely got a break in that time also.

2nd day was 9 until after 11 also...after 2 weeks of working in the shop I had to go work in the warehouse....which they refused to tell me what my working hours would be after me asking

They just told me that I had too work until the manager decided it was enough.

So started in the warehouse at 6am didn't get to finish until 10pm that night.

Next day was the same.

I felt I was being totally abused and basically once you work in lidl you have no life outside it.

Sure they offer a nice salary and you get to drive around in an audi, but its really like making a deal with the devil. And it also feels like that.

I would recommend staying away from them.

I stay away from them too. Why some people would shop there is beyond me. Some of their food is ok, but thats all.
 
We do most of our shopping there too. There is a big difference in our weekly shopping bill.
 
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