Who here has worked for HEB (or otherwise knows about working there) (Round Rock: home, transfer to)

[fierce_flawless]

I've always "heard" HEB is a good place to work but that's rather generic. I would love to hear it from the horse's mouth, or at least a CLOSE friend/relative of said horse.

Here's what I'm wanting to know (as well as just general info on the company):

If you had a "crap" job, with rotten hours and could switch to a similar job @ HEB (still with the rotten hours, still food service or low on the totem pole) but for more pay, BUT the HEB job was much farther away meaning more time away from family and higher transportation costs cutting a lot out of that extra in pay, would you take the HEB job anyway? While the small increase in pay would be nice, would the overall "atmosphere" of the company, the benefits, the employee treatment, etc., make it a no-brainer? Or are they not that great?

Oh and for the purposes of this post I'm talking about general hourly jobs, bagger, checker, deli, bakery, etc.

I have noticed that many HEB employees are around forever, so that's a good sign. I've also noticed that, as far as relatively unskilled jobs go they seem to hire more adults (vs. teenagers) and that's a sign to me that adults are getting decent pay/benefits and that HEB probably treats people more respectfully than your average place that hires mostly teens and college kids and doesn't expect anyone to stick around more than a few months, so they don't bother trying to keep employees happy. That's my theory anyway, I have no clue if I'm right or not.

Thoughts/experiences?

[tony78201]

everyone is going to have a different opinion on this, but I worked for H-E-B from 1991 to 1994, and all those 3 years, they promised me that I would become full time. it never happened. I worked at the HEB marketplace when it 1st opened its doors. in my opinion, you have to know someone there to go far in that company.

[SanAntoQT]

Originally Posted by tony78201

everyone is going to have a different opinion on this, but I worked for H-E-B from 1991 to 1994, and all those 3 years, they promised me that I would become full time. it never happened. I worked at the HEB marketplace when it 1st opened its doors. in my opinion, you have to know someone there to go far in that company.

The same thing happened to my daughter. She was promised that she would be become a full time employee, but, instead, they cut her hours drastically. The last straw for her was when they gave her only 4 hours a week for two weeks straight. She was not a happy camper.

[Bowie]

This thread may help, too.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-a...corporate.html

I found a few other mentions in other threads when doing a "Search this forum" for the phrase "for heb".

[tony78201]

Originally Posted by SanAntoQT

The same thing happened to my daughter. She was promised that she would be become a full time employee, but, instead, they cut her hours drastically. The last straw for her was when they gave her only 4 hours a week for two weeks straight. She was not a happy camper.

Thats why I quit also. I had been off almost all week, I go to see the schedule for the upcoming week, and I was supposed to work on saturday for 5 hours. thats it. I quit on the spot. 5 hours a week!
and here is the kicker, I had clocked in, saw my schedule, called my boss at home to tell him I was outta here, then clocked out. a week later I get a paycheck for the time I was clocked in, well with the deductions, I got a check for 0.00 dollars.

[cjw]

From the other side of the coin, my daughter worked there for 5 or 6 years while going to college. She started as cashier and worked up to working in the office in the store which was full time. She requested to go back to checking because full time work and full time school became too much. She got along well with the other employees and managers. They were flexible with her hours and gave her as many or as few as she needed. In her case, HEB was a good employer. She entered a contest at HEB and that led them to choose her photo for their comment card. She's a high school teacher now and her students tease her about seeing her picture at the register where they have the comment cards.

[carlitasway]

I think it depends on where you work. I was fulltime when I worked in Round Rock 97-99 and years later working at Central Market here I was not able to get a fulltime position. They were happy to give me the hours but not the title. They used to give bonuses the first time I worked there but they didn't give them anymore by the time I worked at CM. The company seemed to have changed a lot.

ETA: They do work well with schedules, though. If you are in school or need to change it they are flexible. Many of the kids work summers and holidays and stay years doing that and still have their job security that way.

[fierce_flawless]

Thanks y'all. The cutting of hours thing is scary. That's the problem at the current job.. so it's risky to quit for more money @ HEB if the hours are less huh?

Hmmm.

[SilverCreek78250]

Just a general comment that may be relevant to the HEB situation, but not necessarily to people who have posted about their experiences (is that enough of a disclaimer?), often when businesses cut hours down to just a few in a week, they are sending a hint.

My son has worked for a business that seems to cater to students needing flexible hours. Pay is low, but for a college student, he needed the flexibility. It is an easy job that essentially, he could sit at a counter, do his school work or surf the internet and then take care of customers as needed.

But, over time, it was obvious that he wasn't doing anything more than the least amount of work needed to get by. They basically cut his hours to 4 hours in a week.

Long story short, he knew he had a good thing with them, went out of his way to improve his performance and show them that he was willing to pull his weight, and now as he is waiting to start his post college "real job", he is working a full 40 hours a week.

I know this scenario doesn't apply to HEB or to the people who have posted about their hours, but I'd submit that if some people are responding that they have folks who join HEB, move up through the ranks etc etc, often, attitude and willingness to do hard work are the difference in who gets the limited number of hours.

[millie61]

My Son has worked for them since he was 16 now 18 gone to college and they got him a transfer to a store near the college.
Seem like a good company to work for