Anyone have feed back on Meijer? Good company? Culture?
Thanks!
As a Meijer’s customer for over 15 years, on that rare occurance when I had a problem the store management did whatever they had to do to make things right for me!
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Are you from Michigan or already living there? Michiganders love Michigan, but it’s because they’ve never been anywhere else. Meijer is great and I’ve heard they are wonderful to work for but as someone transplanted to Grand Rapids for five years (Wolverine Worldwide) I couldn’t wait to leave. It’s the most abhorrent culture I’ve ever experienced in my life. There was rampant misogyny, racism and general backwardness. People lie to your face! They don’t look you in the eye when they speak to you (it’s a weird cultural thing). They tell you they have to think about something but it’s their way of saying they’re just not going to do it. We’ve been on the east coast for almost three years now and it’s so amazing in comparison. I will never go back to the upper Midwest.
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I don’t live there, I would potentially relocate. The lack of minorities was a concern for me. Thanks for your feedback!
hehe this is so interesting to me! I’m actually from Michigan (although I moved away long ago), it’s very interesting to hear that perspective. On the flip side, it took me a long time to get used to some parts of the country being so (as I perceived) pushy and aggressive! I think we all have our angle 
Like any place in the US, there are definite cultural pockets. Western Michigan (Grand Rapids area) tends to be more conservative/racially homogenous and I could definitely see that resulting in some sexism & racism.
I will say, I have lived in large, coastal cities for the past 15 years and seen a lot of sexism and racism there as well (to be honest, at times more blatant and aggressive than I ever saw in Michigan) … so, probably the best bet is finding a company that values diversity and making voices heard. It’s hard to know until you start to meet some people who work there in the interview process.
Not looking people in eyes isn’t something I’ve heard of or noticed, but in general, it is a culture that’s very sensitive to being aggressive and they perceive it as being rude if you directly ask for things or say “no” to something.
South-Eastern Michigan/Detroit area is much more diverse. It’s still Michigan and is generally a culture that’s less loud and direct than other parts of the country, but Detroit area definitely has more transplants and as a city has really improved in the last few years, so much going on there now.
Where are the Meijer HQs (I think Grand Rapids?)? I have actually heard that it is a nice place to work and they do put an emphasis on work place balance, although I don’t know anyone personally who has worked there. (what does Glassdoor say?).
Grand Rapids might not be for everyone, but I know plenty of people who live there, it is a mid-sized city with a cute downtown area, very clean, cost of living is good, I’ve heard many good things about living there.
Where would you be moving from?
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I would definitely recommend taking a trip there before committing. When I first moved there I really liked the smaller town with big city art and music (the DeVos and Van Andel families have contributed a lot). Being in the country really appealed to me because I grew up in a smaller community in Eastern Washington State. But between the cultural issues I experienced and horrible allergies (I had a migraine-level pressure headache almost daily), lack of sun (worse than Western WA and Oregon where I had lived for almost 20 years, it was not a good fit and I couldn’t wait to get out.
It might be worth it for a time though, if it’s a raise and promotion and could eventually lead to another even better job elsewhere in a few years. Like others, I have heard that Meijer is a great place to work. Right now having any sort of secure job that pays decently is no small thing. So if you do end up moving, feel free to message me for real estate agent recommendations (we had one criminal one, one that while not immoral was just bad at her job, and one who was amazing), or other recommendations. People do not use sites like Angie’s List, so finding someone to give you the low down on things is really important.
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Re: Meijer’s, cannot tell you about the office, but the stores are in generally good shape. I shop them at least once a week. Two different stores. One in Okemos, MI and one in South Lansing and each has
dramatically different customers! Each store has items that cater to the different customers so they have some idea of what they are doing!
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