Whole Foods Vs. Trader Joe's: Which Has The Better Workplace For New Grads?

If we are condemned to work, it might as well be tolerable — if not downright enjoyable. Following such feelings, Forbes collaborated with market research company Statista on their annual project to identify which large-scale companies with 1,000 employees or more were best liked by "new workforce entrants" (aka mostly young people). This year, the reigning champion Trader Joe's was defeated by Whole Foods, swapping one massive grocery chain for another.

Still, to occupy the first two spots as the most popular companies amongst recent grads, they have to be doing something right; and, according to employee profiles, they are. In 2015, Business Insider interviewed Leah McFadden, a Whole Foods Specialty Team Leader, who opines that the worst part of her job is that other employees don't consider their work at Whole Foods a real career. McFadden states, "While I totally respect what they would like to do with their future, I selfishly want them for my team." While the rest of the profile follows a similarly positive, corporate-approved tone, employee reviews on Glassdoor actually appear to agree. The hiring website assigns Whole Foods an overall 3.6 stars out of 5, with most recent reviews giving the store 4 or 5 stars. Trader Joe's also in general receives a soft glove. In 2019, Refinery29 enthused about how well the company treats its employees. Under the "The Bad" section, employees aired complaints mostly related to customer behavior, grumbling about cleaning the bathroom, hearing the same jokes repeatedly while working the register, and picking up discarded demo cups and trash from shelves. In short, both companies ensure that their conditions don't actively discourage their workers from laboring.