The Fast-Food Chain That's Lauded As One Of The 'Best Workplaces'
Let's be honest with ourselves: Working fast food isn't exactly something most people consider a "dream job," or even a job they'd want to do at all for that matter. Years of stoner comedies may make working fryers or grills with your buddies seem like a good time, but if you were offered a better gig than flipping burgers you'd tear that uniform off the moment you heard the offer. This isn't to say that working at a place like McDonald's or Burger King is bad. But there's usually not a lot of room for advancement (per Labor Press). But what if it turned out that working at a fast-food restaurant wasn't only good, but in reality, a great place to work? This seems to be the case for one of America's most celebrated fast-food companies: White Castle.
In addition to being known as America's oldest fast-food restaurant, having started back in 1921 (via Consumerist), White Castle seems to be one of the best places to work. As PR Newswire reports, Fortune listed the burger restaurant as one of the recipients of the "Great Place to Work" title, being only one among the 20 companies that made the list. In fact, this is the second time in a row that White Castle won such an honor.
What exactly makes White Castle such an impressive place to work? Is it good pay? Employee perks? All the free sliders you can eat?
What makes White Castle so great?
According to QSR Magazine, White Castle earned its honor of being a "Great Place to Work" through two key concepts: relationships and respect. John Kelley, White Castle's chief people officer, explains that these ideas are critical to employee and customer operations in its workplace. "Building relationships is key to our longevity and it begins with our dedicated team members," Kelley explains. While this is all impressive public relations talk, how do the employees feel about this?
Employee reviews on Indeed seem to flip between agreeing that the company isn't too bad of a place to work (although with some expected drawbacks) to ranting against the company as an awful and unfair employer. According to data gathered by Great Place to Work, however, 80% of employees consider working at White Castle better than working over another U.S.-based company. This would mean that while the company culture tries to promote a supportive and hard-working atmosphere, some locations are better to work at than others.
While no job is perfect, with each bearing its own positives and negative qualities, it seems that White Castle isn't too bad of a job all things considered.