For all the cons there are some pros
Pros
Aldi pay very well. Monthly wage slips can vary by a couple of hundred pounds each month but I've personally felt very comfortable knowing I'll be able to afford end of month bills and still set some aside.
Cons
If you are a part/full time student, doing night classes or show any passion for bettering yourself, then you have no chance of stepping up the ladder in Aldi. It is understandable that the company does not want to spend time training someone for a promotion if in the end they will take a desired job else where if offered. From the employee point of view, there is no incentive to work hard because you are made to feel unappreciated and blatantly told that you will have no future with the company unless you fully commit to it as a career. Some employees have kept their aspirations and target dreams job a secret, in the hopes of being promoted (for the wage increase) so that they can sooner save up and leave Aldi. There is a culture of bullying among all levels within the store and this is common nation wide. Troubled managers are simply transferred to other stores rather than being dismissed from the role or demoted. These troubled managers face no threat of punishment for their behaviour, thus they continue treating staff badly because they know that they will get away with it. Food storage standards are pretty low within some branches. Some stores have small warehouses but receive large deliveries of chilled and frozen products. What can't be stored in fridges and freezers is left to float around the warehouse for up to 12 hours, reaching room temperatures or actually becoming warm if left near air conditioning units. These pallets of chilled products do finally make it to the appropriate storage, but not before reaching dramatic changes in temperature. The recent Channel 4's Dispatches episode was only presenting the tip of the ice berg when it came to staff moral and low levels of health and safety. One example of unnecessary pressure is that til staff must scan over 1000 items per hour or face a disciplinary. If a customer is physically slow, elderly or disabled, no exceptions are to be given, you still must scan as fast as possible and it is up to the customer to keep up with your pace! Staff who stack the shelves have strict times to keep to when working each pallet. There is no time to fetch a ladder or carry it around the store. You are encouraged to climb shelving, while balancing heavy boxes in one hand. Whatever the customer doesn't see, doesn't happen in other words. Aldi employ a lot managers who have left other supermarkets, after talking to them it would appear the cons listed above are common across the board.