When Blackhawk bought our company we thought it was going to be like you hear about other northern California companies- high energy and world class in terms of employee morale and work/life balance, we were in the business of employee engagement after all right? Such was not to be. They immediately gutted our employee recognition program and then insulted everyone by reducing our annual service anniversary award from $10 per year to $1 per year of service. What we failed to realize was that Blackhawk was spun off from Safeway and the grocery chains are notorious for having poor employee relations. Blackhawk has retained that aspect of their culture. They bought into an industry that demands strong, personal relationships with their customers but they don't make decisions that way- they are 100% focused on selling gift cards and automating every process they can.
