Pros
1) The People - coworkers are very friendly, funny, and overall a pleasure to work with. There are a few bad apples here and there, but generally people are awesome. Many of our employees are quite young. And for some reason I find that most of my coworkers are very pretty people. 2) Student friendly - most of my coworkers are either in high school or college. The manager is usually understanding when it comes to scheduling around school times. 3) The Food - Trust me, our salads are the bomb. I am not a "salad person" but I really like the ones we have here at Sweetgreen. Everything is fresh and healthy. We get a free salad (under $13) every time we work. 4) The Customers - unlike most fast food and quick service restaurants, the customers are usually very nice and friendly. I'm normally a little shy, but making small talk with them has been a positive experience for me. The regulars come in every day and you start to build rapport with them. 5) The Customers (no, this is not a repeat point) - Even when it gets really busy and you can't talk to each customer much, you can still look at them. What I mean is that most of our customers are quite young and attractive - haha. My female coworkers and I DO notice a LOT of cute guys dressed up in their suits and ties. Very nice. LOL. It makes working hard a bit more pleasant. 6) Pleasant store design - Our bathrooms are SUPER clean. We have uplifting messages and quotes everywhere. Even our napkins want to cheer you up. The bleachers are nice to sit on and it is nice to have a pretty restaurant as your workplace. 7) Music - we have good music.
Cons
1) Uniform - It's basically summertime now and we have to wear long khaki pants and t-shirts. the t-shirts are fine, but it gets really hot near the hot food warmers and you start to sweat and feel icky after running around making salads. We can wear shorts, but only ones that are knee length. It would be nice if we could wear shorts that didn't have a length requirement as long as we keep our butts covered. 2) Lack of benefits - There is no 401k!!! And I since I am a part time employee, I don't get any health insurance benefits or paid vacation days. I'm not sure about sick days either. 3) Inefficient use of talent and skills - Some of my coworkers, including myself, are quite talented in academics and creative arts. I feel that we should have a chance to work in the corporate office to better use our skills. We get trained to work on the salad line and in the kitchen, but I would like to try out being in marketing or the finance department as well. 4) Disconnect between management/corporate and front-line employees - I feel that many of my coworkers and I would be able to offer great suggestions on how to improve Sweetgreen, but we never get a chance to do so. We don't really know what is happening to the company on the corporate level. 5) Lack of upward mobility - I feel that there is no way to really move up or get promoted. Nobody really tells us anything about career advancement during our training. We are just left there to wonder how we can get a promotion and move up in the company. 6) Tiring - Being on your feet the whole day is very tiring. Even at the end of a 4 hour shift, my feet want to fall off. Some of my coworkers work 8hrs or more a day. I can't imagine how their feet feel. When the rush comes in, it's a nightmare. The lines go out the door sometimes and we get really stressed out trying to make the orders go by quickly. 7) Music - yes our music is great but we can't hear it while we are working. There is too much background noise covering it up. Also, we need more Taylor Swift in the mix. Corporate in D.C. makes the playlists, but I feel that each store should have their employees pick the music to make working more fun.
