About Costco:
Costco is an American multinational corporation that sells wholesale goods. According to 2020 statistics, it is the fifth-largest retailer in the world behind corporations like Walmart and Amazon. The company focuses on helping customers manage their money and spend responsibly. Hence the name ‘Costco’, short for Cost Company. They sell a range of items like appliances, clothing, groceries, furniture, packaged foods, health products, etc. Let’s know about Costco Employee Discount.
Costco Work Environment:
Costco has been around for 37 years now and is considered one of the best retail places to work. According to Glassdoor, it received a rating of 3.9 stars out of 5 for a place of employment. It has also received 3.7 stars out of 5 for career opportunities, 4.2 out of 5 for salary and compensation, and 3.5 out of 5 for work-life balance.
Costco promotes productive work hours and even working on holidays for more compensation. The flexibility of work hours depends on the job position. Crew members usually have more flexibility than higher-level jobs.
Costco has a friendly work environment and provides endless career opportunities. The job chain makes room for vertical as well as horizontal movement for employees. A major portion of employees at Costco would recommend working there.
The workspace and fellow employees are treated as a second family. The mix of all job positions includes cashier, cashier assistant, stocker, food service assistant, membership assistant, bakery wrapper, and many more. Costco has different categories of jobs like
- Jobs at warehouses: warehouse jobs include those like bakers, cake decorators, licensed opticians, pharmacy managers, sanitation assistants, forklift drivers, etc.
- At the stores: In-store jobs include those like cashiers, store managers, etc.
- Call centers: Call centers incorporate jobs like customer service representatives.
- Home and regional offices: The home and regional office provide job positions like accounting, administration, auditing, communications, graphic design, publishing, purchasing, real estate, technical writing and so many more.
- Deliveries: Job positions in the delivery sector deal with jobs for door-to-door deliveries.
- Business centers: These include jobs like Order Pickers and Class B License Drivers or CDL License Drivers.
- Depots: Depots include jobs like Power Equipment Drivers and Truck Drivers.
Employee Pay and Benefits :
As of 2020, Costco has 273,000 employees which include both full-time and part-time workers. The compensation of jobs starts at $15 per hour for stockers, $17 per hour for material handlers, $17.30 per hour for warehouse clerks. Some jobs pay higher like $156,000 annually for pharmacy managers and $61,000 per year for quality assurance. Hourly wages range from $15 to $29. Costco Canada is now starting their minimum wages at $16 per hour as the average earned by employees is $23 per hour.
According to employees, compensation is the major advantage of working at Costco. Employees say that pay, benefits like paid holidays, number of holidays, and health insurance are among the top perks. One of the interesting things is that employees get paid time-and-a-half on Sundays. This means they get paid 1.5 times their original pay if they work on Sundays. This encourages employees to work extra hours. It promotes a productive environment and exceptional customer service. This system also exists in New Zealand where employees are paid1.5 times their original pay if they work on public holidays.
Costco employees don’t receive any employee discounts. They have to pay the same price for products as customers. However, they do have the benefit of visiting and shopping at stores after hours. The member service counter is open after hours which makes it very convenient for employees to shop in crowd-free stores. Although the employees at Costco don’t receive discounts, this is seen as an additional perk.
What does Costco look for in employees:
Costco is a very competitive environment. They go looking only for the best candidates who can meet their expectations. Applicants must have a positive attitude and have a welcoming personality to appeal to both the hiring managers and the customers. Being an extroverted person will help communicate with the customers and give the right impression of the Costco workforce. applicants must have the necessary knowledge about the industry and the products. They should be well versed with the products and services provided. This holds good for all employees at different levels because every employee performs a variety of tasks. So, knowing a little extra beyond your job position is always beneficial.
Conclusion:
Costco is a vast corporate family that caters to its employees and customers in the best possible way. Employees are motivated to work at Costco with all the perks offered. Ever since the company was founded, employees were treated as a very important part of the corporate family. Costco truly values its employees to grow the company further up the ladder. Moreover, employees are always open to learning new skills and keep working with the company.
