How To Become Publix Manager

There is something to be said for being hungry for more and living to strive professionally. Although supermarkets are generally one of the employment opportunities for high school students or people who chose not to go to college, it may surprise you to know the many opportunities to make it into a managerial position at Publix.

Publix makes it easy to break into managerial positions with clear career paths and plenty of training opportunities. It is overall a great employer and has good employee reviews.

Let me show you how you can get into a management position at one of the supermarkets and what it entails. Also, keep reading to find out some of their current unique opportunities and the many ways to get there. 

Clear Career Paths For Every Position

This is why one of the most frustrating things you can encounter on your way to any managerial aspiration is knowing exactly how to get there! Publix does this beautifully because they can create charts for the different managerial positions, and these are displayed online in the career section of their website as well as in the offices of every one of their stores,

Associates at the supermarket are aware of the rules and positions that lead quicker to getting that managerial role. Also, Publix is very vocal and upfront about the things that can be seen as strikes against the associate’s performance. So long as you abide by their rules, you will be rewarded. 

Working At Publix

Overall, Publix is a great employer. So you can typically see this first hand when you walk into any of their stores. In my experience, it is a clean and organized place which helps with morale. And the demeanor of the associates is, for the most part, friendly and approachable. Publix has been named Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for over twenty years. 

You can look at the many online review sites, like Indeed, and you will find that Publix gets consistently raving reviews. All the associates can count on great employee benefits such as paid time off, vacation and sick time, company-paid insurance plans, 401K retirement plans with company matching, and tuition reimbursement, among many others. 

All The Areas That Provide Management Opportunities

Publix is divided into six different departments, which are:

• Bakery
• Customer Service
• Deli
• Grocery
• Meat and
• Produce

Each department has two managerial roles, the Department Manager and the Assistant Department Manager. And in addition to these managerial positions, you will also find each store has a General Manager position and an Assistant Store Manager position. This means that in each store, there are 14 managerial positions available.

Additionally to the stores, there are also managerial positions at the corporate level and field positions. If you have yet to see it, there are plenty of opportunities for those that want to claim the Publix Corporate Ladder. 

Special Opportunities

At Publix supermarket, they are clear that although they are open to hiring candidates that bring a lot of outside experience, they prefer to hire from the inside and give opportunities to associates that have invested time at Publix. And the general rule for other supermarkets is years of experience before you can even be considered for a manager position.

But at Publix, you could land a position like a Customer Service Manager in as little as 18 months. And getting into a Grocery Manager position could happen in as little as 12 months after being Assistant Grocery Manager, which in any other supermarket could take more than three years of an associate’s time.

Trainings Galore

Here Publix shines. As mentioned, they are big on hiring from within. Like many companies with the same hiring methodology, this is two-fold. First, it allows for grooming associates and building them up in the Publix culture instead of constantly bringing in people with different company cultures that can alter how things are done at Publix.

Equally as important is that it allows for career planning and career growth for the employees once they are hired. It gives something for the associate to look up to with the expectation of higher responsibility and pay. Publix understands that to do that, they require an excellent training program, which they have. Getting new managers properly trained so they can excel in their positions. 

Salaries Of Managerial Positions

One of the main reasons an associate wants to attain a managerial position is clearly the expectation of higher pay. As mentioned before, the benefits are exceptional, and the pay at Publix for these positions does not disappoint. There are slight variations with metropolitan cities getting higher than listed, but on average, the salaries are as follows:

• Department Assistant Manager $56K/year
• Department Managers $87K/year
• Assistant Store Managers $98K/year
• Store Managers $139K/year

These are based on salaries with some additional income opportunities in the form of quarterly retail bonuses and opportunities at company stocks, depending on the managerial level. Outstanding opportunities if you ask me!

Overall Satisfaction For Publix Managers

The opportunities are amazing in both benefits and for managerial positions and income. That, coupled with the company culture, gives the associates excellent job satisfaction. Of course, it is a supermarket, so you know off the bat that scheduling is a bit tricky, but that’s part of the industry.

Having put that in balance, the associates are happy, and the managerial employees are satisfied with Publix as an employer of choice. 

Corporate Opportunities Beyond The Store Positions

 The company as a whole has its corporate office in Lakeland, Florida. This means that most of the corporate jobs that are not remote will be located in Lakeland. There are also managerial positions available at this level, and Publix likes to give those opportunities to well-prepared managers that have shown they are capable at the store level. 

But if moving to Lakeland, Florida, is off your radar, Publix also offers remote corporate managerial positions and what they call in-field positions. They carry more top-level corporate responsibilities, which are higher pay and not necessarily tied to a particular store’s hours of operation. 

Opportunities For Re-Location

One of the coolest parts of being employed by a company that covers so much geographical space is the opportunity to relocate. And Publix needs to catch up in that aspect. Publix has over 1,300 store locations all across the United States. For you, that means there are limitless opportunities to request relocation, keep your seniority benefits, and even get better pay. 

And going back to their company culture of promoting from within, you can climb the corporate ladder alongside moving and exploring the different places in the United States.

As you can see, Publix makes it as easy and simple as you will find a path to a managerial position. With clear expectations and steps to get there, becoming a manager at Publix can be a good career path for the ambitious and ones willing to put in the time and dedication, but not necessarily the long years of your life.