I was having a chat with a co-worker of mine and I said that I don't understand why they can't get any bodies in the deli since we're short handed. The co-worker said that he spoke to one of the store managers and he said simply put: the costs.
According to this store manager, it costs ~$1,000 per new hire. That's drug testing, background check, and training costs. I get it; it's a lot of money for a new hire that might stay a month (and rightfully so). But for a large supermarket chain, $1,000 should be a drop in the bucket. They're clearly not hiring, so what the hell are they doing with that money since they're also not paying the employees much at all either?
Then they need to find a different company to do background checks and drug testing. As far as training, I went to another store for one day, 8 hours, and sat at the computer, they paid me $7.35 and hour. When I worked my first day at Kroger they put me on a register, alone. Not really any training except they answered questions when I had them. So $1,000 does not sound right for my district.
All Kroger knows how to do is waste money. That's why there's never any money "left over" for employee raises.
Waste money on city wide hiring fairs and then proceed to offer minimum wage while Walmart, Target, McDonald's and others are now offering $9.00 starting pay + raises in the next year. If you're going to spend $1,000 on hiring someone, make that money COUNT and pay better to keep them around.
Waste money on programs like Make It Right that encourage people to scam the system and thus give away product for FREE.
Be stubborn/greedy and don't pay a decent, competitive wage so stores remain understaffed resulting in excess shrink and high numbers of out of stocks. All that waste/loss sales.
Throw away money on pointless t-shirts that will be worn for a month or two and have no significant impact on anything other than an increase in the number of "do you work here!?" questions.
Kroger wants to be a penny-pinching company that gives bloated salaries and fat bonuses to store managers and top level execs all the while refusing to invest in the people that they call "great" and depend on to satisfy the customers on a regular basis. Here's a newsflash for the greedy, clueless execs: a majority of the Kroger workforce is tired of hearing "we gotta get those holes filled, we gotta be fresh and friendly, we gotta acknowledge every single customer," while doing the work of two or three and being among the lowest paid in the industry. A majority of the workforce at Kroger isn't going to give 100% because this company just keeps expecting more and more and more without any more money or striving to build a more positive work environment. That's why Kroger is lucky if its associates even bother giving 50% anymore.
It's only going to get worse. That's the reality of the situation. When pretty much every other job out there pays better, that's where the people looking for jobs are going to go.
Then they need to find a different company to do background checks and drug testing. As far as training, I went to another store for one day, 8 hours, and sat at the computer, they paid me $7.35 and hour. When I worked my first day at Kroger they put me on a register, alone. Not really any training except they answered questions when I had them. So $1,000 does not sound right for my district.
The cost for your on boarding is much higher than what you're seeing and goes way beyond your hourly pay during training. The estimate I'd heard was actually over $3k
Then they need to find a different company to do background checks and drug testing. As far as training, I went to another store for one day, 8 hours, and sat at the computer, they paid me $7.35 and hour. When I worked my first day at Kroger they put me on a register, alone. Not really any training except they answered questions when I had them. So $1,000 does not sound right for my district.
The cost for your on boarding is much higher than what you're seeing and goes way beyond your hourly pay during training. The estimate I'd heard was actually over $3k
I'd be very curious and grateful if you could expand on this, Techelite. I'm sure there are other administrative costs.. the background check, drug testing etc... and of course the pittance for 16 hours worth of training, but what else is there?
Thanks in advance.
All I know is, if they are going to spend that kind of dough, it sure would be nice to get some quality hires. I know that's unrealistic, but we've only had just a few in the last several months. Sorta losing faith here.
Then they need to find a different company to do background checks and drug testing. As far as training, I went to another store for one day, 8 hours, and sat at the computer, they paid me $7.35 and hour. When I worked my first day at Kroger they put me on a register, alone. Not really any training except they answered questions when I had them. So $1,000 does not sound right for my district.
The cost for your on boarding is much higher than what you're seeing and goes way beyond your hourly pay during training. The estimate I'd heard was actually over $3k
I'd be very curious and grateful if you could expand on this, Techelite. I'm sure there are other administrative costs.. the background check, drug testing etc... and of course the pittance for 16 hours worth of training, but what else is there?
Thanks in advance.
All I know is, if they are going to spend that kind of dough, it sure would be nice to get some quality hires. I know that's unrealistic, but we've only had just a few in the last several months. Sorta losing faith here.
Well, we most likely pay through the nose for background checks and such. Then your hourly rate for a couple days training. But then it includes a prorated hourly amount for what could be a month or more because new employees are not as productive at first. Then there's costs from expected mistakes (crushed/lost product, messed up WIC checks, unscanned items, etc.) But the biggest cost is probably all the corporate hr ppl who touch a new here's app in the process and probably get paid as well as mgmt, if not better. And that's just the few things I can think of.
I remember reading a blog post on greatpeople from the head HR guy who complained about the amount of turnover. His plan was to have all these people who quit do online surveys. Goes to show you the disconnect. My guess is corporate has told the stores to get turnover down and so they won't hire anyone. No new people means less turnover.
1) Giving the excess to themselves because they are greedy.
2) Spending the excess on stupid, pointless **** like QueVision, Money Services banners/advertising, and (like the other guy said) redesigned T-shirts.
1) Giving the excess to themselves because they are greedy.
2) Spending the excess on stupid, pointless **** like QueVision, Money Services banners/advertising, and (like the other guy said) redesigned T-shirts.
I'm with you 100% except for the $ services part. It pays for itself, and then some.
I remember reading a blog post on greatpeople from the head HR guy who complained about the amount of turnover. His plan was to have all these people who quit do online surveys. Goes to show you the disconnect. My guess is corporate has told the stores to get turnover down and so they won't hire anyone. No new people means less turnover.
But then what happens if the older employees leave? In my store, we've had 5 new hires since I've been with the company. 2 quit within a month, 1 transferred to another department (and thinking about leaving altogether), and 1 is leaving by the end of May. This is on top of losing 1 employee who's been with the company for over 3 years, and another leaving next week after 2.5 years.
Essentially, I've seen more people leave my department than come in in the 8.5 months I've been here. Something ain't right, and something's gotta give. At what point will they just say "screw the turnover rate, we need people in NOW or we're going to be in deep ****"?
one of my co-managers slipped up and told me last year that the store manager in my store gets a $25,000 ish bonus at the end of the year. and we cant have a 25 CENT yearly raise let alone a $10 gift card for Christmas. its amazing how far Kroger will go to bend over backwards for customers and yet all employee's are told is to "bend over".
one of my co-managers slipped up and told me last year that the store manager in my store gets a $25,000 ish bonus at the end of the year. and we cant have a 25 CENT yearly raise let alone a $10 gift card for Christmas. its amazing how far Kroger will go to bend over backwards for customers and yet all employee's are told is to "bend over".
A $0.25 raise a year isn't cheap. If you have 25 full time employeea and 50 part time employees working 20 hours, that's about 100,000 hours right there. So that costs about $25,000. PER YEAR. You can give 75 people an insignificant raise, or give a couple people (or one person) a big bonus to be a slave driver.
So the manager is worth $25,000 by themselves but the whole store worth of employees isn't worth $25k total, thats basically what they're saying. So much for "great" people.
So the manager is worth $25,000 by themselves but the whole store worth of employees isn't worth $25k total, thats basically what they're saying. So much for "great" people.
I'm with you here. I eagerly await the associate survey coming this June to talk about this company's "thankfulness" for its "great" people.
So the manager is worth $25,000 by themselves but the whole store worth of employees isn't worth $25k total, thats basically what they're saying. So much for "great" people.
I'm with you here. I eagerly await the associate survey coming this June to talk about this company's "thankfulness" for its "great" people.
So that's actually a thing? I'd be more than happy to fill that sumb!tch out whether or not I'm still with Kroger.
-- Edited by thestruggleisreal on Monday 20th of April 2015 06:13:17 PM
So the manager is worth $25,000 by themselves but the whole store worth of employees isn't worth $25k total, thats basically what they're saying. So much for "great" people.
I'm with you here. I eagerly await the associate survey coming this June to talk about this company's "thankfulness" for its "great" people.
So that's actually a thing? I'd be more than happy to fill that sumb!tch out whether or not I'm still with Kroger.
-- Edited by thestruggleisreal on Monday 20th of April 2015 06:13:17 PM
yeah, it's real, but divisions are increasingly moving from universal surveys to "randomly" selected stores taking them.
So the manager is worth $25,000 by themselves but the whole store worth of employees isn't worth $25k total, thats basically what they're saying. So much for "great" people.
I'm with you here. I eagerly await the associate survey coming this June to talk about this company's "thankfulness" for its "great" people.
. . . That is actually a "performance" evaluation for their managers. If a store gets a lot of "unfavorable" surveys, they will keep making that store do them until the surveys improve.. I know this because it happened with my store.
The company themselves don't care what we think of them overall.
It's similar in any company. You're a liability until you're an asset. Hiring and training represents a risk to the company; an additional risk of liability too. Not to say I haven't make the "hire more help" requiem myself, but that's the nature of hiring.
I was told that turnover was a specific focus currently. We had a job fair two months ago and most of those people already quit. Sooooo...we had ANOTHER job fair Friday. Simple answer: Pay your people!!
