Co, of course. Salaried management will always beat hourly. You have career options you can take with you virtually any where, even outside of retail (which I did).
Department head? Specific to just. Exactly. That. i.e., dead end.
Department heads have managorial duties that can be taken elsewhere for hiring purposes. If you really think theres no upward momentum for department heads, get better interviewing skills and some imagination. If youre interesting in LE, being a department head will really really help you get in, whereas not being a department head shows district management and others that you dont have drive. That is why I sayDepartment Head. If you cant handle running a corner of the store, you cant handle LE.
I was referring to sanity, workload, work-life balance with saying Department Head. Yes, becoming a Co-Manager looks good on paper, but with the current environment, Co-Managers are long lasting too long.
I personally wouldnt be a co manager because once you are a co, they can move you to whatever store they want, plus all the co managers have to deal with totally sucks. I would be a dept head.
-- Edited by TheDragoness on Wednesday 18th of April 2018 09:40:14 AM
-- Edited by TheDragoness on Wednesday 18th of April 2018 09:41:09 AM
I don't think either one is necessarily "better" in general. A few of department heads I have worked with in the past eventually became co-managers. For the most part they were pretty happy about it because it was the only way to bring home more money. Only drawback is that you will be working longer hours and can be moved around to another store for business needs.
If you want any chance of a life outside work, department head would be better. When getting hired as co manager, your told five day work week and ten hour shifts. While it is understandable that you might have to occasionally work six days to cover vacation, etc., the reality is six days is the norm. You will also have times where you might work seven days a week for two or three weeks in a row.
When you work holidays, your supposed to get an extra day off within three weeks. If you can't get your two days off a week, you aren't getting the holiday day. Kroger's should just stop pretending it is a benefit and either just do away with it or give managers an extra day pay. The ten hour work days your told about, not happening. Don't be surprised when you look forward to only working twelve hours a day. There are too many visits from upper management, coordinators, etc. and "special" events that cause you to have to work eighty plus hours a week to get ready for. Again, if it happened once or twice a year it wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, it seems to happen every week. There's always some reason your store leader needs you to work longer. Kroger's has too many people above store management just dropping in when it is convenient for them. You have to stop your job and give them an hour or two of your time so they can do their job. This means that you are then behind on what you are required to do and stay later. Pay can seem pretty good until you work out what your actually making per hour.
All of this could and should be fixed by company or they will continue to lose co mangers. A lot of money is being wasted on training expenses just to have someone leave within a few months because they were told one thing and the reality is totally different.
