Out of sheer curiosity, have any of you ever heard of a manager OF ANY COMPANY (I'm not singling out just Kroger here) that ever refused a bonus, based on the fact that there were certain things he or she just would NOT do in order to obtain it? Is that even possible? Or is that just not an option in this modern world, and in this economy? Does the money overrule everything? You sometimes hear about managers having to do this or do that in order to receive their bonuses, but has anyone ever said "No Thanks" JUST on the basis of principle, or is that just a foolish dream on my part? Has anyone ever thought about this? Is asking the question even wrong? I'm curious to know what the rest of you think...
Good question, don't think I've seen one like it on here before. I'd love it if Management Drone were to give his two cents.
I've been threatened with demotion by my Market Manager. Had a SM once who wanted to write me up. And there was one time that I received a far smaller bonus than my peers.....ALL OF THIS simply because I refuse to fire people if I can possibly avoid it. Make no mistake, pay roll factors BIG in store profit...and yes, bonuses.
Son, surely you don't believe this bs story from your mgmt.? If you do then like the song says "I've got some ocean front property in Arizona I'll sell you and I'll throw the boat in for Free!" . Failure to carry out or follow any company policy is INSUBORDINATION and/or DISLOYALTY- grounds for immediate dismissal. Mgmt. has no union type backing so unlike the rank and file you don't get three strikes sometimes not even one.
Here's what probably really happened- if you're in the not so great Kroger mgmt. then your bonus rated. So as long as u bleed Kroger Blue and carry out all company mandates, policies, and spew forth the greedy profit based propaganda along with meeting all your evaluation objectives then u will get a yearly bonus in addition to your salary. HOWEVER, if u don't achieve all of the above then u very likely will receive a marginal evaluation which means u don't qualify for a bonus and also that u most likely will be fired very soon or if they can con u into it- be forced to resign. Very rarely does a mgmt. person with the marginal rating ever rise from the ashes and get back in their good graces because it basically means u become their indentured servant and have to recant all your objections/failures to carry out the company agendas.
Unlike our country, your employer does not have to allow freedom of speech and/or the pursuit of happiness just because you don't agree with some of their manifesto. So tell the deli/bakery to get a Goodbye cake ready for this mgmt. person and have them write on it; "Hope You Find What You're Looking For On The Other Side of The Door!"
Son, surely you don't believe this bs story from your mgmt.? If you do then like the song says "I've got some ocean front property in Arizona I'll sell you and I'll throw the boat in for Free!" . Failure to carry out or follow any company policy is INSUBORDINATION and/or DISLOYALTY- grounds for immediate dismissal. Mgmt. has no union type backing so unlike the rank and file you don't get three strikes sometimes not even one.
Here's what probably really happened- if you're in the not so great Kroger mgmt. then your bonus rated. So as long as u bleed Kroger Blue and carry out all company mandates, policies, and spew forth the greedy profit based propaganda along with meeting all your evaluation objectives then u will get a yearly bonus in addition to your salary. HOWEVER, if u don't achieve all of the above then u very likely will receive a marginal evaluation which means u don't qualify for a bonus and also that u most likely will be fired very soon or if they can con u into it- be forced to resign. Very rarely does a mgmt. person with the marginal rating ever rise from the ashes and get back in their good graces because it basically means u become their indentured servant and have to recant all your objections/failures to carry out the company agendas.
Unlike our country, your employer does not have to allow freedom of speech and/or the pursuit of happiness just because you don't agree with some of their manifesto. So tell the deli/bakery to get a Goodbye cake ready for this mgmt. person and have them write on it; "Hope You Find What You're Looking For On The Other Side of The Door!"
I feel that what you speak is definitely truth. I believe it, because I've never seen anyone "break ranks" on purpose, though I've heard of managers getting fired. I only simply asked if the opposite was EVEN POSSIBLE, or HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED ANYWHERE? Sure, they would probably fail, but has anyone ever tried to fight it? Or at least, fail or quit a company (any company), but on an EPIC scale? Are the bonuses ($) just too great, or the downsides and/or repercussions too severe for anyone to attempt to say no, or even make a fuss? If you look at the history of this country, though, we wouldn't be the great nation that we are if some people didn't make a fuss and resist the powers that be, whoever they were, once in a while. The Colonists vs. King George and his taxes....The North vs. The South and their slavery...MLK and the throngs of marchers and freedom riders vs. some in the South who wanted to keep the status quo...I'm sure all this stuff is in a history book somewhere. Right? And yet, nowadays, NO ONE gets outraged anymore at anything. And if they do, nothing is ever done about it...And no one wants to fight...or fix what's wrong with the world...And you wonder with the lack of outrage and/or passion, if this old world is going to hell in a a handbasket. And sooner than we think. And the lies we ALL tell ourselves or the lies we went along with, what will they all mean in the end? Will all this crap matter? Is life just one load of BS after another, that we ALL have to keep shoveling, digging a deeper hole for ourselves in the process? Deep, huh? Makes you wonder, though...Am I the only one who thinks this way? If so, I pity the next generation, if there is one...Maybe someone will actually have the attention span to read this, if it hasn't already been reduced to nothing by social media and their cell phones, and whatever other distraction is going on at the moment...
Sorry if I sound like an world-weary old fart, but I guess I'm just on a rant today...
Good question, don't think I've seen one like it on here before. I'd love it if Management Drone were to give his two cents.
I've been threatened with demotion by my Market Manager. Had a SM once who wanted to write me up. And there was one time that I received a far smaller bonus than my peers.....ALL OF THIS simply because I refuse to fire people if I can possibly avoid it. Make no mistake, pay roll factors BIG in store profit...and yes, bonuses.
Sorry for the delay nocturnia, the new job has been time consuming lately (I left the job I had after Kroger in June, wife is an RN making bank now). I have never declined a bonus because I'll admit I needed the money. I'm not a greedy bastard or anything, but hey, gotta family to feed and keep a roof over just like everyone else.
While I have not declined a bonus, I never went all freak out on my dept. heads to achieve any set goals. Threats and intimidation simply are not and have never been my style. My job is (okay, was) to achieve results through my people, and telling them I'll remove their employment isn't the greatest motivator I've found. Not to get all touchy-feely, I simply would set out the goals, plan the attack on them, and get to it. You need help? You got it. Extra hours? I'll squeeze them from somewhere. Equipment problems? I'll blow up the Facilities phone till it gets fixed and done right. Bonuses never came into consideration much because the program was so f*ed up it never mattered.
What some folks don't realize is that while the stated bonus potentials for Co's may seem high, that goal is almost never reached. Almost never, unless you kiss enough ass to get in the right store, but that's another story. When I left Kroger in Sept. of 2011, my bonus potential was $6,000. I never made more than 40% of that. As a matter of fact, my last bonus was in the low 30's. The goals they set are absurd and unreachable. For example, 6.5% sales growth, in a value store in a poor neighborhood at the height of the bust of 2008. The goals were set as moving targets to be guaranteed not to be hit. Not to mention that since the DM's bonus was on the whole district, we got a lot of directives to "Help a brother out" to cover for the sins of another. Had a store go through a remodel and become a Marketplace. When they opened, they were consistently 4-500 hours over weekly. Guess who took up the slack?
Now, at my last job, with Love's Travel Stops, the bonus program actually made sense. I regularly made 80-90%, and never had to step over my people to get there because they had a bonus program as well on the same metrics. Granted, they didn't get cash like we did, but it was enough to make up for that (imagine a points program that actually has great stuff: a shift lead at my store used her points to get darn near front row tickets to Imagine Dragons, another got a 32" flat screen TV). Because they were under the same gun as I was, we collaborated to get things where they needed to be to make the bonuses. No union also may have helped, but then again, same tactics as before: let's get things done.
Anywho, that's my 2.5 cents on the matter. Please ask any questions you have, I'm here under a real open door policy...
tl;dr - Not a greedy bastard, also not a bastard.
__________________
My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
Good question, don't think I've seen one like it on here before. I'd love it if Management Drone were to give his two cents.
I've been threatened with demotion by my Market Manager. Had a SM once who wanted to write me up. And there was one time that I received a far smaller bonus than my peers.....ALL OF THIS simply because I refuse to fire people if I can possibly avoid it. Make no mistake, pay roll factors BIG in store profit...and yes, bonuses.
Sorry for the delay nocturnia, the new job has been time consuming lately (I left the job I had after Kroger in June, wife is an RN making bank now). I have never declined a bonus because I'll admit I needed the money. I'm not a greedy bastard or anything, but hey, gotta family to feed and keep a roof over just like everyone else.
While I have not declined a bonus, I never went all freak out on my dept. heads to achieve any set goals. Threats and intimidation simply are not and have never been my style. My job is (okay, was) to achieve results through my people, and telling them I'll remove their employment isn't the greatest motivator I've found. Not to get all touchy-feely, I simply would set out the goals, plan the attack on them, and get to it. You need help? You got it. Extra hours? I'll squeeze them from somewhere. Equipment problems? I'll blow up the Facilities phone till it gets fixed and done right. Bonuses never came into consideration much because the program was so f*ed up it never mattered.
What some folks don't realize is that while the stated bonus potentials for Co's may seem high, that goal is almost never reached. Almost never, unless you kiss enough ass to get in the right store, but that's another story. When I left Kroger in Sept. of 2011, my bonus potential was $6,000. I never made more than 40% of that. As a matter of fact, my last bonus was in the low 30's. The goals they set are absurd and unreachable. For example, 6.5% sales growth, in a value store in a poor neighborhood at the height of the bust of 2008. The goals were set as moving targets to be guaranteed not to be hit. Not to mention that since the DM's bonus was on the whole district, we got a lot of directives to "Help a brother out" to cover for the sins of another. Had a store go through a remodel and become a Marketplace. When they opened, they were consistently 4-500 hours over weekly. Guess who took up the slack?
Now, at my last job, with Love's Travel Stops, the bonus program actually made sense. I regularly made 80-90%, and never had to step over my people to get there because they had a bonus program as well on the same metrics. Granted, they didn't get cash like we did, but it was enough to make up for that (imagine a points program that actually has great stuff: a shift lead at my store used her points to get darn near front row tickets to Imagine Dragons, another got a 32" flat screen TV). Because they were under the same gun as I was, we collaborated to get things where they needed to be to make the bonuses. No union also may have helped, but then again, same tactics as before: let's get things done.
Anywho, that's my 2.5 cents on the matter. Please ask any questions you have, I'm here under a real open door policy...
tl;dr - Not a greedy bastard, also not a bastard.
Wow, this all looks terribly familiar to me! Your last gig, Love's Travel Stops, sounds like it was a splendid package.....Man, I'd like to find a deal like that!
Best in your new endeavor. Thanks for the response~~
