I have a 401k with Kroger and haven't gotten a match. Then how are they going from 4% to 5%?
Increasing Kroger's dollar-for-dollar 401K retirement match from 4 percent to 5 percent of the workers' salary.
Expanding the employee 10 percent discount on house-brand goods across the country. It will also now offer employees additional discounts on general merchandise, home, apparel and jewelry.
Adding $5 million in annual funding to Kroger's Helping Hands program for employees facing hardships.
For Managers and maybe non union stores. Stopped my match decades ago. Also I'm sure education help will be for employees who take class for retail management. All typical Kroger BS and propaganda for the public
For Managers and maybe non union stores. Stopped my match decades ago. Also I'm sure education help will be for employees who take class for retail management. All typical Kroger BS and propaganda for the public
They had our ceo in front of some young kids. It was a great publicly stunt.
As expected, no mention of wage raises. As long as there are people willing to work for minimum and not complain about it, Kroger will not be boosting wages.
Investing in help with tuition. Why? How will that help Kroger as a company? Students will take the money and quit for a better job in 2-4 years. Why investing in employees who are not planning on staying with the company? I just don't get it.
And, no bonuses either, great. Kroger has to be the only retailer that did not give any bonuses. I've been with the company for almost 5 years, started with a great enthusiasm and loved my job, I ended up bitter and burnt out. Kroger wants us to call ourselves great people, if we're so great, why not show some appreciation?
As expected, no mention of wage raises. As long as there are people willing to work for minimum and not complain about it, Kroger will not be boosting wages.
Investing in help with tuition. Why? How will that help Kroger as a company? Students will take the money and quit for a better job in 2-4 years. Why investing in employees who are not planning on staying with the company? I just don't get it.
And, no bonuses either, great. Kroger has to be the only retailer that did not give any bonuses. I've been with the company for almost 5 years, started with a great enthusiasm and loved my job, I ended up bitter and burnt out. Kroger wants us to call ourselves great people, if we're so great, why not show some appreciation?
It's marketing, they got good publicity, I can tell you from experience, they will block you from a educational leave. I also watched another employee lose their job from taking a education leave (obviously not for that, but when they got back, 2 weeks later for petty stuff). So any % increase of 0 is 0, and if it was 10,000$, thats still cheap as **** compared to paying a employee enough to eat.
If you really think about it, a Bonus really does not effect anything! Yes, associates are happy for the short term, but after the $$ is spent.....its back to square 1. The tuition assistance is actually going to lower hiring costs and retain associates longer. With college getting more and more expensive, I would have been happy to get $3500 yearly when in college. Yes, a higher wage would be awesome, but do younger people really know how to manage money (people always thing they should be paid more). Tuition assistance is there to better people while also raising the talent pool of associates and future leaders (inside the company and also outside). While I already have a BA, this $$ would be awesome for another degree (one should always be learning more then they currently know). I just hope they have thought up appropriate safe guards for this tuition program, I can see people getting hired on part-time and working 10 hours a week for this benefit. It has always driven me nuts, part timers receives the same benefits/incentives as a full timer and sometimes jump over the full timer just because a hire date?
$10 an hour is actually is less than minimum wage here, except even Walmart pays better than minimum wage. How generous.
Education benefits are a crock. You can get reimbursed for community college classes leading to a retail management certificate, but only if you sell your soul to Kroger first. Kroger is downright hostile to any kind of scheduling inflexibility and won't let you attend classes every week, so it doesn't really matter.
In the cinci/dayton division, this wage hike is a huge deal. It was the only reason the contract passed. They paid new hires 7.35 or something, night crews got 8.35 (1 dollar more on premium). The store level employees were dropping like flies, OT got shot and rules slammed down from Tim Brown, so old-timers were getting fired or quitting. Theres literally not enough people trained correctly anymore. And then on top of it, there was no holiday hiring. The entire division were on pre-holiday skeleton crews, let alone holiday demand, because it was literally the lowest paying job. You could go ANYWHERE and make more money. Night crews plummeted. You were really lucky to have 4 or 5 people except in certain stores. A lot of whole departments were running on half hours, all over the division. Pictures flodded the internet with completely empty 4 foot sections. Anyone who was hired ended up quitting within a week or so because of the work and stress levels. Those who stayed were the types that could not get a job anywhere else. My stores hiring drought lasted probably 8 months or so (Not that it was great beforehand). Our night crew specifically hired about 3 people in a 2 year time, even though we were running a 3 or 4 person crew that need 7 or 8. Only people ever hired came and went in clicklist. Like, you were not, under any circumstances, allowed to try to push employees out or fire. People got away with some shiiiiiiiiit lemme tell ya. Still do, cause this isnt completely over. There so happy about themselves for paying new hires enough to stay that now theyre expecting way more.
Talks of strikes were floating around between stores but the new contract coming up kept that from becoming anything remotely serious, I think.
and now that they pay new night crew 12 and new day crew 10, the hiring problem pretty much gone away within the half month since it started. At least here.
buuuuuut people who are already topped out are only getting 1.30 I think? A lot of people who have already put in the time and stress feel super jipped about it. I dont blame them.
So yeah. Real generous. Thanks CEO. Thanks Tim. Thanks. :| Yall started this.
-- Edited by GreyKnitHat on Wednesday 18th of April 2018 09:47:39 AM
One of our old timers pointed out the crock about the 401k matching today at the huddle. She said they stopped matching years ago so how can it go from 4% to 5%? Store manager claims it'll start matching now but ill believe it when I see it.
Cincy/Dayton most UCFW's participate in a pension plan. The company match is for non-union associates that previously received 4% match. While $10 is a good start, its still the lower end of starting pay in most retail now.
The matching for the 401k is ONLY for salaried Management. Hourly employees do not get a match because they are eligible for a pension. Salaried do not get pensions. That is why they get matching contributions and hourly do not, Kroger contributies tou your pension instead of a 401K
These are enterprise wide incentives, which would effect all associates unless under Union contract. I know this isn't going to be popular, but how many people know about their pension plan? Do associates know for each hour worked xxx is submitted to your pension? I found it interesting that Employee discounts were not enterprise wide before this announcement, while 10% is nice, its not a big incentive that going to make anyone think any differently about the company. In reality the education incentive is big for getting a higher quality associate and doesn't really hurt anyone. If you have been with the company for years, its a great thing to learn a new skill or job set. If you get a college student, they will most likely stay 3-5+ years since college isn't really 2 or 4 years anymore, specially if your working.
I have been with Kroger for over ten years but was told by Merrill Lynch that Kroger does not match any percentage of what I have put in. I am not a manager. I did not want to withdraw what I had put into it to avoid any penalty but I no longer add any money from my paycheck. I am not sure why our management told us that Kroger would match. Otherwise I would not have opened an account. It is too bad. I have to rely on my 401 K from a job unrelated to Kroger that I had decades ago which has grown significantly in value even though I have not added any money to it since moving away from that job.
Looking at my mylifeatkroger.com page, as well as my account on Merrill's own site, it looks like I've been getting the 5% match. As far as I can remember, it's been 5% for as long as I've had benefits (5 or 6 years, if I'm remembering right). I've only been working the various overnight grocery positions since I started getting benefits, never management (although I've been offered and turned down becoming foreman a few times) at non-union stores.
The majority of stores are union, so they do not participate in the match. If you are at a Non-Union store, I'm guessing your participate in the 401k match and do not receive a pension. In reality, Non-Union stores might be getting better benefits/pay. The only think I'm sure is loser is the yearly out of pocket costs if needing medical treatment.
Yeah, I've heard our health insurance is crap, so that does worry me a bit if something happens. I don't see a doctor unless it's an emergency anyway, though. Haven't had anything happen since I was still on my parents' federal insurance, so fingers crossed...
Old post, but I Googled Kroger match for 401K, and this popped up. I set up a 401K about 7 months ago. Ive been receiving the 5% match, and Im not salaried, and Im part of the union. My balance is like $2700 right now. Ive contributed like $1200 with Kroger contributing the same amount, plus stock has gone up a bit at the moment. Wish I wouldve been smart and set one up 6 years ago lol
Old post, but I Googled Kroger match for 401K, and this popped up. I set up a 401K about 7 months ago. Ive been receiving the 5% match, and Im not salaried, and Im part of the union. My balance is like $2700 right now. Ive contributed like $1200 with Kroger contributing the same amount, plus stock has gone up a bit at the moment. Wish I wouldve been smart and set one up 6 years ago lol
If you want to be even smarter, don't let the 401k be your only savings. 401k are pre-tax, so once you do retire, the government will take a nice chunk out of it before you get paid. You also lose more to taxes if you pull it all out at once rather than a bit at a time. Look into creating a post-tax savings account with a bank (hint: won't be one of the main names that has multiple physical branches in every city to maintain, they offer ****) that offers a savings account with a high annual interest rate.
I also work for kroger and they do not offer match for 401k for hourly employees maybe for their salary managers but the regular employee gets no match. I invest in the 401k plan and all I can say is if your not saving it yourself you will get nothing from them matching. Just maximize your contribution the best you can.
