Im the backup in my department. I have a great boss but i Would say their biggest weakness is not holding people accountable or if they are excessively talking or doing what they arent supposed to telling them to get back to work. they hold me accountable and tell me to get back to work. Its frustrating because I do the most work of all the people and We wouldnt be looking as good as we do without me. My question is what can I do or say as a backup to the people not doing their job? I dont want to come off as a jerk but Im tired of pulling others weight and soon we are getting new people and Im the trainer now and Ill have my hands full.
For a second I thought i wrote this, because your story sounds just like mine. For some reason all department heads believe that once they make that position, that they no longer have to work. They always say that its the back-ups job to do everything because, "they are training you." which is complete B.S. I am a drug/gm back-up and I am serious considering stepping down. I can do the job, but I am just physically and mentally tired of doing everything.
You can try kicking it up the ladder, but be prepared to have smoke blown up your bum. Be prepared to step down. Top management is aware of this crap and ok with it, or they're not and there's no excuse why. Either way you're proabbaly in a no-win situation you'll likely catch the blame for if you stay.
Im also a drug gm backs up. My departmwnt head does quite a bit of work but also sits around a lot. They will say Ill be back in a second Im gonna do the order and I go to ask a question 30 Mins later and they havent even started the order. Im getting burnt out and Im thinking about either stepping down or signing a bid. a Couple people in the department like to talk constantly and and cant multitask and the other is just really slow And cant prioritize. thw dept head just shakes their head and gets upset but wont twll anyone to get back to work or anything but if I did that then they would say something to me. They have high expectations for me and very low expectations for the rest. Lately theyve been making a lot of jabs at me and Im fed up. They claim to be my friend and that im the best and they dont want to lose me but yet they seem to be pushing me away.
I assume store management is holding you accountable? As the assistant, you're viewed in the same light as the department head (responsibilities). This is a common mistake most rookie back ups make, which is not showing leadership. One of the most crucial parts of being a manager is to ensure your clerks are working, hopefully efficiently (aka babysitting). With this issue, you should attempt positive motivation or encourage your clerks to have a sense of pride with their work. If issues persist, you need to go the jerk route and issue warnings/write-ups or simply bring the insubordination issues to store management as that becomes their responsibility. What your team does is a reflection of your leadership, so it's very important to bring up insubordinate clerks to store management just to cover your own ass.
Every Kroger store I've worked at the team work seems to be split 80/10. If you do one thing wrong it's all you, you, you, you did it not me the customer who negligently forgot something or the computer did not have things priced right. Start using the rules you can to get people to do their work. You have company rules that you can start enforcing.
