If you could change FIVE (and only five) things about Kroger what would they be?
1. Give out fruit and veggies that reach the sell by date the day of (or right before they toss it) to employees and staff instead of throwing it in the garbage. (it's SAD how much I see going in there..)
2. Separate baggers and cart-attendants into separate jobs (or at the very lease have 2 people employed whose job is it to ONLY get carts and maintain the parking lot)
3. Equal training through out the store (if you want to train at another department you should be able to without being blocked by anyone)
4. Better employee benefits (10 percent off Kroger products is nothing Kroger)
5. Freedom to say NO if what you are asked is NOT in your job description. (If you have one of those managers who want you to do everything, you know what I mean)
If these were in place I wouldn't mind Kroger as much as I do now.
1. Better pay. The starting wage should at least be a living wage. Should get higher pay for higher responsibilities, like becoming an FES, or sub department lead.
2. Better staffed stores. Understaffing the stores is one of the core reasons our company is struggling right now, and the sooner they realise this, the sooner things can turn back around
3. I agree, the bagger schedule really needs to assume there's always at least one person in the lot. By extension it also needs to better accommodate for breaks. Once 9 or 10am comes around there's always one person on the front end on break usually.
4. Invest in replacing outdated equipment and software. It's crazy that we're really only just now getting to the point where most stores have touchscreen registers, when our competitors converted 10 years ago.
5. Sick days. I should not have to come to work sneezing and coughing on people's food because I can't afford to miss a day of work. (I know some divisions have this by law or contract, but in divisions like mine, we don't)
1. Better pay for EVERYONE. NO MATTER WHAT JOB TITLE you have.
2. More hours for ALL.
3. Adequate staffing.
4. Elimination of STUPID programs that will NEVER work.
5. Employee recognition and in store lunches for a job well done.
2. Separate baggers and cart-attendants into separate jobs (or at the very lease have 2 people employed whose job is it to ONLY get carts and maintain the parking lot)
5. Freedom to say NO if what you are asked is NOT in your job description. (If you have one of those managers who want you to do everything, you know what I mean)
2.) This does exist in metro store, depending on the division you're in. It's called a Utility Clerk instead of a Courtesy Clerk.
5.) Depends on the contract/division... In my contract, it lays out exactly what some clerks are to do. A great example is the Courtesy Clerk. Specifically for CC's, our contract has a list of what CC's can do, and if they are told to do something that is something not on that list, they get 2x pay ($20/hour MINIMUM) for the time doing such work. HOWEVER, if CC's do something that isn't on that list (like cashiering) without being told, they can be disciplined, up to and including discharge.
1. Eliminate the "store walks" each dept leader has to do with the manager, no one likes doing those anyway, the same goes for the "refresh your station every hour". NO ONE IS DOING THEM.
2. To the person who suggested better pay across the board, I concur, even baggers who have to get out in 97 degree heat and 35 degree cold should get better than what they get. Bagging itself as easy as people think either.
3. Make the ability to transfer between stores a better process not one that takes 4 months to complete due to the hr person not getting off their ass to do anything.
4. No one knows how to "check if there is any more of *product*" in the back" other than the grocers and a select few, it should be taught to more people so we don't get told that we don't know how to do our job, 'kay?
5. Promotions make no sense at kroger. it should not be "okay well we don't have this person to stock shelves anymore, "....hey you!" guess what"
1) Existing worker pay should increase at the same rate as local minimum wage. (Current local Colorado union negotiation updates are depressing: http://ufcw7.org/negotiation-update/ - to put raise requests in perspective, minimum wage was $7.28 when I started in '09, is currently $11.10, and will go up to $12 on Jan 1, '20. Grocery clerks currently top out at $18.44+overnight dollar, which hasn't changed in several years. The closing gap has me looking at other job options.)
2) Give us enough ELMS/hours to staff enough people to do the job properly, rather than shorting existing workers on hours, bitching about the resulting overtime brought on by not enough people being there, and then adding even more to our work load with corporate's constant little policy and Key Retailing changes while expecting everything to be done in the same amount of time.
3) Store managers shouldn't get bonuses from departmental works' performance. They don't do anything to influence us. If the departments are performing better than expected or above required standards, we should be getting bonuses for it if any are to be handed out.
4) Store/assistant managers should be written up or fired when they make the same mistakes that would earn the same punishment for low-level employees. I was working the freezer at a store when a large chunk of the refrigeration for those aisles went down. Everything reaching the safe temp limit was put into a reefer trailer, only for us to lose several thousand dollars in ice cream because the STORE MANAGER, whose responsibility it was, didn't change the temperature of the trailer from 'refrigerate' to 'freeze.' Nothing happened to him. But I once had such a massive order leading up to Thanksgiving that I was so focused on getting it done and forgot to order that one day. Come Thanksgiving, the only thing we ran out of was one flavor of pie. I got written up. I don't care about write-ups, as that was the only one I've received in my ten years with this company and they disappear after six months anyway, but it's the principle of it.
5) District/corporate walks should be a) a surprise so they can actually get an accurate picture of a normal day at the store and managers aren't stressing employees out just to look perfect for a single day, and b) happen overnight just as often as during the day so they can talk to the people doing the real work. Why would they care to talk to upper management when the only people that go for those jobs don't give a **** about us workers and are only going to do what they can to make themselves look good to keep their paychecks? They don't have the spine to speak up about anything.
I could go on. I've actually got a list of complaints written up on my phone.
1. Eliminate the "store walks" each dept leader has to do with the manager, no one likes doing those anyway, the same goes for the "refresh your station every hour". NO ONE IS DOING THEM.
2. To the person who suggested better pay across the board, I concur, even baggers who have to get out in 97 degree heat and 35 degree cold should get better than what they get. Bagging itself as easy as people think either.
3. Make the ability to transfer between stores a better process not one that takes 4 months to complete due to the hr person not getting off their ass to do anything.
4. No one knows how to "check if there is any more of *product*" in the back" other than the grocers and a select few, it should be taught to more people so we don't get told that we don't know how to do our job, 'kay?
5. Promotions make no sense at kroger. it should not be "okay well we don't have this person to stock shelves anymore, "....hey you!" guess what"
1) The store walks are necessary. It's the job of a store manager to make sure the store isn't going to ****. Certain standards have to be upheld, or the place becomes unpleasant to shop at.
3) You need to take initiative. I've transferred a few times, and I've always had to go to the store I was trying to get into to make sure that their management received the transfer paperwork. If that store needs the help, it'll happen quickly when you put the effort in and don't rely on managers who don't want to lose you.
4) I should hope Key Retailing and back-stock reports on repack boats/cages is a thing in every district. If so, yeah, every CC and departmental worker should all be made aware of those back-stock reports - assuming that they're kept up to date; that's our job.
1. For 'High-risk' stores with constant theft issues, HANDS ON security should be stationed at those stores. If shoplifters see that security does put hands on shoplifters, then they may be inclined to rethink their intentions.
2. If equipment needs repairing and or replacing, then do it. Electric tape and duct tape are not good substitutions.
3. If you have a policy of "if you see it you got it" as a slip and fall prevention on spills, then whomever sees it, no matter what the job title cleans it. (Ex exception: on breaks, lunch, helping a customer, or off the clock).
If you only make what you do after all of those years, you may want to reevaluate yourself.
Well, it was good money just a few years ago, so I didn't mind sticking around. "Good money" is location dependent, though, so no surprises if your area pays more for the same job. I'm definitely reevaluating my situation now, as I said. If you've moved on, why are you still hanging out on a Kroger forum?
If you could change FIVE (and only five) things about Kroger what would they be?
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What would some of yours be?
1) Make sure ALL departments are Adequately staffed. And I mean TRULY ADEQUATELY, not just barely squeaking by, according to some phony minute/hour labor metric thought up by a corporate know-nothing who sits in a cushy office chair all day with their Starbucks cup of coffee at arms length, and who has never worked an hour in any actual Kroger store.
2) Pay more across-the-board, to help encourage the good workers to stay.
3) Implement a 10% discount for all employees on ALL items sold in the store, no matter what.
4) Remove the audio music feed FOR GOOD. Allow only announcements and pages that have some inherent usefulness to the operation of the store.
5) Stop sending warehouse "add outs" or "distros" to all depts. Send ONLY what was actually ordered by the respective dept leads. This will help reduce shrink.
