That's how understaffed we are at the store I'm at. All departments are suffering a major labor shortage and such, every week, on average, five hundred hours go unused. One of my co-managers says that he's never seen it "this bad" and says it's not just one or two stores... it's all stores in the division. We recently had a hiring event... and it was a bust... because mainly minors applied and we've already employed as many minors as we're allowed to.
Would like to think corporate would "wake up" and realize that until the okay is given to raise the wages, potential employees are going to continue to gravitate towards the competitors that pay better. Come on... Kroger, being a "leader in the grocery industry" that is "growing" according to those hiring advertisements played over the intercom... can do better by its employees. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening.
That's how understaffed we are at the store I'm at. All departments are suffering a major labor shortage and such, every week, on average, five hundred hours go unused. One of my co-managers says that he's never seen it "this bad" and says it's not just one or two stores... it's all stores in the division. We recently had a hiring event... and it was a bust... because mainly minors applied and we've already employed as many minors as we're allowed to.
Would like to think corporate would "wake up" and realize that until the okay is given to raise the wages, potential employees are going to continue to gravitate towards the competitors that pay better. Come on... Kroger, being a "leader in the grocery industry" that is "growing" according to those hiring advertisements played over the intercom... can do better by its employees. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening.
How badly understaffed is your store?
Front End is pretty piss poor. I make $7.25 an hour. I go through Hell trying to keep up with the carts while on 'lot duty. Yesterday I worked from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Had 'lot from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. For every 10 carts I brought in, 7 would go out on average. Some was due to having no small carts -- but when I bring in small carts, I'd better bring in as many as I can handle without breaking the strap or my will. They go like they come with a free $20 bill.
I do that for no thanks, no additional reward, no additional pay. I have U-scan clerks that come up to me asking me to take cold items or other items back while I am bagging $100 + orders. With two other customers waiting in the register line.
I bag for hours. I've had several shifts that lasted four hours where I didn't get my break, either because I wasn't forceful enough or my Floor Supervisors just forgot.
Go-backs? Sure. If I had the time to get to them. I don't. We're too high-end and keep too busy.
All that. For $7.25 an hour. And if I am lucky I break $150 on a paycheck. Over the summer with the high schoolers on staff I made $80 a week with as low as 13 hours a week. Most was around 20.
We break our backs, our spirits, our sense of pride all in the name of nearly nothing.
Two days ago I had one of the cashiers chide me for not responding to a customer that said 'thank you'. Said customer stayed on her cell phone the entire time she was in the register line. The. Entire. Time. As in, after I finished bagging, she was still having the conversation. I'm not going to respond to someone who won't get off their phone for five minutes.
Yesterday I had the U-scan clerk get mad at me. Five minutes before my shift is up. Two customers to bag. Two cold items for go-backs. And I have to be somewhere in an hour-and-a-half. She called over to me and before I even knew what she wanted I said "I can't." Because I couldn't.
.....And things like these are supposed to keep people happy and wanting to stay at their job? For minimum damn wage? With barely any opportunity for advancement, raise or appreciation?
Sure I have my good days. Yes I have met some good people. But I take more crap and deal with more crap than I do the good things. I bust my hump and sometimes neglect or don't have time for personal things at home. Dishes need to be washed. The dog needs a bath. The lawn has to be mowed. But maybe it's raining?
And the schedule. Oh that goddamned schedule. A computer can't tell you when to mow the lawn. A computer doesn't know the dog will need a bath. A computer just tells them "Schedule four hours here, six hours there, three hours tomorrow and oh yea, five-and-a-half hours on Friday. But keep it under 40. A computer tells them "Hey! In 30 minutes, we're going to need three baggers, four cashiers and a buttload of hope!"
The economy is improving and the wages at Kroger are VERY bad for newcomers. So I wouldn't expect hiring to pick up as other places offer more money and less stress. Even Wal-Mart pays stockers more.
-- Edited by Pizza1029 on Sunday 19th of October 2014 09:43:33 AM
walmart has higher wages, but their insurance benefits are so terrible that it negates that entirely and then some. A regular customer of mine works at walmart, and she has family coverage and pays 800$ per month through walmart for her insurance. Literally half of her paycheck is deducted for insurance.
walmart has higher wages, but their insurance benefits are so terrible that it negates that entirely and then some. A regular customer of mine works at walmart, and she has family coverage and pays 800$ per month through walmart for her insurance. Literally half of her paycheck is deducted for insurance.
The thing is, perhaps many of the minors would rather opt to work at Walmart for the higher pay. Even so, they're still covered under their parents' insurance and often times they're not so concerned about "bills".
If I didn't have walmart so much, I would've worked there. But, their staff (or at least a large majority of them) are just too damn creepy. Like, they all look as if they've got some massive criminal backgrounds and that the life has been sucked out of them.
My dept has maybe 50 unused hours a week. I just don't have bodies to put on the schedule. damn never everyone is doing forty hours or whatever maxes out within their availability. my people are tired as hell. management says oh we're hiring but they're struggling with finding candidates to pass drug tests. then they go into the black hole for 30 days which seems like how long it takes to get them out of the training centers. by the time they hit stores they're pretty much out of probation before we even know if they're going to be any good. it's nonsensical because after 45 days we're stuck with them.
it's not just my store. we've discussed this at a meeting and other stores are seeing the same problem because other places offer better pay and less stress.
I'm glad it's not just my store. When I started 2 years ago, there were enough people that if someone called in and they had an 8 hour shift, that shift would be covered. Now we can't give extra shifts away. Everyone either has over 32 hours or is scheduled to the limits of their availability.
They need to stop hiring people in college and high school.
Someone told me our head manager got a great bonus for this skeleton crew though, so someone is benefiting from this nonsense. We also have a great (to corporate!) ratio of hours to sales. lol, a new publix and walmart opened across the river. they probably pay better BUT they are not stealing our customers despite being not even 15 minutes away. Some college kids sure, but publix is more expensive and that walmart doesn't carry as much food as a regular one, so all our regulars keep coming.
Anyone else on the front end still give **** about elms and dips? we used to have days with 0 dips and if it went over 5 it had to be storm day or the first wednesday or something. now it just happens. we don't have enough backup help, courtesy clerks, or cashiers to keep up. it's depressing.
I'm glad it's not just my store. When I started 2 years ago, there were enough people that if someone called in and they had an 8 hour shift, that shift would be covered. Now we can't give extra shifts away. Everyone either has over 32 hours or is scheduled to the limits of their availability.
They need to stop hiring people in college and high school.
Someone told me our head manager got a great bonus for this skeleton crew though, so someone is benefiting from this nonsense. We also have a great (to corporate!) ratio of hours to sales. lol, a new publix and walmart opened across the river. they probably pay better BUT they are not stealing our customers despite being not even 15 minutes away. Some college kids sure, but publix is more expensive and that walmart doesn't carry as much food as a regular one, so all our regulars keep coming.
Anyone else on the front end still give **** about elms and dips? we used to have days with 0 dips and if it went over 5 it had to be storm day or the first wednesday or something. now it just happens. we don't have enough backup help, courtesy clerks, or cashiers to keep up. it's depressing.
They cared about dips when I was hired, but from what I hear from my friends that are still FE there isn't a day without at least 5 and nobody cares. They poached anyone with a bit of speed for night crew and dairy, so only the old farts are left up front with the high schoolers.
I think our cashiers are as fast as they've ever been but it's hard when people have huge orders and there's no room for them and no baggers to help. (and not because they're not working but because there are more lanes than baggers and someone has to be out getting carts MY GOD if there are no little ones it's the end of the world)
well maybe we are going slower but why stress ourselves out if there's no reward? I used to close the till right away to end the order then reopen it to get the change but now i just leave it open
I mean our front end head messes up orders all the time in her quest to avoid dips but no one cares any more
My dept has maybe 50 unused hours a week. I just don't have bodies to put on the schedule. damn never everyone is doing forty hours or whatever maxes out within their availability. my people are tired as hell. management says oh we're hiring but they're struggling with finding candidates to pass drug tests. then they go into the black hole for 30 days which seems like how long it takes to get them out of the training centers. by the time they hit stores they're pretty much out of probation before we even know if they're going to be any good. it's nonsensical because after 45 days we're stuck with them.
it's not just my store. we've discussed this at a meeting and other stores are seeing the same problem because other places offer better pay and less stress.
At this point bomb disposal would offer less stress than Kroger. This job expects me to be a combination of Stretch Armstrong, an octopus, a wizard and some kind of hybrid alien from Doctor Who. Not sure which one yet...maybe a Dalek, which would actually work for me because of the hate I have gathered for human beings as a result of my work.
That's how understaffed we are at the store I'm at. All departments are suffering a major labor shortage and such, every week, on average, five hundred hours go unused. One of my co-managers says that he's never seen it "this bad" and says it's not just one or two stores... it's all stores in the division. We recently had a hiring event... and it was a bust... because mainly minors applied and we've already employed as many minors as we're allowed to.
Would like to think corporate would "wake up" and realize that until the okay is given to raise the wages, potential employees are going to continue to gravitate towards the competitors that pay better. Come on... Kroger, being a "leader in the grocery industry" that is "growing" according to those hiring advertisements played over the intercom... can do better by its employees. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening.
How badly understaffed is your store?
I have seen people moved to different depts for a short while then moved to another. Corporate isnt going to change, i remember one long time employee making the statement, " they dont want to solve the problem they just put a band aid on it." As long as the company is making money it isnt going to change. They can make all the motto's/slogans and commercials they want. Yet, when the employees get the short end and getting workloads they cannot possible get done during the shifts the morale goes down fast. It turns from caring to "get what i can done during my shift" and the rest "oh well!"
Our store isn't understaffed, they just don't schedule enough people to come in. I am a part-time employee. I have full available to work. Two weeks in a row they cut my hours and others to 13 and 14 hours. I called the union about it and was told they have to maximize my hours if I have enough seniority, which I do.
I work up front as a cashier. We never have enough baggers or cashiers. They complain to us that our ring tender is low and there are too many dips. Us cashiers have to bag the grocery's, tell them about the survey and sell the donations event that is going on. They want us to be fast, with no help. Krogers is making millions of dollars, so they don't care what we go threw. I make only minimum wage and they expect me to perform miracles and be happy to work under these conditions.
The front end people are tired of low pay, not enough hours, working under stressful conditions, being yelled at by management. We have to work in front of doors that don't close, and the cold air is coming in on us. Makes it very hard to work when you are cold. We run out of plastic bags. We have to run and check price's, or get the customer an item, because we have no one to call and do this. Then management wants to know where we went. If we call management to our lane for assistance, no one comes because they are either at the customer service counter or on a register themselves. At 9:00 at night there is only one cashier till close or 11:00. At 11:00 at night the U-scan person leaves. All the lanes are closed and the closing service counter person has to go to u-scan. Our store closes at 12:00.
Everyone needs to contact their union rep if they are union. We need to let the public know about this, like the news media. We need to fight for our rights. Everyone needs to take a stand.
