They recently moved me to another store as a promotion, and now my home store is severely understaffed (what a surprise) and they called me in to help today. I did go in to help but how sad is this company that they are willing to pay me sixth day pay, overtime (i'm not sure if i'm going to get manager rate for it or not though since i'm still in the system as a clerk running "relief") when that department had one person walk out 3 weeks ago and another person put in her two week notice a while back ago... the HR should have had time to schedule interviews, but did she? of course not. so i'm supposed to be "bakery manager" at one store, while i'm still on call at my home store too.
i'm going to do it because i feel bad for my friends there but this company is falling apart, it's happening in stores of all sizes, big and small.
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Friday 14th of October 2016 08:15:26 PM
You should get your pay rate that you are currently being paid unless your contract is different. I tried to help out at my old store too when I became a manager at another store. They needed more help than I could offer. But, I am always available for ot.
Be happy and consider yourself lucky that you can get OT. My store literally forbids OT. One Sunday in my deli the backup and I were the only two clerks - ON A SUNDAY - because our store management explicitly forbid any overtime. We were told to just deal with it. Then they had the nerve to get pissy because there was no cheese in the grab - go.
This is how a lot of department heads/good employees get burnt out and the reason Kroger can't keep people that are worth keeping. For many people, there is such a thing as too much overtime because they spend so much time working that it consumes their lives to the point where they have a hard time enjoying what little time they have off. More and more I hear it from the people at my store and people that I know that work at other Kroger stores... the overtime just ends up not being worth it at some point because the stress of taking on so much extra work makes them unhappy. Management just keeps pushing harder and harder for fewer and fewer employees to do more and more while those that are known to be not that good at their jobs get a pass because management refuses to write them up because they "can't hire anyone" (that's actually what was said at my store) - so if you try to be good at your job and management sees it, they begin to exploit your good work ethic and push you to pick up the slack for those that won't.
It is sad that for a company that prides itself on "values" and calls itself a "family" and promotes itself as being "Customer 1st" and says its "people are great" proves time and time again that deep down, none of these things actually matter to those that are running the company and its stores.
Right now I am planning on taking the OT and being happy with it - i'd like to save up as much money as possible. I already told them i was available next week for a day. But on the other hand i also don't want to mess things up at the new store because i get burnt out.
My new store forbids OT as well from what i've seen because they have a much much smaller budget. But my home store is eating tons of OT right now so i guess they don't care how much they have to pay me. so for now i should take the OT and run with it. lol
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Saturday 15th of October 2016 07:22:53 PM
right now in my dept there are 3 people who are going to school. They're usually given 40 hours even though I heard them say they'd be happy with 25. They've known forever that the holidays are approaching but do they hire extra people? nope. Is it because nobody wants to work here anymore? probably. New hires come in and see the amount of bull**** they have to do (for minimum wage!) oh but don't worry, you get days off when you ask for them. That's how they try to make it even. Yeah thanks but no thanks
This is how a lot of department heads/good employees get burnt out and the reason Kroger can't keep people that are worth keeping. For many people, there is such a thing as too much overtime because they spend so much time working that it consumes their lives to the point where they have a hard time enjoying what little time they have off. More and more I hear it from the people at my store and people that I know that work at other Kroger stores... the overtime just ends up not being worth it at some point because the stress of taking on so much extra work makes them unhappy. Management just keeps pushing harder and harder for fewer and fewer employees to do more and more while those that are known to be not that good at their jobs get a pass because management refuses to write them up because they "can't hire anyone" (that's actually what was said at my store) - so if you try to be good at your job and management sees it, they begin to exploit your good work ethic and push you to pick up the slack for those that won't.
It is sad that for a company that prides itself on "values" and calls itself a "family" and promotes itself as being "Customer 1st" and says its "people are great" proves time and time again that deep down, none of these things actually matter to those that are running the company and its stores.
COMPLETELY true. This has happened to me and I am still recovering from the continuous 6 day work weeks. I get paid barely above min wage but for nearly 2 months I was working 6 day weeks, full time, with 2 half shifts. I was scheduled 6 days a week with two 4 hour shifts back to back, knowing full well that I would be forced to stay over those 4 hour shifts. When I was originally scheduled 48 hours for these 6 day weeks, store management made my department decrease the 6 days 48 hours weeks to just 40 hours with 2 half shifts. It pissed me off to no end but oh well, I was bored and I enjoyed having something to do. But it killed me and I just got off that wild ride last week and even with two days off straight, I haven't had time to really recover and relax mentally. Physically it was no problem but the stress induced rage and anger, mostly at myself for allowing this to happen, but also towards the store for it too. I'm just a low level clerk, if anybody is going to be scheduled 6 days full time, it should be the department heads or somebody with enough seniority that they can be scheduled 48 hours with no other coworkers getting upset and filing a grievance for somebody like me, working 6 days weeks continuously with 48 hours.
Just writing this post makes me remember it clearly and it still makes my blood boil.
I'm just a low level clerk, if anybody is going to be scheduled 6 days full time, it should be the department heads or somebody with enough seniority that they can be scheduled 48 hours with no other coworkers getting upset and filing a grievance for somebody like me, working 6 days weeks continuously with 48 hours.
The cost is might be less for your OT than for a more senior person's straight time and surely for a dept head's OT. If they can't work it then too bad. I worked a LOT of OT. So much it pretty much destroyed my personal life and effected my health. I lost a lot of people around me and even lost myself for awhile but I had to work. I was paying bills and not just my own. As a dept head my dream is no OT ever. It's really not worth it.
The wheels are about to really come off with Thanksgiving only a little over three weeks away, followed by Christmas and then New Year's. Is your store ready to handle the increase in holiday traffic? If yours is anything at all like mine, then the answer is a definitive no! Holes up and down every aisle. Departments that are neither very fresh nor full. A backroom in utter chaos and clutter to the point where pallets of product have to be pulled across the sales floor because it's impossible to get pallet/power jacks down the backroom hallway because of entire pallets/backstock not being worked and trucks piling up due to there not being enough help to get the work done. A freezer that is crammed full wall to wall - absolutely no room for turkeys. Stores in my area are advertising city wide hiring events every Tuesday because of the sheer lack of labor.
Yet Kroger still won't face the reality that this is all is a result of the terribly low pay/the removal of more and more benefits with every new contract/how poorly employees are treated. Now, Kroger must face the prospect of reduced holiday sales because of all this (possibly) and the damage is already done to an extent: Kroger once planned to open four or five new locations throughout my area over the course of next year and now those plans have been scrapped because Kroger can't hire enough people to run the new stores. Meanwhile? Competitors like Walmart, Sam's Club, Aldi and WinCo are all adding new stores next year in my area because of how fast growing the market I'm in is.
Kroger's missing out big time - and it's all because the company is (finally!) reaping what it has sown. A (not so) Merry Christmas and a (not so) happy New Year to Kroger!
