So I heard that next week in the deli very few people are getting more than 30 hours next week and some days one person will do chicken half the day and another the other half. We finally are getting were we can get the 5-6 people we need a day, yet the hours are being cut and were being spread too thin. Why hire people and cut hours. And it's going on all over the store.
That's what they did in my store too. They hired TWO new people in the bakery so they could give me and a coworker 20 hours instead of 30. I got 28 this week because someone's on vacation.
Once another coworker comes back from sick leave I expect all hell to break loose. Either the new hires will get 0 hours or they'll have to transfer someone. Because she'll be back in the seniority list, under me but above the newbies, to her 20+ hours a week again.
I hate that someone who works in the deli who was hired a whole year after me got Status 3 but us in the bakery are screwed. She only squeaked by because they kept calling her in all the time. I'm glad she got the hours she needed but it'd be nice if they let that happen more often.
I think companies pay less taxes by having 2 people at 20 hours each rather than 1 person at 40. And the union would get more money from it too, since they're a flat rate per employee.
My opinion is that it has to do with insurance and cutting costs on part timers. You have to find a shift and department that is hard to keep people in to be safe. I think it is foolish. kroger will lose good employees and pay more in OT to get the work done. Also, it might be done to encourage part timers to sign bids.
Not sure what your contract says, but in mine, if we average less than 26 hours for a quarter, we lose our insurance until we go above that average. I am on a better tier so have a lower threshold. We have such a hard time finding and retaining night grocery clerks that I have worked 40+ hours for over a year. They hire a new person and another quits. The other part timers don't want too many hours so I volunteer for as many hours as possible.
More than likely, corporate planners are insisting that the managers meet elms and keep the hours below that insurance average for part timers.
My store has had 2 years to fill part time night grocery shifts and can't find them fast enough. I just wait and watch the show.
Has more to do with people wanting to ONLY work 9a-5p Monday-Friday. Availability trumps everything.
indeed. how can a retail business operate on only people working 9-5? you can't. you must hire new schmucks, and never they tell them anything about how things work (never mention the union or seniority system), and hope to get some work out of them before they give up.
Has more to do with people wanting to ONLY work 9a-5p Monday-Friday. Availability trumps everything.
that's all about hiring choices and changes in availability can be denied. it's certainly happened at my store.
it's not true in every store or maybe every division but where I am they will work front end full time to death. availability has to be 24/7/364. even management is aghast at the sinus rhythm of some schedules.
the practical effect is our full time, despite seniority, become every part timer's bitch because part time can control their availabilities. full time are made to fill any schedule gaps.
you might think having the certainty of 40 hours per week in your paycheck is great but let's be honest. being in that front end environment 40 hours every week is hazardous to mental and physical health especially if you're just a supervisor and not dept management.
i've observed other depts don't work like that... their leads are in the trenches doing what their staff are doing like stocking or handling customers at the service counters.
