Kroger: 42 hours is full time - no less.

[WVUPharm2007]

Kroger has started the biggest bunch of bulll**** ever this month. In order to be considered full-time, you need to work 42 hours/week. Work 40 hours? Be prepared to pay a more for that not-so-great benefits package. Who the hell else does that? Is this a common thing elsewhere? What other profession is expected to work 42 hours/week to be considered full time?

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[futureRXdealer]

Kroger has started the biggest bunch of bulll**** ever this month. In order to be considered full-time, you need to work 42 hours/week. Work 40 hours? Be prepared to pay a more for that not-so-great benefits package. Who the hell else does that? Is this a common thing elsewhere? What other profession is expected to work 42 hours/week to be considered full time?

That sucks. They have not started that where I am at, but I am sure its comming. In my opinion Kroger has definately gone down the tubes. In the three years I have worked there it seems they have shifted their mindset to try to be more like wally world. Very sad. When the time comes I am definately not going to be signing an intern contract with the company.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Kroger has started the biggest bunch of bulll**** ever this month. In order to be considered full-time, you need to work 42 hours/week. Work 40 hours? Be prepared to pay a more for that not-so-great benefits package. Who the hell else does that? Is this a common thing elsewhere? What other profession is expected to work 42 hours/week to be considered full time?

Is that for union, nonunion or everyone? Yes I know pharmacists and interns aren't in the union but everyone else is and I wondered if they change applied to all employees.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Is that for union, nonunion or everyone? Yes I know pharmacists and interns aren't in the union but everyone else is and I wondered if they change applied to all employees.

This applies to pharmacists only. Interns get no benefits, nor do the district managers actually care about us, so it doesn't matter for them.

 

[sdn1977]

Are you reading your plan benefit booklet during the commercial breaks during the games?

Did you spill your beer & smear the letters?......most pharmacists are full time at 32 hours - in CA we get benefits at 20 hrs....

WVU....you do need to get out more (or get another job)😀

Sorry for the situation if it really is 42 hrs - thats just unheard of!

 

[MountainPharmD]

All retail chains have their good and bad points for Pharmacists.

Walgreens = under staffed at all times.
Wal-mart = On salary and no overtime unless asked by store management.
CVS = No time and a half for overtime, instead $6 an hour more.

At all the above expect to be worked to death each and everyday. At least 200 scripts per Pharmacist probably more. No customer interaction just factory or mail order like verification.

I have a friend at Wal-mart, she routinly does 400 script a day by herself.

I worked at Walgreens, three Pharmacists 800-900 prescriptions filled a day was a normal day.

 

[Requiem]

All retail chains have their good and bad points for Pharmacists.

Walgreens = under staffed at all times.
Wal-mart = On salary and no overtime unless asked by store management.
CVS = No time and a half for overtime, instead $6 an hour more.

At all the above expect to be worked to death each and everyday. At least 200 scripts per Pharmacist probably more. No customer interaction just factory or mail order like verification.

I have a friend at Wal-mart, she routinly does 400 script a day by herself.

I worked at Walgreens, three Pharmacists 800-900 prescriptions filled a day was a normal day.

Your jaded perspective on community pharmacy is evident; however I was wondering what you actually do now?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

This applies to pharmacists only. Interns get no benefits, nor do the district managers actually care about us, so it doesn't matter for them.

I was eligible for some benefits when I was an intern there. But most interns wouldn't be full-time anyway, except maybe in the summer.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Jaded? Not yet. Realistic, absolutely!!! My post talked about good and bad points, I just happened to list a few bad points based on my experience. I am sure there will be 20 posts on here refuting what I have said. Humorously, it will mostly be students defending the one chain pharmacy they have worked for part time for a couple of years. Your perspective has a way of changing once you put the white coat on and are the one responsible.

I work for a chain grocery store to answer your question. It has as many good points as it does bad ones just like any place you will work. I choose to focus on the good points. We are getting a store remodel after the first of the year. We will have the first pharmacy care center in town. We already do flu shots and will soon be expanding to overseas travel vaccines. The board of pharmacy just added collaborative practice guidelines to the new rules and regs. There are a lot of good things getting ready to happen.

Of course there are bad points. My hours keep getting cut even though we are adding more services. Corporate keeps adding more and more bull crap paper work and audits that I do not have time to get done. On and On I could go.

 

[coKinetic]

The Kroger Central Division has been like this for as long as I can remember. Full time salaried = 42 hrs/wk, everything under is per hr pay and 26/hr per week is minimum for benefits.

My friends who work in hospitals often get full benefits for only 20 hrs/wk. I guess you just have to figure out what works best for you.

I also have friends who are lawyers and full time = 70 hrs/wk, sounds like fun.

 

[ZpackSux]

I must be getting ripped off...my pharmacists get overtime if they work more than 8 hours per day...or 40 hours per week..

 

[sdn1977]

The Kroger Central Division has been like this for as long as I can remember. Full time salaried = 42 hrs/wk, everything under is per hr pay and 26/hr per week is minimum for benefits.

My friends who work in hospitals often get full benefits for only 20 hrs/wk. I guess you just have to figure out what works best for you.

I also have friends who are lawyers and full time = 70 hrs/wk, sounds like fun.

Aaahhh....is this it? The definition of a full time SALARIED pharmacist? Well, then, that does indeed make a difference.

I would not be a full time salaried retail pharmacist at any amount of money. The hourly compensation wouldn't benefit me. In fact...in CA...it is not legal under our labor laws to have a salaried pharmacist be the ONLY pharmacist on duty (barring unusual & only occassional circumstances when a corporate phamacist takes over for a normal retail pharmacist), unless there is a regular & defined overlap of hours (or special opting out...as in the case of 10 hr OR pharmacists in the hospital setting) - but, you have to sign a waiver for this to be allowed.

The reason is...under our labor laws in CA - salaried, by definition, gives the individual the determination of when to go & when to stay - it is based on productivity of the job...not the actual & specific hours required of the job. However...in retail in CA....when there is only one pharmacist (which is most places), they must be there when the pharmacy opens & must stay until the pharmacy closes. The pharmacy law was amended to allow for a 30 minute lunch and overtime (which was a fierce & difficult battle with CSHP & ASHP being particularly against this). When I work retail, I can't schedule a dentist visit & come in 30 min later & work 30 min later & when I work 10 hrs, my employer must pay me overtime for hrs worked beyond the 8 in a day, regardless of how many I work in a week. When I work OR, I've signed a waiver & can work the 10hrs & my employer is not obligated to pay me overtime unless I exceed 40 hrs/wk. By CA standards, anyone who is salaried has the ability to determine their hours.

So...for benefits (health, dental, etc)...do some of Kroeger's require a 42 hr workweek or is the Central Division an outlier?

 

[coKinetic]

So...for benefits (health, dental, etc)...do some of Kroeger's require a 42 hr workweek or is the Central Division an outlier?

To be honest, I'm not sure. Central division is Indiana/Illinois, but from what I understand the Cincinatti division follows the same formula. The benefits are pro-rated if you aren't salaried full time (42 hrs). No overtime for longer shifts (sometimes 13 hrs). If overtime is paid (>42 hrs) than it is usually normal pay + $15 last time I checked. I know Ralphs (So Cal), which is also Kroger, is totally different than here in the midwest. California fascinates me to no end. Nobody bats an eye in the midwest about working over 8 hr shifts, but its probably because we don't know anything else.

 

[MountainPharmD]

To be honest, I'm not sure. Central division is Indiana/Illinois, but from what I understand the Cincinatti division follows the same formula. The benefits are pro-rated if you aren't salaried full time (42 hrs). No overtime for longer shifts (sometimes 13 hrs). If overtime is paid (>42 hrs) than it is usually normal pay + $15 last time I checked. I know Ralphs (So Cal), which is also Kroger, is totally different than here in the midwest. California fascinates me to no end. Nobody bats an eye in the midwest about working over 8 hr shifts, but its probably because we don't know anything else.

When you say Kroger it is a little misleading. I assume you are meaning actual Kroger named stores. Kroger owns I think 21 different regional grocery chains plus jewelry stores and convenience stores. I assure you they are all run differently.

I am not surprised Kroger grocery stores are changing things a bit to match the competition. CVS and Walmart pharmacists are salaried and only get a few dollar an hour premium for overtime.

 

[sdn1977]

To be honest, I'm not sure. Central division is Indiana/Illinois, but from what I understand the Cincinatti division follows the same formula. The benefits are pro-rated if you aren't salaried full time (42 hrs). No overtime for longer shifts (sometimes 13 hrs). If overtime is paid (>42 hrs) than it is usually normal pay + $15 last time I checked. I know Ralphs (So Cal), which is also Kroger, is totally different than here in the midwest. California fascinates me to no end. Nobody bats an eye in the midwest about working over 8 hr shifts, but its probably because we don't know anything else.

Believe me....it was a very long, hard labor battle in which pharmacists went up against big hitters - ASHP, CSHP, ASHP, NACDS.....they all wanted to stroke our ego...giving us "exempt" status, etc.....but that was a ruse to not pay what we should be paid & provide working conditions which contribute to errors - long stretches of unrelieved work & not allowing proper meal or break times. I'd give up all the pay to just not work in conditions in which my fatigue could hurt someone!

Get involved in your organizations to change what is wrong in the profession! There is a difference when you know you can walk away & eat. Good lord....even surgeons & anesthesia personnel take breaks during long procedures. Why do you think pharmacists shouldn't?

 

[sdn1977]

Oh....much of S CA employs unionized pharmacists...totally different from N CA. They are part of the Retail Clerks Union, I think, which is why they were obligated to strike a few years back....

They have great benefits, but get paid less than we do. And..now, they are on a two-tier system in which the new employees get different benefits than the older (not in age but in years of service) employees.

 

[bananaface]

It takes just 24 hours/week to get the full benefits package through my local Kroger owned company.

 

[Orthonut]

When I worked there (not in the pharm, in home, when I was still in undergrad) they had this asshat policy of to be full time you had to work 40 hrs or "17 continuous weeks of 39 hours or more" if you were a designated PT employee. So what they did was hire everyone at PT and make you work like 97 hours a week and then on the 17th week only schedule you for 3 hours. :grr: it was a location-wide policy (entire store, we all grumbled equally about it)

 

[sdn1977]

When I worked there (not in the pharm, in home, when I was still in undergrad) they had this asshat policy of to be full time you had to work 40 hrs or "17 continuous weeks of 39 hours or more" if you were a designated PT employee. So what they did was hire everyone at PT and make you work like 97 hours a week and then on the 17th week only schedule you for 3 hours. :grr: it was a location-wide policy (entire store, we all grumbled equally about it)

Isn't that a Target policy too? I may be misinformed.....

 

[Tyler Derden]

What other profession is expected to work 42 hours/week to be considered full time?

This is funny... As an engineer with BS and MS that regularly works 60+ hrs per week, and at least two weekends/month for my $75K/yr... it sure makes pharmacy look like a great career escape alternative (probably not enough to do more than stop by every two months to lurk). 😀 I guess it is all relative.

 

[GatorRxGirl]

This is funny... As an engineer with BS and MS that regularly works 60+ hrs per week, and at least two weekends/month for my $75K/yr... it sure makes pharmacy look like a great career escape alternative (probably not enough to do more than stop by every two months to lurk). 😀 I guess it is all relative.

We're spoiled. 🙂

 

[sdn1977]

This is funny... As an engineer with BS and MS that regularly works 60+ hrs per week, and at least two weekends/month for my $75K/yr... it sure makes pharmacy look like a great career escape alternative (probably not enough to do more than stop by every two months to lurk). 😀 I guess it is all relative.

And....we all make choices! (Bless you...I could never do the physics enough to do engineering....but I admire your ability!)

 

[gsinccom]

great thread🙂