With about 7K open jobs, Kroger kicks off hiring drive

The Kroger Co. has launched a companywide employment drive to fill approximately 7,000 jobs.

In announcing the hiring push this week, Cincinnati-based Kroger said available positions include hourly and salaried roles in retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, merchandising, corporate, pharmacy and health care.

The job push is aimed at meeting labor needs for the summer months, according to a Kroger spokesperson.

“Kroger has approximately 7,000 open roles, and we are always hiring,” the spokesperson said in an email on Thursday. “We typically highlight our ‘always-on’ hiring campaign in the spring/early summer and again around the winter holidays. It’s a great time to reach students who may be looking for something to do during the summer months as well as young people who are exploring their post-graduate career paths.”

Kroger last announced a companywide hiring event in late April 2022, when the retailer said it aimed to add 23,000 associates across operations. That followed employment drives the previous October to hire 20,000 associates and that June to add 10,000 workers.

In between the April 2022 hiring initiative and the one announced on Tuesday, Kroger unveiled a $24.6 billion deal in mid-October 2022 to merge with Albertsons Cos. Plans call for the combined company to invest $1 billion to raise associate wages and benefits after the transaction closes.

Kroger said in early March that it plans a $770 million-plus incremental investment in its associates for 2023. The funds are earmarked for raising average hourly wages, improved health care options, and new training and development opportunities, among other areas. The grocer noted that the funding builds on wage and benefits investments of $1.9 billion made since 2018, which raised the company’s average hourly rate to $18 or $23.50 per hour, with comprehensive benefits such as health care coverage, retirement, continuing education and tuition reimbursement, and a range of perks and discounts.

“We are driven to be a leading employer in America, offering tools and pathways to grow as individuals and with our organization, no matter your skill set, role or ambitions,” Tim Massa, senior vice president and chief people officer at Kroger, stated about the latest hiring drive.

At the start of this week, United Food and Commercial Workers International—the nation’s largest grocery retail union—voiced its formal opposition the Kroger-Albertsons merger, saying the deal threatens UFCW member jobs.

“At our 9th Regular Convention, hundreds of UFCW delegates representing our entire union from around the country came together to unanimously declare mergers pose a serious threat to the livelihoods of our members, and we must act to confront them,” UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in a statement. “Given the lack of transparency, and the impact a merger between two of the largest supermarket companies could have on essential workers and the communities and customers they serve, the UFCW stands united in its opposition to the proposed Kroger and Albertsons merger.”

A week earlier, Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen and Albertsons Cos. CEO Vivek Sankaran cited what they see as public “misconceptions” about the pending merger deal in a Cincinnati Enquirer op-ed article. One of the “myths” surrounding the transaction, they said, was “I am going to lose my job and my union will be hurt.”

“We value and respect our associates and would never move forward with this combination if it could risk their careers. No frontline workers will be laid off as a result of the merger,” McMullen and Sankaran said in the Enquirer column. “The combined company will have one of the largest unionized workforces in the country. We are committed to protecting and expanding opportunities for union jobs.”