Pros
The company does provide very respectable healthcare benefits after 9 months, as well as vacation and holiday pay to part time, as well as full time employees. This is a union company, and the union does help protect associate job security, at least in Texas union membership is not mandatory, so if you do not wish to be union, or pay dues you do not have to.
Cons
The most apparent negatives at Kroger are lack of training, and communication. There are opportunities to move up within the company but too often advancement opportunities are not made clear or accessible to most employees. I have seen many capable associates who are hungry for more responsibility and challenges become frustrated and disenfranchised, because of a failure to train adequately, and communicate consistently. Its a large company employing a wide range of people, and while I do believe the company makes attempts to make employees feel valued the techniques for this are somewhat dated, and I honestly feel the majority of employees do not feel valued or like they matter to the company. That's not to say everyone feels that way, but there is a general atmosphere of frustration. My greatest personal frustration, is that I don't really know if I work for a company that I believe in or not, because the communication is so sporadic. Sometimes there is a clear vision communicated to associates, and other times the plan of action changes, and there is a complete lack of communication.