Is this expected? - retail industry.

Is this expected? - retail industry.

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Discussion

davebem

Original Poster:

746 posts

176 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
Hoping for some advice.

My wife is a store manager for a very well known (supposedly ethical) food store that is probably in every town and village in the country. Recently they have made a lot of staff hour cuts despite longer opening times and increasing profits.

Recently she has had to work more hours, infact this week when she finishes on sunday night, she would have worked 73 hours this week (she can only be paid a max of 45 hours), she has had no day off in the last 2 weeks. Her area manager has told her today she needs to be in the store more.

Does this sound normal, is it like this in other kinds of stores? Can anyone speak of their own experiences in retail?

ruggedscotty

5,606 posts

208 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
Sorry work only what you are paid - paid for 45 but work 73 ? If you look at it then she is being paid less that the minimum wage. a lot less. This needs to be taken up and maybe visit to citizens advice is in order.

I cant see how they can insist on you working more than your contracted hours....



citizensm1th

8,371 posts

136 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
tell the area manager to do one big time and also tell him/her if he/she takes any action prejudicial to her job and or future prospects that she will inform hmrc ( they enforce the minimum wage )

piss taking tt I bet the area manager isn't in store

Yazar

1,476 posts

119 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
What does the contract say? And is it looking to be a fixed thing going forward or is there an actual root cause behind it for example short staffed and in process of hiring more/staff off sick/seasonal etc.

Also has she networked with other store managers in the company? If so would be an idea for her to have a chat with her peers to see what they putting in currently/get general advice.

No day off in last 2 weeks sound very illegal, and risks her burning out so don't go on like this.

Edited by Yazar on Saturday 28th February 21:50

Dan_1981

17,353 posts

198 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
It is retail.... And she is store manager - surely salaried rather than hourly paid?

I've got several friends in retail and this sort of story is not uncommon.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
I think we've all put shoulder to the wheel on the odd occasion when the job needs it. But, it should not be the norm, if it is something is radically wrong.

citizensm1th

8,371 posts

136 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
It is retail.... And she is store manager - surely salaried rather than hourly paid?

I've got several friends in retail and this sort of story is not uncommon.
what are you dribbling on about?

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/calculating-the-nmw-tim...

just because someone is salaried they still have to be paid at or more that the minimum wage

wky companies rely on their employees feeling that they will loose their jobs or have their prospects compromised to get away with ripping them off

and to be honest I have little sympathy for employees who wont stand up for their rights in this regard

crossy67

1,570 posts

178 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
quotequote all
Does the company sound like Jess goes?

Mojooo

12,668 posts

179 months

Sunday 1st March 2015
quotequote all
crossy67 said:
Does the company sound like Jess goes?
Dont think they play on the fact that they are ethical.

I used to work at the company you are alluding to and 80 hour weeks were the norm even though they shoudl NOT be.

davebem

Original Poster:

746 posts

176 months

Sunday 1st March 2015
quotequote all
crossy67 said:
Does the company sound like Jess goes?
Rhymes with Po-Oc. Shes on a salary so despite working so many hours still coming out more than min wage. However the more they 'make' her work/insist she is there, the more we pay in childcare so we are worse off anyway, although there is a point where free time becomes more valuable than anything else..

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Sunday 1st March 2015
quotequote all
Worked for Sainsburys 20 years ago as a student; it wasn't unheard of for department or store managers to work an 80 hour week, I know of people who still work for them and they say it's the same and a friend of mine recently worked for Tesco as a department manager; he was regularly working 70 hours a week.

Retail is generally crap for working conditions and hours.

jonah35

3,940 posts

156 months

Sunday 1st March 2015
quotequote all
davebem said:
Hoping for some advice.

My wife is a store manager for a very well known (supposedly ethical) food store that is probably in every town and village in the country. Recently they have made a lot of staff hour cuts despite longer opening times and increasing profits.

Recently she has had to work more hours, infact this week when she finishes on sunday night, she would have worked 73 hours this week (she can only be paid a max of 45 hours), she has had no day off in the last 2 weeks. Her area manager has told her today she needs to be in the store more.

Does this sound normal, is it like this in other kinds of stores? Can anyone speak of their own experiences in retail?
Your question is does 73 hours a week seem normal?

Answer: no, 10 hours per day, 7 days a week is not normal.


ruff'n'smov

1,092 posts

148 months

Sunday 1st March 2015
quotequote all
davebem said:
Rhymes with Po-Oc. Shes on a salary so despite working so many hours still coming out more than min wage. However the more they 'make' her work/insist she is there, the more we pay in childcare so we are worse off anyway, although there is a point where free time becomes more valuable than anything else..
This is absolutely the norm for the 'society'. I would also imagine that her salary is far below what would be expected from other similar size units with different retailers. Play the area manager at his own game, document all that is said and lure him in, for example if he says to your BH be in store more, get her to email him , with a following our recent conversation, where you asked me to work more hours, are the extra hours paid time in-lieu etc, I await your advice.

After I left retail some years ago I applied for them purely because a very local store wan't a new Manager, after an appallingly arranged and organised assessment day, they offered me the job for just over 1/2 of what I said I was prepared to work for.
My advice to your Missus if she's prepared to work those hours Aldi are a good at rewarding the hard workers and will not take the piss.

Good luck.

curlie467

7,650 posts

200 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
In a nutshell, retail is dreadful. I work at Sainsbury's and our managers generally get taken the piss out of and that is from department managers through to store managers, the wages in relation to the hours they do is disgusting and they are basically expected to do it.
They move them about at free will too so just tell the department managers where they are going to work which to me is an awful way of treating staff.
The team leaders get st on too, badly.

ecsrobin

17,025 posts

164 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
The law states that you cannot average more than 48hours over a 17week period, and two uninterrupted rest periods each of not less than 24 hours in each 14-day period during which he works for his employer; or one uninterrupted rest period of not less than 48 hours in each such 14-day period.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/conte...

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
The problem with these working environments; particularly retail, is that it is expected and seems to be the norm, it needs everyone to rock the boat and stand their ground and refuse to work the hours that they are doing, but they don't, if only one person refuses you can be damned sure that their career path will stop there and the company will do their damndest to get them out of there by making their life hell.

When I worked for Sainsbury's 20 odd years ago there was a department manager who was new to retail, he was older than the others and had come from a completely different working background, he lasted less than a year as he stood up to upper management; they shat on him from a great height, made his life hell and eventually he left.

edc

9,231 posts

250 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
These are the sorts of industry wide cultural issues that unions used to get involved in. There are hurdles to this too though. For many workers retail is not a long-term career. It's difficult to drive change via an ever changing audience who have no real vested interest or allegiance. In my opinion, unions always want to target the largest group of worker groups in any given organisation or industry. Typically, this is those that are at the bottom of the hierarchical structure. The above scenario is of a worker a layer or 2 above that and those issues afflict only a small proportion of people.

worsy

5,777 posts

174 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
ruff'n'smov said:

My advice to your Missus if she's prepared to work those hours Aldi are a good at rewarding the hard workers and will not take the piss.
^^This

Sir Fergie

795 posts

134 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
In my world - working 73 hours but only getting paid for 45 is so wrong I don't know where to start.

The problems with it include

1) Time back - youd have so much time clocked up beyond your paid 45 hours it would be IMPOSSIBLE to get it back

2) Having to 28 hours FREE - rage

3) Any employer that reckons you NEED to be putting in 73 hours has no concept of the idea that - you might actually have a life and family outside work.

And any big head office manager that wants more time in store when 73 hours a week are already clocked up - needs to have a long hard talk with themselves.

If they want more time in store then the 73 hours - you might as well change your home address to the store address as you will literally be living in store

Joke of a situation rage

Foliage

3,861 posts

121 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
quotequote all
davebem said:
Hoping for some advice.

My wife is a store manager for a very well known (supposedly ethical) food store that is probably in every town and village in the country. Recently they have made a lot of staff hour cuts despite longer opening times and increasing profits.

Recently she has had to work more hours, infact this week when she finishes on sunday night, she would have worked 73 hours this week (she can only be paid a max of 45 hours), she has had no day off in the last 2 weeks. Her area manager has told her today she needs to be in the store more.

Does this sound normal, is it like this in other kinds of stores? Can anyone speak of their own experiences in retail?
Its normal but shouldn't be, the area manager has a very 90s attitude which has no place in modern retail, is he a larger gentleman with badly fitting suits?

The company that she works for is in fact not doing as well as you would think, none of retail is apart from 2 companies who are making massive strides in market share.

The area manager is probably under massive pressure to increase turn over but its unlikely to happen due to the way retail has changed.