Should we be kinder to supermarket employees?

I can’t comment on pick rates as I don’t think those get published online so can’t judge if they’re reasonable or not. That being said, targets are based on averages and someone would have calculated what’s possible. Not everyone can work up to the company standard and you will have people that generally excel and some that just can’t hack it for one reason or another. Targets are not a bad thing, there needs to be a measure of success anywhere you work. A business can’t sustain itself just by letting people do whatever they feel they can do. Imagine you as a customer on the receiving end not getting what you have paid for because a collective of employees not pulling their weight.

As to the manager - they could have been genuinely a bad manager who doesn’t know how to speak to people. That’s not a reflection on the work that’s expected, more so on that individual. Equally, it could have been an employee that won’t pull their weight and shifts the fault on to everything else as opposed to doing what’s expected. I come across those a lot.

Being kind to workers in retail is a given, no customer should ever be unkind just as no staff member should ever be unkind.

Was this whilst buying your vodka for the day?

And if she'd have backed up near you would you have assaulted her instead???

We should be kind to all staff in places that serve us, be it supermarkets, pubs, venues etc. But Tesco makes a huge profit and could be looking after their own with higher wages and more staff or better hours (rather than you're on 4 hours but need to do the work of a 6 hour shift so you don't have time to make mistakes or slow down etc)

I don't disagree that people should be kind to supermarket employees, but Tesco, for example made around £3bn profit so it not about paying a bit more for stuff, it's about the growth of gig economy. Why do you think 'paying a bit more' will equate to better working conditions for employees? It will just mean more profit. What we need is legislation.

To a certain extent she needs to not accept a lack of contract, if she’s agreed to a zero hours or 12 hours or whatever with a verbal agreement for more hours she needs to tell them she needs more hours and a contract to that effect. It could be she’s not suited to the role and is taking far longer than others hence not getting hours, you can’t know that

Short hours are a January thing it picks up later in the year the pick rate was initially set by a human being picking shopping in an empty shop with no customers saying "excuse me could you just" every five seconds so its not always going to be achievable

Well the short hours and contract bit of the OP is the employees fault. She took the job, if she wants more hours, she needs a different job. There's many many people on here looking for the kind of flexibility she has to work around parenting.

The apps, well we're all monitored in our jobs. Apps are just a new way of doing it. On the face of it, I'm not seeing anything unkind here?

I have always treated all supermarket employees the way I would want to be treated, but, bluntly, my ‘kindness’ isn’t going to improve the way her supervisor speaks to her, or her working conditions. Those aren’t in my gift.

I can't speak for others but I try to be kind to everyone I encounter in daily life.

As pp said, supermarkets should look to the fat cat salaries they pay their chiefs before putting prices up.

I think we should be kind to all employees, and your evidence of 1 doesn’t sway me either way.

I do think there is over use of zero hours contracts, but my student nephew tells him that it works great for him as he can pick and choose where he works.

I agree with pp, it’s for the high profit, low-tax paying operators of the supermarkets to be held to account.

Consumers paying more adversely affects the workers too, as presumably they also need to eat.

Without a doubt. The job is a tough job without the added stress.

Not all jobs suit all people and we all have bad days at work.

And @icouldholditwithacobweb is absolutely right. These employers are often very profitable and are 100% responsible for how they treat staff. It should be highlighted more. If anything we should be boycotting the poor employers in favour of the better employers.

Supermarket online shoppers have pick rates displayed on their handheld devices. I can’t comment if the targets are reasonable or not but playing devil’s advocate, they are a simple way to measure if someone is working hard or needs to be moved to another department.

Supermarkets make lots of profit and many customers struggle with food costs and food inflation so the answer isn’t to pay workers more. Supermarkets have shareholders so if they were forced to pay workers more then they’d compensate with higher food prices. It’s a shame that Labour hasn’t got rid of shitty employment practices like zero hour contracts.

Workers should obviously be treated with kindness.

We should be kind to everyone, regardless their job or social status.

Of course we should but most people don't give a shit. Even wealthy ones. They are quite happy to buy clothes made in sweat shops by pre teens and transported across the ocean pumping god knows what toxins in the air to save £5. All this knowing their local businesses are declining and there are less jobs for young folk as a result. They certainly aren't going to give a shit about the poor working conditions for local supermarket staff. It's sad but true

Not sure 'being kinder' or funding payrises out of consumer pockets is the answer. IMO big companies need to realise they have a responsibility and duty to employees and paying customers, not just boosting profits to pay fat cat shareholders - then they wouldn't be so focussed on productivity and putting so much pressure on their employees via apps. In addition to removing some of the stress from jobs, they could also go ahead and pay people a living wage and provide them with contracted hours so they know what they'd be earning and not have to deal with the stress of never knowing how much they will work and earn.