DD17 having issues at work, not sure how to support her with this.

[ClockwatchingClara]

DD got her first job last October. She was 16 at the time, it was a seasonal weekend job to start, at a well known UK store (think on the lines of B&M/Home bargains). Not the best place to work (not if you check out glassdoor) but she wanted to earn some money alongside college and it's good for her confidence. It is also really hard to get work in our area atm.

The only training she received was online at home the week before she started and was then thrown in the deep end as such by being placed on the tills from the first day. She has done really well and it really has boosted her confidence.
DD was and still is the youngest staff member there (turned 17 just this week).

The manager is a lovely guy and everyone got on well with him and the assistant manager. However, a couple of months ago they both left due to promotions elsewhere within the company. Before he left the store dd's seasonal contract was coming to an end, he asked if she wanted to stay on, she accepted but a new contract has never been drawn up.

A few months on and the new manager is completely different. She has never fully introduced herself to the staff and rarely comes down on the shop floor, unlike the previous manager. She seems to want nothing to do with the younger staff and has hardly spoken to dd, it appears she is not well liked amongst the staff. An assistant manager also started a few weeks ago but dd doesn't even know her name and has never met her.

The company has an app for staff and all their hours/shifts and annual leave etc is shown on this app.

With the old manager, he was happy staff giving approx 2 weeks notice for all annual leave requests. However, dd has tried putting AL in 4 times recently and each time it has been almost instantly declined by the new manager with no explanation even though dd has given the full two weeks notice.

DD had asked for this weekend off to celebrate her birthday with friends but this was declined, she then asked for next weekend which was also declined. She then put in for next month, giving 4 weeks notice but this has been left open with no decision made (she put this in a week ago). I suggested dd talk to the manager about this when she goes in today. Last night she checked on the staff rota only to discover the manager is on AL this weekend, next and the following weekend! Dd said she has had several weekends off since she started a few months ago.
And the dd checked to see the manager has now put up the rota for next month having completely ignored dd's request for AL and given her shifts for that weekend. She also keeps trying to change dd shifts at last notice. Last weekend she was due to work 3-7pm Sat and 10-2 on the Sun, this had been set for weeks. On the Friday before she suddenly changed the hours, Sat 11-7pm, Sun 11-4 and then added the bank holiday Monday 10-3 (dd only works Sat and Sun). We were going away from Sunday afternoon to Monday so dd had to ring the store. Staff have no direct number for the manager, they have to ring the customer service number the same as customers do but they never answer so it took hours to get through to her and when dd explained the situation the manager seemed pissed off (I was listening as she was on loud speaker), yet she feels its fine to give 2 days notice to change and add extra hours to DD's shifts but won't accept AL when 4 weeks notice is given.

I have told dd that as the manager is off for the next 2 weeks and we need to book time away she should contact HR seeing that she has buggered off on annual leave and left dd's request unopened but I know dd won't go over this manager as she is wary of her and most of the younger ones who started at the same time as dd have left because of this women and the ones remaining all detest her.

I am not sure what else to suggest, dd isn't happy there but likes the extra money, unfortunately I am currently not working due to some health issues and I just can't afford to give her money for clothes and make up right now.

What would you advise if this was your dc?

She needs to leave. They are taking advantage of her and holding power over her. This isn’t a career, it’s pocket money and there are other places she can work. I would suggest a privately run company rather than a big chain where they can treat their staff like rubbish. My mum works for a local garden centre and there are lots of teenagers. It’s like a little family.

Suggest she starts looking elsewhere.

maybe talk to the others and find out where they have gone.

Start looking for another job now. Your DD sounds like a very competent young lady so should find something quickly.

Restaurants, cafes, do you have a local leisure centre or pool? Lifeguards get paid a lot and they all seem to be 16-18.

I agree go to HR. Also consider a formal complaint (there needs to be more clarity on notice needed to request leave and time by which manager can approve).

I suspect your daughter would rather just look for a new job though (and I don't blame her).

This is retail in a nutshell unfortunately. If I was her I’d start looking elsewhere, try one of the big supermarkets because she’d probably be paid better as well as they pay a flat rate in most of them regardless of age. I’m a manager myself (I like to think of myself as like her original manager not the new one!) and managers like this piss me off because they are quick enough to moan about young people being lazy but don’t put anything into helping them learn and find their feet in the workplace. There’s definitely better places to work, I’m still friends with all my ‘work kids’ and it’s been a pleasure to watch them finish uni and go onto having careers in their chosen field. Also worth noting if she can get into somewhere like Tesco or M&S they offer student transfers if she’s thinking about uni. She also needs to look at the company policy for holidays, her old manager might have accepted 2 weeks notice but officially it may be more. Worth checking if others were off as well because we can only authorise so many people at once but either way she sounds like a twat and your Dd can do better.

I would tell her to leave immediately tbh. I know ‘should do’ is to deal with it through the company/look for a new job whilst working there but experience has taught me that I am more important than any job. Always.

life is far too precious to spend it being unhappy over a part time job, your DD has done amazingly well and hopefully can use her old manager as a reference for future employers.

Thanks everyone.

I have advised her many times to quit but she says she wants to earn her own money, she has applied for at least 60 jobs and has not heard back from any (well, two interviews but was unsuccessful sadly), most of her friends are in a similar position, it is so hard to find work in our area.

She is at work atm, I have suggested she finds the assistant manager and see if she can accept the annual leave for next month.

I wouldn't leave before finding a new job.
The treatment is impersonal and absolutely unacceptable.

Once she does leave I would make a complaint to head office.

Her previous manager was very much like you, shame there are so few like you.

We have looked on dd temporary contract and it does state that annual leave timing must be agreed in advance with the line manager but no details of timing so obviously it's at the individuals decisions but then goes on to say that all AL must be taken if not it's lost. How can she use up AL if it's always denied?

The annoying thing is not only that the manager is off this weekend herself but she has given the weekend off to one of DD's colleagues even though he didn't ask for it yet DD had requested the weekend off. Has I known in advance I would have suggested she asked him to swop.

That is exactly what I have suggested to her. I have asked her to make a little diary up of the various issues dd has experienced and to make a complaint once she has left.

She and you should make a complaint I'd be sitting in my hands to stop myself going in there now or complaining.

Young people don't understand their power or their rights and can be easily manipulated and used.
To treat a young person like this in their first role is unacceptable

I wish you could tell us the company
Why hide this?

*we are told we should not interfere and help our children with resilience however your dd is still technically a child at 17 so l would be tempted to call head office and enquire and say as a parent confused...

Act dumb say it's affecting family events had her birthday planned and couldn't do plans and she doesn't know who manager is etc..

I'm raging tbh and wanted to go and have a chat with the manager today until we discovered she was on AL herself. I feel that she (and the company) are really taking the piss out of dd and the younger ones working there. They are all on minimum wage and have no on going training.

I have no qualms about naming the company, I just wasn't sure if others would recognise the name as I didn't know if they were nationwide or just local to the South East where we are.

The company is The Range.

They are nationwide, op, and sadly young people can be treated appallingly.

I had a horrendous time at Next when I was 19. They’d change the rota, put it up on my day off, didn’t tell me, then told me off - publicly, in front of everyone else - for being “late”. It was up to me to “know” about a change made on a piece of paper on a wall of which I had no sight when not in work. This was over 20 years ago and it’s sad that crap like this still goes on.

Major supermarket was better and by then I’d developed a mouth so when they refused to allow leave for my postgrad viva (the horrible cow didn’t believe I was a postgrad student!!) I somewhat kicked off.

Op, I’d suggest she leaves. It won’t get better. If she really doesn’t want to, then encouraging her to agitate would be good. I don’t mean rude, but be very straightforward about the leave issue.

Op as I said there are schools of thought about stepping in to help out but the other side of the coin is dd is just 17, hasn't been allowed time off for her bday and is pitted against a huge national company by herself

I'd be very tempted to go to hq and speak to someone much higher up about it
In a slightly more innocent way eg confused we can't work out what the proper process is re time off she's young and missed big bday, her requests denied but others off can you help us please
As she's still technically a child I would mention that also.

She can raise a whistleblowing complaint anonymously if she wants the manager looked into generally rather than the specifics of her annual leave. They will have an email address or phone line to call

Also of course the changing of the hours and shift patterns

Huge respect to your DD. She's a star with a great work ethic. ✨️

If she can't get the manager to approve her AL I'd take the opportunity to ask the assistant manager whilst the manager is off

We can't find the details of HR anywhere. I have googled but it takes you back to their website. I have tried emailing via their website asking for details of HR but we have received nothing back.

DD temporary contract is plain, literally no heading and no mention of head office details or HR at all, zero contact details.

I will go and have a google again and see if I can find a head office telephone number. I think HO may be in Plymouth?

She needs to ask how much notice is required and the criteria ( like how many people are allowed off)
just because you requested leave doesn’t mean you’ll get it no matter what how much notice you give

how many weekends the manager has off is irrelevant
What is response time on request so she knows when to chase ( mines a week)

changing hours at a couple of days notice will more than likely be due to sickness or trading peaks and different to A/L requests

generally seasonal temp jobs aren’t great as they are normally there to fill gaps in the rota

she needs to ask
notice period for A/L
response time for request
how many allowed off

HR more than likely will be able to give you access employee handbook and refer you back to your manager there will be a grievance/complaint procedure to follow you need to do this

tbh what would the complaint be I asked for holidays and didn’t get them

I'd say just leave now. In fact I'd give notice this weekend in her shoes and do the birthday things I wanted to with my friends. It's a shame that her other job hunting hasn't worked out so far. But at 17 you don't really need to worry about job history and 'sticking at something' in the way you do later. You do need to watch out for being exploited. Has she tried looking for hospitality jobs?

It's not so much the fact that she needs to give notice or that it was refused, the issue for us is the manager instantly refused two AL requests and then sat on the third one for a week. The June rota had not been released when dd requested the third date and now she has given dd her shifts for June which includes the dates she requested off. It is as though she has deliberately ignored the request.

She has also given dd's colleague this weekend off when he never requested it and refused dd's request for this weekend off.

It is also no longer a temp/seasonal job as the previous manager gave her a permanent placement when the Christmas job came to an end.

It is also difficult for DD to discuss things with this manager due to the fact she is really unapproachable and is often off when dd is working and it is really hard for dd to talk to her in the week as she is at college and has no direct number for her.

I am trying to encourage her to leave, I really don't want to see her being used.

She has tried jobs in all areas. We live by the coast and there are lots of holiday parks asking for work. We went to a recruitment day a few months ago. I have lived in the area all my life and when I was younger those jobs were hard to fill as no one wanted them but I was taken aback at how many people were at this recruitment day, literally hundreds (and many people my age). DD was unsuccessful, our area is saturated with new build estates and I think that has made the job market really tight here.

Your HR details should be in the employee handbook. Can she access it online?

Also worth trying Reddit to see if there’s a sub for where she works. They’ve got them for most retailers and if you post in there you’ll get replies from employees including management regarding the holiday policy and HR details. I know Reddit can be a cess pit but it’s handy for stuff like this.

No employee handbook!
All she has is the contract from her seasonal contract and the companies app which has very limited info on.