to want my employees to work in the run up to christmas?

[popgoestheweezel]

Myself & dh own a gift shop and website. We have 2 full time members of staff, 5 part timers (2 of those have other part time jobs) and 2 college students. They have their set hours year round, which we are extremely flexible about, but they are expected to work more hours in this very busy but short period.
However, this year, for the first time (and we have been doing this for 15 years) I am faced with several days where not enough people have agreed to work and we will be short staffed. I have informed them that we don't have enough people and asked them to help us out but there are lots of excuses and some downright refusals.
dh and I each work upwards of 60 hours a week throughout oct nov and dec and although we have two children (6&8) we know that this is par for the course in retail and it's fine except when you come to pay the wages every month and think to yourself 'why are we paying all these staff (generously, for the industry and level of skill) yet they refuse to work when they are genuinely required and we have to do all the worst shifts ourselves?'

I think any new staff should be taken on with a clause in their rota saying (for example), their hours for December and January will be combined and they must do 3/4 in December and 1/4 in January to reflect business needs (assuming you go very quiet in January).

What about Holidays? At my place of work we have to use two weeks leave between January and April as this is the quietest time of year and ensures we are around for the busier months.

Where are you OP? I will work absolutely any hours available. I think you sound like a great boss and a pleasure to work for.

I certainly wouldn't be keeping the temp staff on in the new year if they're not willing to help out now. There are plenty of people who genuinely will be committed hard workers for you (a few of them seem to be offering on this thread!) and would love the opportunity to prove it. I would get an extra temp now too, the economy is so bad at the minute that a notice in the shop window would probably be enough to get someone good starting tomorrow.

The reason people accept doing it for M and S and every other retail job is because its part of the deal, it's in their terms and conditions. Give and take is fine and good as far as it goes, but as your business gets bigger, the things that are crucial to the business need to be in your terms and conditions.

I think you have too many members of staff working too few hours to take the job seriously.

What career prospects are there? None compared to the crappy job at M&S with bitchy cliquey colleagues.

I take it there is you, your husband, the assistant manager, and a whole host of part timers who never see themselves getting a full time job or any career development with you?

I agree you need to sack the person who lied at interview first of all. But take advice so you do it correctly.

Secondly, I think you need to get your business head on. It is nice and touchy feely to be friends with your employees, but you seem to have lost your authority. You need to be able to manage to be both firm and flexible, and friendly. Also, you need to work out the Christmas rota way in advance, and not panic when you are in December, this is too late. Other shops recruit for seasonal staff at the beginning of October.

Get rid of lying newbie, and see if you can find a pool of "on call staff", students and seasonal workers.

Put a notice up in your shop, "Christmas vacancies to fill - apply within".

Oh dear. I cannot help youwith the legal side of things but I do feel sorry for you. You sound like you are really trying to treat your staff right. I feel for you.

If I were nearby I would work for you

You needed to sort this out in October.

Plus if you are giving them their rotas now no wonder they have imovable commitments. I have good employers but would be cross if a whole load of extra hours I needed to work came up now.

Plus, it is often the case that uni students will be less flexible as they may be traveling further at Xmas than some families who stay put. Their own families will be controllign what they do so they will have less autonomy. It is a generalisation but I am surprised you are surprised to be honesy.

I think (and I've not read all of the replies, so appoligies if this has been said) In future your contracts need to get tighter.

You said you have a friend who works in M&S who does all the crappy shifts, well when I worked in Next (similar to M&S systems) our contract stated we must do a shift on christmas eve, the managers then drew up shifts and it was a first come first served basis so all the best shifs went early meaning most years I was left with a crappy 15 hour shift on xmas eve (that and I was a manager!) but I and all teh staff accepted it because it was in our contract.

My contract also said I would do 2 late shifts a week, I hated them, but it was in my contract, so I had no choice.

When I moved to a new store I also signed a specific contract that stated days and hours as they had been having a similar problem to you, people lving by the letter of the contract not the spirit, so saying I will do 2 late shifts but only on x days.

It sounds like you are trying to be friends with all your staff, and although that is a great thing, but it sounds like the new staff may not necessarily respect you for it.

I would suggest you take on another staff member with a 'water tight this is what youre doing, now suck it up' contract and when the temp contracts end wave good bye to the dead wood and learn from this year.

When I worked in a busy pub in a student area I became friends with my bosses and would often babysit for them. They were good to me and flexible so I didn't mind doing all the hours I could over the festive season. I worked every Christmas day and New Years Eve for 11 years. All I asked for was either Boxing Day or New Years day off (not both). My bosses struggled to find staff for certain days but never New Year's Eve. I really miss not working at Christmas now. It was the one time of the year when I wasn't skint what with all the extra shifts and generous tips. :o

The students are probably being told by their university that they shouldn't be working more than 10 hours per week, especially in the run up to exams. I often see students miss the grade they should be getting in January exams because they were working over Christmas instead of studying. Although I can understand why it's inconvenient for you, a part time job isn't and shouldn't be the priority in your employees lives. If they don't want to do the overtime then you need to get temps in.

The trouble is, employees will accept the crappy M & S shifts because they hope they will lead to some sort of progression within what is a massive business, and also they are more likely to be able to change shifts at some point once they have been there a while. M & S and other retail giants will also look good on their CV as everyone knows the name, as opposed to an independent small business which may not be known outside of the immediate locality. So you have to balance that against what you can offer in return- e.g you say you pay slightly better, so this makes up for there being no real career progression.

I am also not sure you can 100% claim that there is no bitchiness or cliques at your place- as the boss maybe you just don't see it as people act differently when you are around. You have employees who have worked there a long time- how welcoming are they to new staff?

Finally, as others said, your business is your concern, and presumably you & DH are making a decent living from it. It is not the same for an employee, for them it is 'just a job'. If they are without child care then presumably you would not allow them to bring their babies in and breast-feed at work in the way you did, so the situations are not comparable. Therefore I think you are being a bit U.

Stanley, every place I have ever worked had its little cliques. Even small places there seemed to be a hierarchy with a Queen Bee depending on how long each member of staff had worked there. Sometimes it was bitchy.

Agreed, Santa, there are cliques and bitchiness everywhere. but the OP seemed to be citing the bitchiness at M & S as a reason her employees are better off, as if there is none of that in her business. I was just pointing out that she can't be sure of that so IMO it negates it as a reason.

Maybe all you need to do is alter their contract so that instead of saying they have set hours, you say that you will do your best to accommodate their requests, but the needs of the business take priority. That's the way it has worked pretty much everywhere I've ever worked. About 90% of the time staff get the hours they want, and the rest of the time it's a bit tough. You could always allow them to swap shifts amongst themselves (with authorisation) once the rota for the month has been done? It sounds like they would all be working pretty much the same hours for the majority of the year, and only in the run up to Christmas you would need to make changes anyway?

I work thur, fri and sat in a resturant. Occasionally will work another day if lots of bookings, have a planned night out tomorrow (wed) which was organised a couple of months ago and was changed from a thur to a wed so I could go. Couple of weeks ago my boss decided they were going I get a band in, do a free buffet and invite all their regular customers etc, I had to say sorry I can't work, now he might now see me as inflexible and think I should be working as its Xmas and a busy time of year but i purposely arranged a night out on a night I don't work, I can't be expected to not plan anything just in case I get asked to work can I?

No jojane, but that isn't the same. You boss has done the rota and is now wanting add extras to it. I think the OP was trying to plan the shifts in advance, and was getting no extra help from her staff.

My DH has to do extra hours over xmas. They all get a bonus for the extra hours, but today will be the last day off he has until xmas. It is hard but without xmas the business would not make enough profit.

You work in retail and don't expect to work longer hours in the run in up to Christmas? Really?

Find some young, hungry Poles, OP. They would love the work.

Your problem is that you are their friends, and not someone they have any concern about annoying. They have got into a mindset of working enough hours at times to suit themselves. My DH had that in his first business, and i have to be honest we almost went under as a result. This time around he is friendly, but not their 'friend'. He is their boss, and the staff know that if they don't pull their weight he will have absolutely no compunction in dismissing them because he will put the needs of his company before their wants.

You need to tell them - 'These are your shifts. You are all aware that you need to do extra at Christmas and not being willing to increase your hours is unacceptable. If you don't show up to a shift I will follow the disciplinary procedure'.

Written warning
Final written warning
dismissal

You don't say how many extra hours a week you are expecting your staff to work. Having worked in retail some of the managers expected you to work double your normal hours per week during busy periods. That was impractical since I was a student at the time but I did offer to up it by 1-2 extra shifts but not every week. As to be honest getting a good grade for my degree was and should always be more important to a student than some part time job that has nothing to do with their chosen field.

The reality is that not everyone wants, needs or has time to invest in extra hours for a job that will not add anything to their skill set or help them move up in their field. If I was still a part time employee in retail I'd be saying no to any more than one extra shift a week as it would be inconvenient for me. I will still say that I'm flexible and open to working overtime but the thing is if it isn't convenient for me then I'm going to say no.

DIY I assume you're not based in the UK? That would be a very unwise decision in the UK if you wish to avoid breaching the employment contract. Here contracts typically have a set number of hours (often 0 for part time employees) which the employee is obliged to work. They are not doing anything wrong, and therefore can't be disciplined, if they work the contracted number of hours and no more. This works in the business' favour too because it means they aren't obliged to find hours for people in off peak times.
When did it become normal to expect business needs to take priority over employees being able to have a normal life? The UK has the work-life balance all wrong. Christmas is for enjoying spending time with your family and friends, not being at the beck and call of an employer. Of course some people specifically want to work more in the run up to Christmas, but if your employees don't happen to be these people, then hire temps who are.

I'd love to work for you OP. Higher than NMW, time off for gigs and extra shifts at Christmas, sign me up!!

I have only asked anyone to do an extra day or half day here and there- definitely not to the detriment of their work/life balance!
None of the students are in higher ed, all living at home with parents and most within walking distance of work.

In fact, thinking about it, it is definitely that those with the most other commitments who have been the ones to take on the work but it isn't enough.

How early did you set up the Christmas rota? October, or just now?