Retail night shift, sending people home. Second workplace same issue.

[2here1coming]

My partner has worked in retail for the past 5 years, specifically night shifts as they bring in a premium rate.

Over the past month he has been getting sent home on occasion as soon as he gets there, along with others, as he's told there are surplus staff in and not enough work to do. It's a HUGE supermarket so there should be plenty to do. He has a permanent contract and assures me that on these occasions he will be paid holiday pay. I don't know whether he's just saying that to put my mind at rest though.

Similar happened at his last place of work, also retail, until eventually they wanted to stop the night shift completely.

Why does this keep happening and does it sound like they're gearing up to let staff go?

It's a worry as we have children with one on the way and new jobs are hard to come by right now.

Does he get paid a night shift hourly rate, or the same hourly rate as a day time colleague plus a separate premium for night shift? That could explain it, as you would only get paid the premium if you actually worked not if you were off or on holiday

Do you think he could have actually lost his job already?

I wouldn't have thought so, I can't think of anywhere he could take himself off for 9-10 hours a night 4 nights a week.

So the night shift was over staffed and they asked for volunteers to go home? And he volunteered?

Quite possibly, although he claims they approached him personally and told him he has to go home. That story then changed to "given the choice" when I told him what I'd been told here.

@sweeneytoddsrazor

Does he get paid a night shift hourly rate, or the same hourly rate as a day time colleague plus a separate premium for night shift? That could explain it, as you would only get paid the premium if you actually worked not if you were off or on holiday

He gets the same rate PH as the day shift staff plus a night shift premium on top.

Unless he has a really bad relationship with his colleagues/manager or isn't pulling his weight then I really don't think they care who goes home. In my store the managers will go to their own departments first to ask for volunteers then go to those departments who don't have managers in that day to take the rest of the hours down. They don't care who goes provided they get the reduction in hours they need. He seems to be taking it very personally, he works in a supermarket, he knows to the management he's just a worker, I think he's trying to fob you off with this as an excuse that he's feeling left out or something.

The reason they wait for everyone to arrive is in case of last minute illness and the night managers won't receive a handover until they arrive maybe an hour earlier (or at the same time as some). They won't necessarily know is advance how many hours need to be dropped as it depends on the work leftover from days and how many staff they actually have.

As I said before, they'll find him something to do and if they can't by mid shift they may offer again to go home. There's always plenty to do in store even if management are trying to cut hours even if it's just sorting the warehouse, stock rotation or cleaning shelves (ambient stock shelves are cleaned shockingly rarely). It might not be what he wants to do but it's better than losing his holiday but having to keep his night's sleep pattern in case he does work.

He seems to be taking it very personally, he works in a supermarket, he knows to the management he's just a worker, I think he's trying to fob you off with this as an excuse that he's feeling left out or something

I do too.

It just occurred to me that he has football tomorrow morning which may have influenced his decision to come home. Usually he goes straight from work but obviously it would be more convenient for him if he didn't have to do a night shift first.

I'm thinking that because he has football, which he wouldn't miss come hell nor high water, he jumped at the chance to come home tonight so he can have a nice kip beforehand.

I totally get that working in a supermarket on nights must be gruelling, it's the deceit and deliberate misleading I'm pissed off about now

Just to add, supermarkets take advantage of you, if you agree to do overtime more than once then it'll be assumed you're always ok with it. Same with going home, he keeps accepting so they keep offering. That's probably why they keep approaching him at the moment, he's already said yes to doing it the way they want so they're going to keep doing it if it's to their advantage.

Same with going home, he keeps accepting so they keep offering. That's probably why they keep approaching him at the moment, he's already said yes to doing it the way they want so they're going to keep doing it if it's to their advantage.

I said exactly that to him myself. If he keeps opting to come home he'll always be top of the list to do so.

I have a physically taxing job myself that has me on my feet constantly coupled with alot of lifting, I also have a condition that technically prohibits me from heavy lifting at all, plus I'm pregnant and get next to 0 time to relax as I have the children the rest of the time. He doesn't see me chinning off work just because I can. I'm pretty pissed off about this.

I don't think its a case of take advantage @Northofsomewhere, when I need to ask colleagues if they want to go home, I always go to the ones that usually say yes first. Not because I am taking advantage but because I know they are happy to. If they say no I ask someone else. And it works both ways, we have colleagues who sometimes fancy leaving early so ask if we are saving hours

Does that mean he’s wasting his annual leave allowance by repeatedly agreeing to go home?

What happens when you want to do something as a family as he has no leave left?

Sounds like they've either gone over the payroll budget and are trying to claw it back or they've had hours taken away from them. It's common in retail and unfortunately it's usually the higher paid that suffer and that's always the night shift because of the premium.

Having said that it doesn't sound as if he minds coming home, they usually try to make it fair so it's not the same people losing money but this doesn't seem to be the case here.

He needs to read his contact because retail are very good with the small print and it's always "needs of the business" changes in there somewhere.

@amusedbush

Does that mean he’s wasting his annual leave allowance by repeatedly agreeing to go home?

What happens when you want to do something as a family as he has no leave left?

It certainly looks that way yes.

I have no idea what he plans to do should the need to take leave comes up, I don't even think he considers that in the moment. He doesn't think far enough ahead.

I appreciate that retail work isn’t great money and that the night shift premium is handy but night working is so very incompatible with family life anyway. Just being on opposite shifts is a PITA, so is creeping around and keeping DC quiet so daddy can sleep.

Why do you think he isn’t keen to switch to days? Would he have to do more around the house and with the DC if he was on days? Does night shift get him out of school run, housework etc?

It certainly sounds like he’s answering you a bit shiftily.

@2here1coming

Does he work for Morrisons?

Sainsbury's, can I say that here? I'm sorry about your friend, it's so stressful isn't it. They don't give a damn about the employees or their families, nor the fact we depend on that money.

I imagine they're all pretty shit tbh.

However, your partner wouldn't last around here. I can cope with the truth, whatever it is, but don't lie to me or treat me like a fucking fool!

Given you also work and you have kids, I'd be furious he was wasting AL like this.

My friend drives me nuts, too many reasons to explain why, and he doesn't always get things right, he has a bit of a persecution complex etc but at least I know he always tells me the truth as far as his understanding of goes.

He needs to grow up! (Your partner I mean, though...)

I used to work in retail and this would happen a lot. If the store wasn’t hitting targets they would often ask people to go home. If we were lucky they’d email out before a shift and say “we’re looking to save x hours today if anyone wants a night off” to save us the hassle of coming in.

They can’t make him go home if he’s been contracted it. In my job they’d just go around and ask people if they wanted to go home, generally they’d just ask who they saw first.

He has form for lying and being deliberately misleading so this isn't the first time.

This is a pretty worrying thing to be able to say about a partner.

@2here1coming

I'll list out what I've been told (and took at face value, until now)

For the past month or so he has been telling me they are sending people home because they weren't needed or there were too many people in.

When he has come home after going to work he tells me they have told him to go home but that he'll be paid holiday pay. He makes all the right noises about how its inconvenient and that they should let people know in advance rather than waiting until they arrive then sending them home.

He deliberately lead me to believe that these people, including him, are not given a choice and it's as simple as "you have to go"

Tonight he called me 15 mins after his shift started, sighing and huffing, saying he has been 'sent home' again alongside a couple of others - one of which is really pissed off as he has to travel a long way in on the bus.

He gets home, still acting inconvenienced.

We have a chat about it and I suggest (for about the fourth time) that he moves onto days, because his last workplace actually got rid of nights eventually after the store went into overdrive about cutting hours and saving money. He doesn't want to.

I say I'm worried he might end up losing his job because it doesn't seem very reassuring that so many people are being ordered to go home on a regular basis.

I tell him I'm going to ask for advice on mumsnet and he then says that the store is having to drop 260 something hours per week from the night shift.

Only when I relay there replies to him does he admit that he isn't being ordered home and that he does have a choice. He gets a bit defensive.

I asked why he chose to come home if he had an option and he said because he would be sat around with next to nothing to do.

He then says it's because he didn't want to stay if they didn't want him there, basically because he was given the option to go he felt uncomfortable saying no because they'd clearly prefer he goes home, among others.

He has form for lying and being deliberately misleading so this isn't the first time.

Do you think he’s having an affair?

I asked why he chose to come home if he had an option and he said because he would be sat around with next to nothing to do.

Firstly, why does it matter if he’s sat around with next to nothing to do if he’s getting paid a premium night rate? And more importantly, there is always something to do, usually cleaning, so they’d never pay him just to sit around.

He then says it's because he didn't want to stay if they didn't want him there, basically because he was given the option to go he felt uncomfortable saying no because they'd clearly prefer he goes home, among others.

It’s not personal. I manage staff. When looking for someone to go home I always ask the ones who are usually happy to go home and say yes nearly every time first, because I know they want to go.

I work night shift in Sainsbury's too, and would they hell send you home. Even if there is 'nothing' to do, they will get you dressing the store, sorting out the warehouse or cleaning things like the chilled aisle shelving. The only times we were asked if we wanted to go home was during the very start of the pandemic when our deliveries were few and far between, but now its business as usual. Sounds to me like he's just fed up of it and wants to leave as soon as the work is done. There's no way I'd be using my holidays to leave work early, unless it was an emergency. And it's not even as if he's ducking out at the last hour or so, which is usually when there is little to nothing to do, he's coming home barely hours into his shift. Very bizarre, OP. You've said he has form for lying, but to me, he just sounds like he can't be arsed and will take any opportunity he can not to work. You've every right to be pissed off, as he should be saving his holiday time to spend with you and your family, not for escaping work early because there's 'nothing' to do.

@2here1coming

He says he's getting paid holiday pay minus the premium rate for nights.

That doesn't make sense does it.

No that sounds correct. He is not going to get paid a premium rate whilst on annual leave and not working the unsociable hours,

Thank you for the replies, if it weren't for you MNers I would still be worrying this morning that they're gearing up to let people go.

To answer the questions asked, I don't think he's having an affair no but obviously there's the issue of lying so I will be paying extra attention to what he says and does now.

RE why he doesn't want to work days, I think PP you are right that it's because night work and sleeping during the day allows him to avoid much of the daily grind with the children. It's just a hunch mind, he would never admit that's the reason but has admitted before that he couldn't do what I do.

My DM helps me with childcare on the weekends on account of him working Friday and Saturday nights which she loves to do as she adores the DC, but as he came home last night I'll be calling her and telling her she's not needed today and he can bloody have them.

How long has he worked there? Seems likely redundancies or natural wastage are in the offing.

natural wastage are in the offing

Sorry to ask but can you clarify what you mean? It might be obvious but I've missed it

I'm still annoyed about it all this morning and I'm satisfied that I'm not overreacting having slept on it. It's impossible to trust somebody who lies so easily, then there's the fact he embellished it even more by going on about his poor colleague who travelled all the way across the city before being 'sent home'

There has always been a problem with lies, little white ones here and there, and here I was believing he'd stopped that shit.

His football match kicks off at 10.30 and he's still not awake. I'm tempted to let him over sleep. It's not my problem really is it.

It is a way of losing staff numbers without incurring extra cost ie through retirement, not renewing contracts, redeployment into other vacant roles(day shift perhaps) etc. If your dh has less than two years' service any redundancy package could be minimal.

Sorry for your troubles, OP hope you're feeling better today. I second what was said upthread, I find it strange that they would they send an employee home at the start of a shift. There's always something to do, even if it's sweeping the yard or cleaning. If I've travelled to work in my own time in a clean uniform, ready for work, there's no way in hell I'd turn round and drive back home - especially if it's then becomes part of my annual leave. Once I'm there, I'm staying. Holiday is precious.

Sounds like he enjoys the odd night off, in which case he's in the wrong job.