To say ‘well done’ to the bosses of M&S, Waitrose, Lidl & Aldi

[MargaritaThyme]

For deciding not to open their stores on Boxing Day, thereby giving their staff, who have been working very hard through December, a proper break with their loved ones?

Oh no! How are we going to cope? I think they're being thoroughly unreasonable.

@IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle You have no idea what other people need, unless you're a mind reader. Please read this thread when you have the time to read some other perspectives for more understanding about what I was saying in my last post.

Yanbu.
I've never been tempted to go to a Boxing Day sale. Boxing Day should be restful and businesses should generally be shut, except for nice pubs with open fires on nice walking routes.

I voted YABU because I work for Waitrose and will unfortunately be in until midnight on Boxing Day just the customers won’t see because the store is shut. It’s very disappointing that they are advertising themselves as a company that is giving their staff the day off when it isn’t true.

Exactly. I’m actually having to work an hour later than my usual contracted shift. I have little ones at home that I wish I could be with but honestly I wouldn’t have cared even half as much if they hadn’t advertised themselves as a company that’s given their store employees the day off.

There is absolutely no need for shops to be open on Boxing Day. If you (general you) knew that shops would close on the 24th and re-open on the 27th there is absolutely no reason why you (general you) can't buy everything you need before the 24th.

There's also absolutely no reason why retail employers can't follow the same standards as law, accountancy, banking, the civil service and give the 26th as an extra paid day.

There is no need for restaurants to open either on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, surely you can cook your own food at home.

Surely you can take a flask and turkey sandwich for your walk, why should a pub open to serve you.

This is the norm
in many businesses. DP has 25 Dec - 1 Jan off every year as their company is shut. It comes out of his A/L allowance.

Even if pay is docked for the bank holidays, people still have to have the FTE of 5.6 weeks annual holiday in a year

Theoretically.

If you are on a "zero hours" or flexible contract, your paid "Annual Leave" may be managed by adding an extra 10.7% to the "hours worked" each week so e.g. I work 30 hours this week and am paid for 33 hours with 3 hours of that being notionally paid annual leave which was "taken" during one of the 138 hours in the week that weren't worked. With a setup like that it's entirely possible to never get a proper break.

Since they support genocide I couldn’t care less

Indeed, I couldn't agree more, OP. I used to work in retail and the run-up to Christmas was mayhem.

Everyone gets it an as a paid day. It’s literally the law. If you work full time, you are entitled by law to take 8 paid bank holidays. Less pro rata if you are part time. However they can be given or taken at any time of the year, not necessarily on the bank holidays. So the rest days are there. Boxing Day is not some magic day of the year when some special special, never before had rest is required. Any day in December could be that rest day.

Perhaps you should look up the rules about bank holidays before making the same moot point over and over.

It’s not defs not all lidl branches, my local one is open tomorrow 11-5

But are the workers paid like it was a normal working day or does it come out of their holidays? Ds's office is shut from the 22nd til the 2nd and that comes from his annual leave, despite it not being his choice.

You seem to not be able to grasp the concept of variation. A change or slight or vast difference in condition, amount, or level of something.

You know like night is different to day.

Or black is different to white.

In the same way retail is different to law. And banking is open 365 days of the year, unless you missed it. You can transfer money, pay bills at any time, but you cannot electronically transport a bottle of milk or bread or nappies from a super market shelf electronically through your phone. Maybe one day. But not yet.

And Boxing day is paid as a bank holiday, pro- rat. It’s literally the law. Do you not think the largest retailers in the country are following the law? It’s not a hard concept to grasp.

Bring back half-day closing on a Wednesday!

When I worked at Morrisons 20 years ago, we always shut on Boxing Day. Staff would get the choice to take it as unpaid, paid annual leave (as we opened on bank holidays we got them added onto our annual leave allocations to take elsewhere) or to work an extra day before Christmas. Most people choose to work the extra day before Christmas so Morrisons got lots of people technically doing overtime without having to pay them overtime. Very sneaky! Not sure how it works now.

Bank transfers are automated.

Many employers add the public holidays as paid leave on top of annual leave. All my employees are on paid holiday on 25, 26, 27/12 and 1 and 2 January without forcing them to use up annual leave. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

Of course I know the law about minimum holidays. You seem to have difficulty grasping the concept that there are many employers, private and public sector who are far more generous than these supermarkets now being lauded for being closed on Boxing Day.

My nephew works for Waitrose. He is working tomorrow (Boxing Day) a starting at 7pm shelf stocking. He was only told a week ago so sorry but no I’m not impressed as clearly these stores are still getting staff to work. This thread is very unhelpful as your clearly buying into the optics and I question who exactly is the OP.

This should be the norm. Shops closed from a reasonable time Christmas Eve (maybe 4 pm) until the 27th. Give retail the time off. No one needs to shop on Boxing day.

I've had Facebook adverts for a soft play that was open today.

In an area with a large Muslim population. So a good reminder that not everyone celebrates Christmas and that they might appreciate timeous at another time