Supermarkets employing more people but not giving out hours.

[Lilmaubetden]

My son got a job working at a small supermarket. It’s a big chain, but of smaller stores.

During the interview he was promised 24 hours! But when he got the contract, he was given 8 hours a week. But they assured him that there would be more.

There hasn’t been more. In fact, there’s been less. They change his hours the night before without telling him, e.g. on the Monday afternoon he left work after doing 4 hours and was next due in on Thursday for his next 4 hours…but sometime that evening they swapped his shift to the following morning 6-10am. They did not tell him.

They rang him the next morning to ask where he was and then told him that he’d be put down as unauthorised absence for his second shift. Luckily he had screen shot his rota, so they put him down as authorised instead.

They won’t give him any additional hours. They say they haven’t got them. Yet they keep employing more people? Why?

AIBU thinking that this is a disgusting way to treat your staff. DS is 19 and desperately trying to save for uni.

Both my DC work at a supermarket. Both young, both hard working both get as many hours as they want. One gets 40+ minimum. The other gets whatever she wants based around her college work.

From discussing it with them and thinking about it logically i know that their store it works like this

1. Anyone on the tills is either slow on the workfloor, physically not up to it or just not up to it. Its kind of a running joke if either of them get put on the tills that they are being punished. They say the day drags and its so boring.

2. A store manager is not going to give extra hours to those who are unproductive. They are going to use them as filler staff who they need but cant really rely upon. They keep the numbers correct and fill the positions. They need a large number of these because they come and go and get replaced. The staff rotas are worked around the productive staff who the know will get the work done.

IMO you need to look at how hard your DC is working. If they are not being given the hours it isnt a case of favouritism, especially if they are employing more staff. Its because they probably arent very productive and the manager is just putting them in with all the other low productive staff. If your DC is on the tills then this also backs it up and is really worrying if they are young, fit and healthy.

Both of my DC have both refused calls to come in at last minute and both have gone in at last minute to cover an absentee. No big deal.

That's modern day slavery . They should be paid for the hours they do .

A lot stores now require their staff to keep checking a team's group on their mobile outside of their working hours in case they are needed to come in the next day . They get shit If they don't check .

I would have stood up and made the point that the job was advertised as fixed hours

CrumpledInkBlott

they get paid for the hours but for example they might be told they’re working until 9 but they get out at 11. Paid but have no clue when they’re finishing

Shop work was always sold as some low stress option where you finished your shift and forgot about it until you were next in. Seems you can't even do that now.

@XenoBitch

Nope constantly watched on CCTV and being subject to customer feedback . Plus you can be let go within two years for any reason . These stores just want a compliant , disposable workforce .

There are too many people here, so employers treat us as disposable.

Keep an eye out for the Employment Rights bill - there are rumblings of changes to the law on zero hours contracts. Eg guaranteed pay for min hours, longer notice periods for shift changes etc. We are already seeing this mandated by some public sector bodies.

The so called flex offered by the methods the OP describes has decimated the job market. It’s contributed to why we now have circa 14m people living in poverty, more working people in poverty and more people in temporary housing (wages haven’t kept up with rents) than for decades. 20% of children live in poverty (at least). Thats 6 children in a class of 30.

There are a lot of critics of the ER Bill on MN - but just take a look at what has happened to wages in real terms and job security. If it’s allowed to continue that 14m will just go up and up.

And as for giving shifts out to your favourites, sounds great when it’s going in your favour but not when the supervisor stops giving you shifts because you wouldn’t meet him for a drink.

Interesting!

I do wonder how many more people would be able to work/work more if they could manage to juggle shifts with childcare, second jobs, and so on. Also people with disabilities may struggle for various reasons with ever changing shifts/short notice (especially thinking about mental health issues and neurodiversity which are big reasons behind people out of work due to disability).