Tesco - football final

[countvoncount]

I'm as chuffed as anyone about England reaching the final, just to be clear I'm not bashing that
But.... DH works for Tesco express, who only close on Christmas Day.
Just had a notification that express stores will close at 7.30pm on Sunday, to allow staff to watch the football.
He's delighted of course, as otherwise would have missed it, here's my AIBU, they have normal opening hours on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday etc etc
But can find it in their hearts to close early for a football final?
Bonkers!

Obviously not because everyone gets holidays for those, and not sent home 2.5 hours early on a quiet evening if you work for Tesco.

Perspective on here is quite a way off isn't it.

Performative, they knew this would get mentioned in the news whereas closing Christmas Day when staff want to be at home doesn’t. And they probably lose less in sales than it costs them to be open

The decision is all for their benefit, if it works for some staff great but it’s purely for Tesco’s benefit

Some schools are not opening until later in the morning I believe

Lots of tired children I would think

On Monday that is!

@countvoncount I work for Tesco and our store is not paying our missed hours. They have asked us to come in 3.5 hours earlier on the day to make up the hours. Same thing they do on boxing day when we close early. So his store are very generous. I also find it crazy they are closing - I would rather have Christmas eve or easter off.

I have worked every England game this year so far, as I did in the 2022 Euros & 2020 Euros, and we are busier than ever in regards to money. The 2 hours before and 2 hours after every game we sell more alcohol than most normal entire weekends. Also this year the Whoosh system is going crazy. We are flooded with orders during the match and staff cannot keep up. Whoosh stops at 10pm in my store so closing at 7.30pm makes no monetary sense.

I don't understand why they play the final on a Sunday when a Saturday would be better for everyone. The FA Cup final is on a Saturday and so is the Champions League final.

As well as it being likely that there will be hardly any customers, which they'll have seen during the semi final too, it will save them from having to try and find cover for staff who think it's acceptable to call in sick because they want to watch the match so you see why they're doing this.

But they might find that a lot of those deliveries can't be made if the drivers/riders aren't working.

Or if they have surge pricing it will cost a fortune for stuff to be delivered. Might be a good time to work and earn decent money if you're a delivery driver who's not interested in the match.

But perhaps if you can't organise getting beer and crisps in for the match with 4 days notice then you will have to do without?

Playing 9pm on a Sunday night just seems such a bizarre choice

We tried to order a pizza during England’s match on Sunday. Almost all of the restaurants on Uber Eats were closed/collection only. We ended up collecting, and the guy in the restaurant told us that there was only one driver making himself available. I wonder if other areas have had a similar situation , and think it’s better for business to just say ‘no’, than have people waiting hours and hours.

Well Sunday evening, albeit not quite late as 9 pm is the traditional time matches are played in Spain and Italy at least.

Plus Sunday is also Wimbledon finals day so they've probably timed it to not clash with that.

It only seems odd if you have a mindset that football happens on Saturday afternoon. Once you realise that it works differently in other countries then it seems fine.

I popped to Sainsbury’s just before the kick off when they played last week, it was bliss, totally deserted.

When Spain win there will be some idiots who would take out their upset on supermarket staff, so for once they are being considered. Hope that now extends to staff being supported when entitled or worse behaviour happens from some customers.

This is the thing with football, you can't get away from it, it's everywhere

It’s everywhere because there are loads of people who enjoy it.
It’s a bit like complaining that Christmas is everywhere.
Sure, there are other sports and other religions, but this is what the majority of people choose to celebrate in this country.
I’m not even into football myself fwiw, but it doesn’t baffle me that there is one type of sport that is more popular than others.

Yep.

This came up last time when various things were closed, opening late on Monday etc, especially schools. Sometimes it's a good idea for an organisation to plan in advance for something they know is going to happen anyway, try and turn a negative into a positive. People will call in sick at a higher rate than usual on Sunday evening. No point pretending otherwise, might as well get the good PR.

Completely agree with you op. I was duty on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day & all that week on the late shift. Think i finished at 10pm on Christmas Eve but still did my midnight finish the rest of the week. Yet can go home early Sunday for the football. Madness!

I get that football is important, but this is silly. And of course they can’t make Monday a bank holiday.

I have a clinic of patients to see. Where is the notice to cancel their appointments? That would not be fair on them at all. If they want to organise a bank holiday, it has to be done in a planned way. They can’t just suddenly give everybody Monday off.

Anyway I reckon we will lose 3-0 I reckon so it’s all a moot point really!

Why is it silly? There are multiple practical reasons for Tesco doing this. Avoids the inevitable staffing shortages when people call in sick, means they can't be unfavourably compared to other shops that are doing it, good PR.

Short notice bank holidays are indeed a problem in the NHS, as we learned when the queen died. And I agree we aren't likely to have one even if England win. But a supermarket closing what will only be a minority of their shops a few hours early isn't comparable.

Our school has said they will allow DC to go in any time up to 11am on Monday.

What about other workers? Why do we assume Tesco staff will call in sick more than any other business, public service? It’s a pathetic work ethic.

I'll be sure to raise this when Tesco decides to close again for a couple of hours during the next final in 2086 🙂

But it was Tesco’s decision regarding their own staff, so other workers don’t really matter here.
Other businesses can choose to do the same - or not.

No-one is assuming that Tesco workers are more likely to call in sick than those working anywhere else.

But Tesco will already know that there are increased staff sickness levels that coincide with national events or the time around Christmas/NYE.

Just look at the frequent comments on here when people talk about a shift coinciding with something they want to do, they'll have multiple recommendations to call in sick due to stomach upset or COVID, which really was a gift to many as an excuse to get out of pretty much anything they didn't want to do.

What about them? Tesco make decisions about their own workers, not anyone else's. The large majority of people aren't working on Sunday evenings anyway, as most things aren't open. But even for those that are, Tesco aren't going to have access to data on the level of increased absence for, say, bar staff or NHS porters when the football is on. And if they did, it would still be irrelevant.

Ultimately, it doesn't actually matter whether you, the Tesco bosses or anyone else think it's a pathetic work ethic. It's going to happen anyway. Good business sense means making decisions based on the reality you have, not the one you want. Which is why this isn't a remotely silly decision.

Tesco aren't doing it because they think customers won't be coming into store, they are doing it because they are worried a large % of their staff will be "sick" and they'd have to close anyway. This is a great PR move on their part.

Wonder if the same will apply to staff in Wales, Scotland and N Ireland as I would be VERY pissed off if I were rostered to work a Sunday evening at a store in Glasgow/Cardiff/Belfast and knew my colleagues in England were getting time off, paid.