AIBU to think these expectations of a charity shop manager are unfair?

[SorcererGaheris]

In the last year or so, the charity associated with the shop I volunteer in has become much more stringent on the issue of the shop remaining open all the time, even when staff shortages make this difficult or impossible without our manager giving up her time off to come in and cover without extra pay.

Our shop has a paid (FT) manager and a paid (PT) deputy manager. The rest of the staff are all volunteers.

Neither of the managers work on the Sunday, so the shop is staffed entirely by volunteers on that day. It's the only full day off that our manager gets, as her working hours cover the other six days.

In the past, if not enough of the Sunday volunteers could come, the shop just wouldn't open that time. But according to what our manager says, she is now being told that if a suitable number of the volunteers cannot show up on Sunday, she needs to come in herself to provide cover, if other members of staff can't/won't. The (non-Sunday) volunteers are usually unable or unwilling to work on a Sunday, so it ends up falling to our manager.

This Sunday, for example - two of the (four Sunday) volunteers are unable to be there. I can be there, but our fourth Sunday volunteer does not arrive until between 1-1.30 pm. The shop opens shortly after 11 and health and safety rules dictate that staff are not allowed to be alone in the shop when it's open to the public. The manager has been told that she is expected to come in and cover.

I am 100% sure that she will not be paid for these additional hours; from what has been said, it's typically expected that additional cover is done unpaid. I think the charity works around it by offering time off in lieu, so as not to be in conflict with the law, but due to the complexity of rota staffing when the majority of staff are volunteers (and thus can have as much time off as they want, for any reason) I think our manager finds it quite tricky to take all of her leave.

If the above was just a one-off, I don't think it would matter, but whilst those of us who volunteer on Sunday do our best to be there as much as possible, there are times when other things conflict and take precedence. Last Sunday, I myself did not come in because my mother and I were looking after my nephews for the day. One of my colleagues has a partner with fragile health and she sometimes has to arrange for him to go to the hospital at short notice. So there are times when, for a multitude of reasons, not enough of us can show up at the same time to ensure that the shop is adequately covered throughout the day.

In the past, it was just accepted that the shop would not open for that day if enough of us could not make it. But like I say, in recent times, the charity has become less understanding/tolerant of this and are more or less insisting that our manager come in to provide the cover instead.

My view is that - given the majority of staff are volunteers, with the freedom to have time off whenever - that expecting the shop to always remain open isn't realistic or fair. We're not a 'typical' retail business in that respect, because most of us are unpaid.

Considering that the only day off our manager gets is the Sunday, I think it is unfair to expect/demand that she always cover, especially for no pay.

What a wonderful woman.

Is it oxfam?

I have a friend in a very similar situation (charity shop manager) lots of pressure and barely ever gets a day off. They are all about human rights, but not their own staff it seems.

It would be really interesting if you could list the reasons that make you so sure?

It looks like the manager needs to learn how to manage a rota between them and the deputy. Not rocket science

Interesting to read for me. Where I am from /Europe/ lots of shops only have one member of staff/owner working. They close for ther lunch break or to run errands. They wouldnt be able to run at all if they had to have two people or manager on site at all times.

Is this a usual set up in the UK what OP describes?

Costs have gone up for charities so staying open those extra hours may mean the difference between breaking even and making a loss.

But if that's the case then you have to ask if charity shops have any purpose. They started because it was a way to raise extra revenue. With the added bonus that it allowed people with little money to kit out their families.

The first idea is no longer working and the second idea has gone by the board, as in an effort to remain profitable the prices have gone up to a point where they are out of reach of the people it was supposed to help.

So apart from potentially allowing some clothing not to go to landfill, what is the point of charity shops now?

Can't they close on a Sunday? All the small shops are closed Sundays locally to me, apart from the big chains, coffee shops etc.

I think its an absulute cheek when unpaid volunteers are subjected to this kind of pressure. Its up to the paid manager to negotiate her contract with the charity managers and not for volunteers to be fretting over this. But the managers sound very unreasonable. More volunteers are needed for Sundays.

A lot of charity shops are short of volunteers. At least one local one won’t accept any more donations ATM because (dh was told yesterday) of lack of staff.

I do wonder why some of those 1m workless young people don’t volunteer for a couple of days a week. OK, they wouldn’t be paid, but it’d look good on their CV and at least show that they can turn up on time and do something useful.

The toil system works well and is standard all over the charity and non-profit sector. Employees must be organised and take their toil back. Many roles require evening and weekend hours as much of the work is volunteer and community led, so flexibility outside of school and work hours is really important. I make sure all of my staff take their toil - but it does require reasonable organisation skills in the same way one must be organised and book their leave.

@Ethelspagetti

I suspect she can't afford to at the moment? She is single and does not own her own home - she rents.

Well we are now but I think that there’s been a change over the last twenty years, the Mary Portas style gentrification of charity shops to be run purely on the basis of profit. Obviously that’s their prerogative.

Where I live there are lots of community endeavours that take on the role that charity shops used to fill and pass on things like free/ donate what you can school uniform, kids coats and wellies, bookshelves in old phone boxes / supermarkets. These community run organisations absorb the volunteers who might have donated their time to charity shops in years gone by.

@AgentPidge

The higher-ups don't want us closed on Sundays. For as long as I've been volunteering (which is 16 years) the shop has opened 7 days a week, but on occasions on which an adequate number of staff could not show up on a particular day (usually the Sunday, as that has always been the one day that is entirely volunteer-run) it was accepted that the shop just wouldn't open on that particular day.

In recent times, those above seem very unwilling to accept shop closures at all.

I’m sure she still has her faculties about her to make up her own mind about what she can and can’t do at 67. It’s lovely that you are unaware that many people need to continue working well into their 70s to make ends meet but I’m afraid that’s the case. In any case, she does not need to work seven days a week.

@DysonHoover Opening on Sundays isn't a universal thing for all of this charity's shops, it's simply been the done thing at this particular bookshop for ages.

@Welldoya

I strongly doubt that, especially as she is backed up in her assertions by the deputy manager, and I have also personally experienced on a few occasions the effect on the manager's temperament because of how stressful she is finding everything. I have seen her close to tears a couple of times.

This. A different type of volunteer without family commitments. One of Managers needs to be in person per shift.

@oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends

I'm not the manager. I'm one of the volunteers.

You need to let go of the guilt and start saying no. You've had at least two MN threads to give you all the validation you need - you're not in the wrong here.

@gamerchick

With personal experience of how stressed my manager gets due to so much pressure (which can sometimes affect her temperament in the shop) I would say it is extremely unlikely that the manager is making this up.

@WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz

I don't need to say no to anything - I'm not the one being demanded to work additional hours.

It's the manager who is under this pressure, not me. I'm not being asked anything extra or unreasonable.

@Mousespoons

Affirmative.

@katepilar

As far as I understand, at the charity I am speaking of it, it is against health and safety rules for the shops to be open to the public with less than two members of staff.

Probably being bullied into it under the whole "but it's charityyyyy!" whine.

Charities have a begging mindset - their solution to any problem, human or otherwise, is to stick their hand out. Works. But…

Big charities squeeze lower paid staff till the pips squeak.

Retail costs have gone up for everyone but charity shops don’t pay the biggest one - business rates.

Charity shops get given extra cash by HMRC. HMRC give them money for every sale (20 per cent), so they make cash from
tax, rather than paying it like the rest of us.

Stock is free. Trained and skilled volunteers are free.

Shop Managers are paid NMW or thereabouts for a bloody difficult job. It’s a hard life.

Problems charities are facing for the first time:

1. Vinted
2. Customers are poorer
3. Rents are rising
4. Group shop or area managers aren’t retail experts. Ditto further layer upon layer of better paid mgt.
5. Public has growing awareness of how little of their donation hits the cause
6. Women, traditionally the core of the capable volunteers, support themselves financially these days and can’t work for £0.00

The solution? Stick your hand out and ask for another freebie from an exhausted employee.

Yeah okay, "she" needs to say no. MN isn't going to come up with a magical answer.