Anyone work in Retail Management?

[Mems]

My DD recently started a part-time/what-we-thought-would-be-a-Saturday job with a major, high end department store. She did work experience for them last year and when her week was up they asked if they could contact her if any vacancies came up. Fast forward to May, middle of GCSE's we get a phone call, DD1 trots off for interview, is offered a part-time job, 10 hours a week as per school Sixth Form policy, etc. She started in July, loves it when it's busy, loves the cash when it's not. We had a bit of a hiccup with holidays (my fault entirely - forgot she would be working when booked ) but got it sorted.

So we were looking forward to a couple of years of her trotting off to do a weekend shift and a week night shift ... but it's turning into a nightmare due to constantly changing shifts!

In the past 2 weeks she has turned up late for one shift because they changed the time and gone in for another only to be told that she's not due in that day. We gave them the benefit of the doubt over the time change as DD1 isn't the most organised of people but this week I know it's not her fault. She worked on 4 hours on Wednesday & 6 hours on Thursday evening, checked the rota to confirm her next shift was the following Tuesday, turned up on Tuesday only to be told that she wasn't due in until Thursday. They'd changed the rota on the Friday and no one had phoned her to tell her (shift week runs Sunday to Saturday). & then laughed at her! I'm spitting tacks - it cost her £6 each way on the train, plus me a migraine trying to get her to the train station on time!

Now, I know she's low down in the pecking order, and we need to be flexible with the days she works. She keeps saying she shouldn't expect to get special treatment, but surely if you've changed the rota it's just good practice to make sure the person knows it's been changed? Her next shift is Saturday, and she's also working Sunday and Monday and who's to say she's not turned away again when she turns up!

Is this common in retail? I know shifts change when people are off sick, etc but there must be some way of realising that if someone's not at work until their next shift, if you change the time of that shift how are they supposed to know! Telepathy? Am getting crosser and crosser the more I think about it ....

..... and breathe! Sorry it's so long!

If she works for the store you need to speak to the HR dept as this really is bad management on the shop floor.
If she works for a concession you need to speak to the area manager for that particular company.
If your DD has to give up work as cannot afford to keep paying for unnecessary travel expenses they could be looking at a constructive dismissal case from your DD.
The manager involved is obviously inept, go above their head.

Basically, they do need to tell her if they keep chopping and changing. I think that's just good manners!

It sounds a bit rubbish if they aren't doing this.

Good luck x

Thanks - I was going to post in AIBU but know I'm not so no point in asking!! I'm going to check out her terms & conditions (if I can find the paperwork on her floor-robe!) and email the HR department to ask what the policy is. Just wondered whether it was usual in retail - times obviously changed since I was a Saturday girl at Woolies!!

You can't email. She can, if she so chooses, its her job.

Yes Sagemist, you're quite right - need to step back and let her sort it out!

Being flexible and changing shifts if needed is quite normal in retail. Not being told about it is not!

Agree with SageMist - your dd is old enough to work so she needs to speak to someone, not you. I would advise her to speak to her manager giving specific examples of when her rota has been changed with no notice and at what cost to her. I would then get her to give her contact number to her manager and ask that she be called on that number if there are any future changes to her shifts.

Hi I work in retail management. Yes shifts are changed often and we do need employees to be flexible, but a good manager will always ring an employee to ask if they are available for a different shift.

I would suggest your DD gets a photocopy of her rota every week so she has hardcopy evidence of what shift she is meant to be on, and then she needs to speak to her manager if it reoccurs

Thanks for the comments. DD did sort it out herself - she spoke to her line manager, who checked the contacts sheet and found that DD's mobile number was listed incorrectly so they'd been leaving messages on someone else's phone! Line manager agreed that next time they needed to change her shift they would speak to her rather than leave a message ... and they did!