What's going on at Sainsbury's?

[Floogal]

At my local mid size Sainsbury's, I have noticed there is a team of mostly women who are dressed in smart casual trousers and shirts. In other words they don't wear Sainsbury's uniform. They usually seem to be 'stocking up' or allocating jobs to uniformed staff (even though they seem to be doing the same stuff). What is the deal? Or is it (to quote Richie from Bottom) "an upstairs downstairs thing that the customer needs to be reassured about"? Genuinely interested and perplexed

Why not just ask one of them? Might be a uniform change coming soon, might be office staff helping due to being short staffed. There could be a fair few reasons but I’d just chat to one next time you are in and ask them.

They will just be managers.
I work for Sainsbury’s.
A mid sized Sainsbury’s will have 3 shop floor managers, 3 customer experience managers, 3 online managers, 3 nightshift managers as well as other departments depending on the store.
Managers are very much involved in the day to day running of the store instead of being stuck in the office all day.
There is a lead manager and 2 managers under them on each department!
Hope that helps!

I was in a Sainsburys recently and wanted to make a complaint to a manager, I was told there wasn't one in store. Seemed strange so I said there must be someone here who is in charge, I was told no there wasn't 😤did an online complaint form with pictures of my complaint and have never heard back from anyone.

I'm sure you know this but that's incorrect, there is always a manager in store.
They may have been in a meeting however customer services should have taken details and had someone call you!

My brother works for Sainsbury's in a regional role, sometimes they have him go into store and work the floor, maybe that

Not Sainsbury’s but I’ve noticed this in my local mid sized Asda - staff wearing smarter clothes (ie shirts and trousers) and not Asda uniform stocking shelves. I assumed short staffed so pitching in but I see it a lot.

They don't wear uniform in m&S anymore either

I work in Sainsburys and I agree that they will be managers. A lot of the daytime restocking is done by the department managers as we are constantly short of staff. Its also not unusual to see the main store manager out there doing the same. Currently my store is well over budget on spending for staff but its the end of our financial year next week so I'm hoping that might mean we soon get some new starters.

They had some work experience people from the job centre at Asda, dressed just as you described.

Slightly off topic but Wish they'd open more than one till in my local Sainsbury's

I don't want to use self service tills for a large amount

You always see the manager/s in my local Waitrose helping out. Same in sainsburys.

Like the poster above said, it's the end of the financial year and most stores have gone over budget, meaning staff take hours unpaid or last minute holidays so it's always tricky this time of year, I understand its frustrating but please remember to be kind to the people who do show up for work

I'm always super courteous but it isn't right

Why is Sainsburys customer serice so useless/non-existent now? (Tesco, too, as far as I can tell.) If something goes wrong with ordering online or a delivery, how are you supposed to get help? Phone numbers & emails have either been removed or are useless (can't find a T number any more, tried the S number once & they hung up on me when I explained the problem). I think they expect people to use twitter or facebook messaging now, but that's really hit & miss, & sometimes you need instant action, e.g. when the delivery driver forgot to give us an entire category of the delivery.

@Mummyofatinyterror as you work there, any ideas? Have I missed a CS number somewhere which is onshore & actually works?

My sibling works at a different supermarket chain and works in the cash office in the back and wears normal trousers and shirt but on occasion has to go on the shop floor only contracted shop floor staff wear the uniform, plenty of other roles out of customer sight.