Somerfield - Co-op Takeover

oliver2008

ZootHornRollo wrote: »

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right board or not. please feel free to move it if not.

I would like to know how the co-ops take over of Somerfield field effects somerfield stores in in areas where there are other co-ops. (its an employment query as my parnter works in a somerfield)

She works in a Somerfield which has a Lothian, Borders & Angus coop very near by. Would the 'main' co-ops take over lead to the somerfield being sold?

As far as i was aware co-ops such as Lothian & Borders are companies in thier own right and therefore would be in competition with the new owners of Somerfield. But there are rumours going around the somerfield store that the co-op will close down the somerfield (or sell it on) as there is already a co-op near by.

Could someone help clarify the situation for them please. They are all very worried about their jobs.

Our local Somerfield had been taken over by co-op and it too is very near a CO-op store. The staff have been told about this but it was said that nothing would happen for three or four months (I used to work there and am still friendly with a few of them.)

ohreally

cazziebo wrote: »

You'd be better spending the time reading up on Tupe and redundancy rights...

Which should quench any desire one has for reading...

jamesp31

yeah there is that I suppose!

x.x.x.

in our store, CSA's are on £5.72, S/v are only on £6.22 (i think thats all anyway) certainly needs a review methinks, all the things you gotta put up with for that extra few pence!

sodamnfunky

x.x.x. wrote: »

in our store, CSA's are on £5.72, S/v are only on £6.22 (i think thats all anyway) certainly needs a review methinks, all the things you gotta put up with for that extra few pence!

My wife reckons Somerfield have been a shower of !!!!!! since the private equity takeover, and the crap she has to put up with and deal with is unreal.

If I heave to hear about workforce management once more I will scream. Who the hell designed it...:mad:

ZootHornRollo

sodamnfunky wrote: »

My wife reckons Somerfield have been a shower of !!!!!! since the private equity takeover, and the crap she has to put up with and deal with is unreal.

If I heave to hear about workforce management once more I will scream. Who the hell designed it...:mad:

yep... somerfield was a nightmare after the privatization. its change after change after change. nothing ever settles down. Just more and more work and monitored tasks to do every day.

I left not long after workforce management was implemented, but i still hear about it everyday from my partner who still works for them. Its a disaster that really still needs a lot of work. Unfortunately i heard a rumor that the co-op were going to retain it and launch it across their estate... i really hope its not true!!!

safesound

What? You think its total !!!!!? but its won awards and they might be going to Disney with it!
/sarcasm off

Since they brought the new system in the whole company (at store level) has been a total shambles. Ten people working on quiet days and two people on busy days, whats that all about? 2 hour shifts or even better one 2 hour shift in the morning and one in the late afternoon (woo-hoo! I dont have a life!) and the whole only planning for three weeks in advance is a real pain. Dont even get me started on the whole putting people on departments on their own who have never worked or been trained on said departments just to cover holes in the schedules.
From waht I hear from the regional bods of Co-op they are ditching the system :Tso the sooner they change over to Co-ops way of running shifts the better, at least then you know where you are... I just dont know if I can put up with it for that long (6-12 months we've been told)

jamesp31

what exactly is workforce management then, how does it work (not work as it seems!)?

ZootHornRollo

its a fully automated staff scheduling tool. allegedly.

basically, for every member of staff, you tell it what hours they are available to work, how many hours they are contracted to work and what departments they are trained to work on.

Work Force management (WFM), using sales data and information about tasks that need to be completed it produces a rota.

The rota might have someone working produce (usually an older lady who can't lift the big bags of potatoes) for 30 minutes, then she will be filling the bread for 15 minutes before a 15 minute stint on checkouts (because WFM knows we will need an extra cashier during that exact 15 mintue period ) followed by 2 hours of filling the Beers.

Meanwhile, the young lad we employed to do all the lugging about and filling shelves will be sitting on a till with his finger up his @rse for his first 30 mintues before it send him for a 30 minute break followed by another 3 hours on a till.

then someone else will be in for a two hour shift today but will have an 10 hour split shift tomorrow starting at 6am and finishing at 8pm.

The system tells everyone where they will be at every minute of the day and tell them when to go for breaks. This is all done two weeks in advance. Now you knwo why there are ques at the tills!!!

Normally the produce supervisor will be working frozen, the grocery supervisior wil be sitting on a till and the tilll supervisor will be pulling in a delivery. noone does the job they were employed to do and nothing gets finished.

the system does not take into consideration that jobs don't take the exact same amount of time to do each time it is done and that because it undermanned the till everyone gets pulled away from what they are doing to cover it. This means more jobs don't get finished. The end result is you are chasing your tail (and members of staff) all day every day.

I'm glad i got out when i did.

good luck!

C_Ronaldo

ZootHornRollo wrote: »

its a fully automated staff scheduling tool. allegedly.

basically, for every member of staff, you tell it what hours they are available to work, how many hours they are contracted to work and what departments they are trained to work on.

Work Force management (WFM), using sales data and information about tasks that need to be completed it produces a rota.

The rota might have someone working produce (usually an older lady who can't lift the big bags of potatoes) for 30 minutes, then she will be filling the bread for 15 minutes before a 15 minute stint on checkouts (because WFM knows we will need an extra cashier during that exact 15 mintue period ) followed by 2 hours of filling the Beers.

Meanwhile, the young lad we employed to do all the lugging about and filling shelves will be sitting on a till with his finger up his @rse for his first 30 mintues before it send him for a 30 minute break followed by another 3 hours on a till.

then someone else will be in for a two hour shift today but will have an 10 hour split shift tomorrow starting at 6am and finishing at 8pm.

The system tells everyone where they will be at every minute of the day and tell them when to go for breaks. This is all done two weeks in advance. Now you knwo why there are ques at the tills!!!

Normally the produce supervisor will be working frozen, the grocery supervisior wil be sitting on a till and the tilll supervisor will be pulling in a delivery. noone does the job they were employed to do and nothing gets finished.

the system does not take into consideration that jobs don't take the exact same amount of time to do each time it is done and that because it undermanned the till everyone gets pulled away from what they are doing to cover it. This means more jobs don't get finished. The end result is you are chasing your tail (and members of staff) all day every day.

I'm glad i got out when i did.

good luck!

There was a similar system in place when i worked at sainsburys, it would tell each person where they ought to be at what times but IMO it was flawed majorly, it would schedule someone who works on BWS to go and work on the bakery section when he has no knowledge of working behind the bakery counter, it scheduled me under store management for 3 hours on a saturday,