Xmas Eve working to 8pm. Problems getting home!

ceridwen

lrr wrote: »

They have agreed to working these hours

It really depends if you want to work this day and pay it all out again on a taxi or throw a sickie.

Me I wouldnt go in, and deal after xmas. Or leave at your normal time so you can catch last bus/train home.

I can certainly sympathise with that - but it wouldnt be wise for those staff who already have received Warnings to do that - as the employer would just sit back, rub hands and think "bingo - an excuse for another warning. They played right into my hands".

Poppy9

lrr wrote: »

They have agreed to working these hours

The staff in the call centre have agreed to work till 5.30pm as that's their normal working day but they want to finish at 4pm.

Little_voice wrote:

But you've just written that the normal finishing time is 5.30. And the staff are being asked to work to 8.

I assumed from the previous post they were holding out for a 4pm finish as in previous years not to 5.30pm.

Spark

Many people are losing their jobs at present - but that must not be taken as an excuse by employers to worsen the conditions and/or pay of those that have one

You should consider that they may be looking to downsize i.e. cut staff and are hoping to use staff's unwillingness to work their normal hours as a reason for dismisal to save on redundancy pay. Or they could use it as a staff selection tool. i.e. the most accommodating employees keep their job. They are no longer allowed to do last in first out policy.

It happened in the 90's recession. Some employers were taking the pi55 with their employees, with changes in the job that suited the boss and not the employee and where the boss didn't care about employees complaints, they were told "if you don't like it, here is the door", and I even knew one guy who has been bullied by his boss because his boss wanted him out to employ someone else and pay the new guy less.
In this recession it will happen again, now that there will be so many unemployed willing to do any jobs on minimum wage, the employed who are earning more than the minimum wage will have to be careful.
And it's lucky that this time we have a minimun wage, then some employers were paying £2.50/Hr.

SomeBozo

Spark wrote: »

It happened in the 90's recession. Some employers were taking the pi55 with their employees, with changes in the job that suited the boss and not the employee and where the boss didn't care about employees complaints, they were told "if you don't like it, here is the door", and I even knew one guy who has been bullied by his boss because his boss wanted him out to employ someone else and pay the new guy less.
In this recession it will happen again, now that there will be so many unemployed willing to do any jobs on minimum wage, the employed who are earning more than the minimum wage will have to be careful.
And it's lucky that this time we have a minimun wage, then some employers were paying £2.50/Hr.

Theres nothing wrong will re-structuring companies and payscales to make a company survive. It happens all the time. Though I admit it should all be legal and above board.

Bozo

Apolonation

likabu wrote: »

It is not really the employers problem or concern how their employees get home, especially during normal working hours. Christmas eve is not a bank holiday.

Lisa

It is if it affects morale. My advice would simply be to verbally tell your manager of your problem and see how they respond. The mass walk out etc... I think will just antagonize the situation.

If they really give you the impression that they don't care about your situation it's simple. Give them your notice and get another job after christmas. There are loads of call centres advertising for work and to be honest you don't have to put up with apathetic employers.

There are some really great employers out there that do care about their staff. They realise that low turn over rates are tied in with performance and job satisfaction. You owe it to yourself to find an employer that cares about your well being and development.

Good luck!

bestpud

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

I worked in a call centre on Xmas Eve and they wanted us to work to 7:30pm. By lunchtime, the calls almost died. What the management did was to select 8 people at a time, every half hour or so, based on factors such as attendance, lateness, productivity etc. So those who were never late, never off sick and had excellent productivity records left first and those who were rubbish at these were there to the end. I was in the 2nd lot to go! I was 9th as my productivity was about 0.03% lower than the 8th person:rolleyes:

Those who worked hard to attain these stats (attendance and turning up for work in good time isn't an effort for me.) got something good out of it.

Your workplace may this or random names picked out a hat!

I like that idea!

If only all companies operated like that!

bestpud

lrr wrote: »

I thought that if there is no public transport an employer cannot force you to work, especially given the short notice unless they provide transport? In the last place I worked, if the weather was bad and the buses were going off we were all sent home. Also is there not something to do with the employers insurance - im thinking in the way that if you ill at work for instance they are supposed to make sure you get home safely i.e paid taxi in case something happens.

Tell them you will only work till 4pm as you will not be putting your personal safety at risk for the sake of a few hours and that they can dock the other hours wages if they like. It would probably cost you that on a taxi fare alone, that assuming you could probably get a taxi!

Are you in a union?

Are you naive or just hopeful?

a11waysindebt

a11waysindebt wrote: »

Put your self in the shoes of the MFI and woollies staff over Christmas and think your self lucky you have a job.

No work,No money,A mortgage to be paid.Worrying your self sick.

I was just making an example of the staff losing their jobs over Christmas.

I do not work for either company mentioned.

Caz3121

I managed a team in the services industry so it was not possible to let everyone away early on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve - the approach I took was that 50% were able to leave early on Xmas Eve (if the service allowed) and the rest got away early New Years Eve and let the teams decide amongst themselves who got which - they got away about 2pm instead of 5pm.

jumpycheese1

I used to work in a branch of a bank. On Christmas Eve, the other banks down the same stretch of shops closed around 1pm. Our branch didn't close to normal time (4:30pm). As customers presumed we were closing at the same time as the others down the road. We just sat in the 'back' area drinking Bucks Fizz and scoffing chocs!:p

At least my workplace was only 10 mins walk to what was my home