Any advice new employee job trouble

debbie45

Hi can I ask advice on what to do in this situation. My daughter, age 16 has just started with Marks and Spencers (christmas poistion). She was given her first two weeks shifts on the day of interview and then same days/hours posted to her in the contract letter.

Today manager phoned asking why she hadnt turned up today, will be put down as a 'no show'. Explained day off as per letter, was told shifts not these as in a book in the office.

My complaint is my daughter was never shown any book of shift patterns
and has so far worked the last 5 days as per given shifts and although expects to vary shifts with store demands is upset that she is now on record as not turning up to a shift. Should we not push this matter as they can dismiss without notice during first four weeks or complain that manager/supervisor should have explained to new staff shift changes and where to look.

Today has been very stressful especially when she went in on day off and appologised in person, said sorry about today and told stop saying sorry!

Any advice please

Errata

You don't need to do anything other than be sympathetic towards your daughter. Your daughter needs to speak to her line manager, show them the letter and explain nobody had told her about the shift pattern book, and ask that her explanation be recorded.

DVardysShadow

Let's just be picky here. You don't have a complaint, your daughter does. So it is not 'what do we do?' it is 'what does she do?'. This has been covered in another thread here today.

In her position, I would write a letter apologising for missing the shift, attaching a copy of the contract letter, and saying that she has complied with the contract. She can then refer to induction and state that she is now aware of the book, but this was not pointed out at induction and ask the employer to double check that all required aspects of induction have been covered.

biv

Would just show the letter and ask if they can write the day off as a mis-understanding. Wouldn't push too much over one day as she'll want to stay on the right side of her supervisor. Being new(?) to the world of work she's probably upset over nothing.

debbie45

Thanks for replies, I have since found out another new employee same thing happened to them. Just upsetting that through lack of communication this happened and it may not reflect well on someones record that they didnt show up for work.

My daughter will speak to her supervisor when she is next in. I agree my daughter has to deal with this however as I heard how she was spoken to today I dont blame her for being upset.

Errata

It was an upsetting thing to happen to her. If it's happened to someone else then I would guess it will get sorted out properly and shouldn't result in any stain on her record.

paulwf

The way the rota system works is before the start of the week a rota is made available and all staff should check it and sign it to say they agree to their hours.

Technically I believe (and you'd need to check the handbook on this) it is the personal responsibility of the employee to check their hours. However any sensible line manager would check that all staff had signed and chase up any that didn't especially if their hours had been changed...and doubly so if it was their first week.

Personally if I were your daughter I would have a quiet chat with a coach (a person responsible for training new staff after their induction) and see what they advise. The best thing for the long term would be to find an informal way to resolve this so the no show is removed but if it was me I wouldn't go down the letter route.

BTW whatever the outcome don't worry or let your daughter worry about it. Most stores have hundreds of staff and most procedures don't have any real significance, there are dozens of various compliance sheets that are ticked and signed each day. Within 24 hours it will probably be forgotten.

shikoku

An employee can be dismissed within the first year for no reason whatsoever.

Trial periods always make me laugh because successful completion doesn't offer any security at all in reality.

maninthestreet

It seems like the OP's daughter was expected to have mind-reading abilities.

DVardysShadow

debbie45 wrote: »

Thanks for replies, I have since found out another new employee same thing happened to them. Just upsetting that through lack of communication this happened and it may not reflect well on someones record that they didnt show up for work.

My daughter will speak to her supervisor when she is next in. I agree my daughter has to deal with this however as I heard how she was spoken to today I dont blame her for being upset.

This points to deficiencies in the induction process

paulwf wrote: »

The way the rota system works is before the start of the week a rota is made available and all staff should check it and sign it to say they agree to their hours.

Technically I believe (and you'd need to check the handbook on this) it is the personal responsibility of the employee to check their hours. However any sensible line manager would check that all staff had signed and chase up any that didn't especially if their hours had been changed...and doubly so if it was their first week.

Agree about personal responsibility, but not for things which were not addressed at induction

Personally if I were your daughter I would have a quiet chat with a coach (a person responsible for training new staff after their induction) and see what they advise. The best thing for the long term would be to find an informal way to resolve this so the no show is removed but if it was me I wouldn't go down the letter route.

It would be good to get the no show removed without a letter

BTW whatever the outcome don't worry or let your daughter worry about it. Most stores have hundreds of staff and most procedures don't have any real significance, there are dozens of various compliance sheets that are ticked and signed each day. Within 24 hours it will probably be forgotten.

Of course, if it is not forgotten within 24 hours a letter could be useful for later, particularly if staff and up getting the rough end of management omissions - such as forgetting induction or important parts of it.

DCFC79

maninthestreet wrote: »

It seems like the OP's daughter was expected to have mind-reading abilities.

you get that alot when working in retail,