Shop working hours

Reverbe

Just a quick query/survey. How many shop workers are expected to work after store closes on a regular basis? I have started to work in a minor high street retailer who from all accounts do not treat their workers very well. We are expected on afternoon shifts to work an extra half hour after store closes ostensibly to tidy up.Company wont pay for cleaners so we are expected to clean loos , mop up etc and tidy displays.

Displays can be tidied towards end of opening hours and mopping takes a couple of mins tops due to tiny store size.All tasks take only 5-10 mins tops and yet we are often still not even let out until an additional 15 mins after shift has supposedly ended. If working hrs are til x.pm is it fair to keep us another 15 mins hanging around in order to be let out of store.

Was told by another member of staff never to make any plans for anything any day you are working as you are regularly trapped instore way past end of shift time.Seems unreasonable of them to completely dominate your time outside working hours in this way or has it become common for workers to be expected to work outside store opening hours in this way and to clean stores now in addition to till work etc?

Store also doesnt have any bells etc so workers supposedly have to use their mobiles to call the store at cost to themselves in order to be let in prior to store opening. (Luckily I do not have a mobile so cannot incur this unreasonable cost. They pay only minimum wage)

Margey

Hi,

I worked in a high street retail shop and sometimes we were expected to stay half an hour to an hour after we finished. Unpaid. It is unfair and you shouldn't have to do it, but by law they can keep you there for 15 minutes unpaid. And as far as calling them to get them to let you in that is just standard. It takes a few secnds and really doesn't cost a lot of money. If you have a real problem with it, does your store have a head office or someone you can speak to about it?

It seems that it is standard procedure in everyy retail store. All i can say is get working on tidying earlier and involve other memebrs of staff to help you clean up, so the earlier its done the quicker you can leave. If you are waiting for the manager to cash up, then only one person (really) has to stay.

Reverbe

I do have a problem with calling to be let in in a minor way as I do not have and cannot afford a mobile.TBH they could easily accommodate this by coming down to let me in 10 mins or so before store opens.

My main query was that in any previous retail job including last Christmas I have worked we were not expected to be unpaid cleaners nor locked in after shift end unable to go home. TBH this virtually equates to being held prisoner. Any tidying up etc does only take 5 mins and is done mostly mopping up aside while customers still in store. it's not so much the tasks as the length of time we are kept hanging around unpaid for no good reason.I just wondered if this was unique to my company or if this has become standard practice with high street retailers of a lesser reputation than Debenhams, M&S etc

Can anyone confirm Margeys claim that you can legally be detained by employer for 15 mins unpaid after shift end?

SHIPSHAPE

What was agreed between you and the store regarding this issue when you began your job? Do you have a written contract?

What are your regular paid hrs of work a week?

If you are already on the min wage for your hours then by making you work beyond them unpaid means they are not actually paying the min wage.

I don't understand employers who think people work for them out of charity, the cheek of it.

bluenoseam

Every retail job i've worked in has had an element of unpaid overtime, it just happens, i can't think of anyone who actually works 9-5.30 on the dot, its just part of working life. Besides that fact "unpaid cleaners" - hate to say this, but if you check your contract you'll probably find something along the lines of "and any other duties as required", asking you to clean the workplace is not an unreasonable request, in doing so you are also ensuring that the shop is as attractive to customers as possible to encourage them to spend more.

It happens everywhere, i'm not quite sure what makes you think that Debenhams/M&S would be any different, they're not, granted they're usually not asked to clean toilets etc (due to them having big money cleaning contracts) but yeah, i would expect them to dust & perhaps clean units etc in order to maximise the look of the merchandise. The shop closes at 5.30 - but tills don't put themselves away, shops don't have a magic button at 5.30 which when a manager presses it everything is packed away and ready for business the next morning, doors locked & alarmed and all the things you do after 5.30!

Then there's the calling in, do you know what managers have to do before they open a shop first thing in a morning? I worked in one high street store and the manager, starting at 8, had to set out tills, check the sales figures from the previous day & update them on the staff room wall, print out the daily paperwork for the shop floor staff (replenishments, memos etc), do a store walkround to see if anything needed done (merchandising wise) and deal with any phone enquiries. By the time we rolled in between 8.30-8.45am he'd have had to do all that, he couldn't have been waiting on us to rock up at the door, he'd never have got the work he needed done! A quick phone call costs what, 10p maximum, now i get it, that's 50p per week or £2 a month - but ultimately that's just what you have to do, the working day does not revolve around what is convenient to YOU personally!

SHIPSHAPE

bluenoseam wrote: »

Every retail job i've worked in has had an element of unpaid overtime, it just happens, i can't think of anyone who actually works 9-5.30 on the dot,

!

The OP in question is on the min wage, any unpaid hours worked over that means they are below the min wage, which is unlawful.

paulwf

Whenever I've worked in retail if I've been on an hourly rate I've always been paid for the time worked. Of course there is the odd time when you have to stay late but that should be paid for. Decent companies also rota some staff in until 15-30 mins after closing so that the close down procedures can be completed.

Small businesses where there is lots of give and take or jobs with a well paid monthly salary may be different, but for minimum wage retail work I would expect the employer to pay for the hours worked and to schedule adequate staff for closing the shop. Regular unpaid extra work is just a way of saving them money which isn't fair on the employees.

BTW although M&S had some faults at the branch I was at they always made sure you finished on time.

*Chattie*

judging by the number of posts you have made complaing about this particular part-time Christmas job and previous ones I'd suggest that retail probably isn't for you.

Jo_F

The store that I work at, there are only 10 of us, so we share the cleaning between us.

As to 'extra' time, the management cannot unlock the store on their own, we have to have a minimum of 2 people at any given time, so whoever has the 8am start has to be there 15 mins early, this we don't get paid for as far as I am aware. Likewise, whoever is on the late shift with the manager has to wait until the manager is done before we can lock up, set alarm and go, if there is ever a time when the alarm doesn't set then the manager and the member of staff have to wait until the engineer comes, we do kind of get paid for that, but usually as time taken in lieu of it.

DCFC79

Previous job that required us to stay on to tidy i think it was in the contract we were expected to stay on but we were paid for it.

SHIPSHAPE

*Chattie* wrote: »

judging by the number of posts you have made complaing about this particular part-time Christmas job and previous ones I'd suggest that retail probably isn't for you.

No worker should be expected to work for nothing, retail or not.

This is not Nazi Germany.