Shop working hours

firesidemaid

As another poster has said, perhaps you can suggest and / or draw up a sort of informal rota so that only 1 or 2 of you stay behind per night.

also, re ringing in, can a few of you meet up and then make one call etc.

there are often solutions or better ways to working these problems that i hope managers would be happy to take you up on if you help sort/resolve it for them.

Aelius

Surely if a shop closes at 5:30, then you can't expect to be away then as the till need cashing up etc?

And why shouldn't retail staff clean toilets if catering staff do?

nicolax

Aelius wrote: »

Surely if a shop closes at 5:30, then you can't expect to be away then as the till need cashing up etc?

And why shouldn't retail staff clean toilets if catering staff do?

also if shop shuts at 5.30 the customers are never out by 5.30! sometimes have had customers stay in the shop 30mins after closing!!

jfh7gwa

I don't understand why employers aren't forced to be fairer. Just because they get away with it doesn't make it right.

There appears to be no dispute about whether there is work to do, be it cleaning, locking up, tallying tills, or shooing the last customer out of the door.

So if it's an accepted fact that work continues beyond the shop's closing time every night, why are the staff not getting paid for it?

Stop all this "that's just how it is in retail" business. If the employees, as part of their normal, standard routine, work beyond their hours, why is that not rostered into their paid timesheet?

I understand exceptional circumstances, or as random one-offs, but not as part of your normal routine where there isn't even any question about whether there is work to be done or not. There clearly is.

I just don't understand why large numbers of people think this is acceptable for a job on NMW.

(And I speak as someone who's done all sorts of crappy jobs in all sorts of sectors, be they NMW, below NMW, or above.)

Gillyx

In my experience of retail you were expected to do light cleaning duties, that includes working for a large supermarket. In my first job we had to sweep and mop the floor which obviously couldn't be done until the shop closed, and customers would generally still be coming through the door up until 5.30 so we'd have to wait until they left to do it. It was just part and parcel of our job.

My OH currently works in retail and if he is scheduled into a close, it's until 11 o clock, but more often than not by the time he get's the customers out, cashes up the tills and the ATM, it'l be 11.15/11.20 by the time he gets out. He doesn't get paid for this, but does it as the needs of the business require it, it doesn't exactly please him, but everyone else has to take there turn too.

I'd also add in, if you speak up about this, it could then go against you, in my opinion people who get on with things will get more leeway when it comes to applying for holidays/days off, your employer will make more of an effort with you.

When I was a supervisor in retail I'd go out of my way to accommodate those who worked hard for me and went the extra mile, for people who done nothing but complain, I'd do the bare minimum that my role required. Maybe wrong, but it's how the world works.

SHIPSHAPE

Aelius wrote: »

Surely if a shop closes at 5:30, then you can't expect to be away then as the till need cashing up etc?

And why shouldn't retail staff clean toilets if catering staff do?

In that case pay the bloody going rate!

If the shop closes at 17:30 and she is getting paid until then then the employer needs to pay the extra 20 or 30 mins for cashing up, cleaning the toilets or whatever else they want doing.

For ....'s sake, the lady is on minimum wage!

GalmOne

There is a very simple solution to this that I'm surprised your management haven't spotted, or more likely are ignoring. Rota late staff to start and finish 15 mins later than the closing time. Opening/closing procedures are a necessary chore, and there is most likely a security policy in place on minimum staffing levels at these times but this should be reflected in the rota.

I wouldn't know how to resolve this, maybe a confidential call to your HR department would give you a start on how to proceed if you understandably don't want to put youself in the firing line... so to speak.

thriftymanc

GalmOne wrote: »

There is a very simple solution to this that I'm surprised your management haven't spotted, or more likely are ignoring. Rota late staff to start and finish 15 mins later than the closing time. Opening/closing procedures are a necessary chore, and there is most likely a security policy in place on minimum staffing levels at these times but this should be reflected in the rota.

I wouldn't know how to resolve this, maybe a confidential call to your HR department would give you a start on how to proceed if you understandably don't want to put youself in the firing line... so to speak.

The rota thing - exactly! It's not difficult is it? The shop I worked in had various shifts throughout the day, and the last shifts of the day would always run until half an hour after closing, so the evening staff had time to cash up and tidy up. I would have thought all shops would do this.

OP - Maybe phone HR and say that as there always seems to be so much work that needs doing at the end of the day, you'd be very happy for them to extend your contracted hours by half an hour per shift so that you'd be able to stick around and help them out...!

ohreally

Join a union which organises in retail...http://www.usdaw.org.uk/aboutus/contactus/contactusform.aspx

ceridwen

Sorry to hear of the problems you are having with this Reverbe.

Its obviously not fair for an employer to expect an employee to work on after hours unpaid. Its obviously the case that you are being paid a bit less than NMW in effect - if the stated payrate is NMW - but then you are being expected to do compulsory unpaid overtime.

The one practical suggestion I would make to you is to keep a diary of all hours you work (both paid and unpaid) and if things go T*ts up at any point with this job on the one hand - or you get to work for longer than the 2 years necessary to protect yourself from unfair dismissal on the other hand - then consider, at that point, putting in a claim for all the time they owe you under those NMW provisions (2.5 hours per week for 2 years would come to a decent amount you were owed for instance).

You may or may not ever use this evidence they owe you money - but, at least in keeping a detailed record of this, you have the chance available to use this evidence to try and reclaim the money they are starting to build up owing you at any future point that seems suitable to you to put in that claim for it.