Employment Advice

ETTDDan

Hello everyone.

Hoping someone has some advice for me? I am currently employed by a well known high street electronics store. There is a lot of context to this story, so I'll try to keep it short.

Back in April, I had decided to relocate to a new store closer to home, so I asked to transfer. I was interviewed for the job that I had to re-apply for online. The position was for 40 hours (obv full time). The manager who was only placed as temp whilst the newly hired permanent manager was being trained, told me he could only give me 20 hours as a sales advisor. I accepted, as it was two hours more than what I was on at the time. He told me that I would be the most experienced member of staff in the new store as everyone else was being hired externally.

So about a month or two down the line, I ask if there are any more hours going, because I love to work. I used to look forward to going to work every day. He said that there simply isn't enough money in the budget. However, unknown to me at the time, a woman was being interviewed for a 30 hour contract with no experience in the company whatsoever. She then told him that she only wanted 20 hours. So my (then) manager told me we would swap hours. That never happened.

So a few weeks later after letting this new girl settle into the job, I asked my manager if there were any more hours or at least overtime going. He again said 'no'. Then the very same thing happened to me as it did before. Behind the scenes, a guy working as management for O2, was being interviewed by my old manager from the previous store for a 12 hour contract. Upon his welcome to our new store, my then current manager decided to give him a 40 hour contract, again, despite not having the same knowledge or experience in the company as I did.

I got the feeling my manager didn't like me for some reason. I gave up asking for more hours because I knew I'd be shafted again and again.


Even still, now that we have a new manager, loads of people are being hired left right and centre, and my contract stays the same, albeit, it was recently and generously bumped up by 5 more hours, but still, I'd much prefer to work full time.

I keep looking for a second part time job, just to make ends meet, because making £600 roughly a month, is not enough to live on. I still live at home with my parents, I recently passed my driving test, so a used car would be nice to own, but even then, on the wage and the hours that I'm on now, I can't even afford that. I'm in such debt to my parents because my wage is so low, I can't afford to keep up with board and keep bills etc. Recently had applied for the likes of W H Smiths, ASDA, Tesco Mobile, Tesco, Argos, Sainsbury's, Apple, Stormfront etc, but they keep turning me away, despite having a CV that shows I work hard.

Surely life shouldn't be this difficult for us? Anyone got anything to share or advise? Much appreciated. Also feel free to use this thread to vent if you need to haha.:beer:

elsien

Have you had a recent appraisal, or asked your manager for specific feedback about your performance?
Because if other less qualified (on paper) people are being given extra hours in preference to you, that would indicate that somewhere there is an issue with you or your work that people aren't happy with.
No inkling at all what that might be?

ETTDDan

Not a thing. I remain professional with customers, when asked to fill in shifts for people who're ill or can't make it into work, I always accept, I know what I'm doing in my job, very rarely make mistakes, but then again, who doesn't from time to time?

I think it might be because they simply don't want to pay the national living wage to employees 25 and over.

YouAsked

ETTDDan wrote: »

I got the feeling my manager didn't like me for some reason. I gave up asking for more hours because I knew I'd be shafted again and again.


Even still, now that we have a new manager, loads of people are being hired left right and centre, and my contract stays the same, albeit,

I feel for you - I can see how much you want the extra hours and so I'm trying not to come across horribly and I hope you take this in the spirit it's intended...

I don't think it is about a manager "liking" you otherwise that would have ceased to be a problem when a new manager started. Generally, managers would sooner not waste time recruitng staff if they don't have to. There must be something else, and I imagine it's performance related, but if they're not going to tell you despite you asking, and they're giving you more than your contracted hours already then your options are a bit limited.

I hope things work out for you.