Complaints about managers

[Cls74]

Hi everyone I previously asked for some advice on here regarding an investigation to me working at my other job whilst being off sick from Tesco. Going to break the whole situation down as best I can.

Basically off sick from November, till February. I have been diagnosed with a life long chronic disease.

Accused of being in work at my other job in December.
Letter of investigation hand delivered nye, postponed 3 times, eventually took place mid January, concluded February. Led to me going back to work on amended hours, with no further action.

During the investigation I queried why would anybody know why I was off sick etc, why would somebody accuse me of me being in work elsewhere, basically told people ask questions. Unfortunately the cctv at my other place of work gets wiped every two weeks, by the time I received the letters and the date of the accusation the evidence was already gone.
I also queried why a regular member of staff (not management) was allowed to deliver the letter to my house.
The start of my investigation was 16th January, the last meeting letter was dropped at my house 14th January.
14th January I worked a small shift at my other job on amended duties (I told them this at the beginning of my meeting on 16th, I wasn't offered any amended duties yet at Tesco, I am legally allowed to do this), just doing paper work, did three hours. Also on the 14th January this member of staff came into my other place of work twice, driven by the duty manager of the store.
Also it was someone from wages making the original accusations.
Since going back to work everything was going ok. I still haven't spoken about this situation to my colleagues, I have only spoken to management about my situation.

I have been approached by 5 colleagues, three of which I would normally have a chat with, two of which I would only say hello too. They have all told me they know everything that has gone on with my investigation, so obviously my personal, private information is not being kept confidential. They've also told me this member of staff that went to my other place of work and my home has since been to my other place of work taking pictures of me whilst working. She is also sitting in on team 5 meetings.

Honestly I'm so embarrassed, I feel humiliated. This is my personal business, I didn't even use my union rep as I didn't want people gossiping, I feel so uncomfortable going into work or going to do my shopping.

I don't know where to go with this, the store manager is off long term. Managers are gossiping down to colleagues, feel like I can't make a complaint, because I'm accusing all of them, don't know who to turn too. 

[NightAndDay]

You can work in another job while off sick from Tesco if the demands of your other job don't worsen your condition, this is just Mickey Mouse managers being Mickey Mouse managers.

A lot of what they have done is out of process make duplicates of every investigation and invitation and involve ACAS, raise a grievance for the breach of confidentiality and the fact they can't investigate you for working elsewhere while off sick due to the nature if work in your other job.

Keep documentation of everything, your goal should be to let the managers fall on their own sword so you can take them to court and get a nice payout. The ultimate goal is to force Tesco into administration.

[spike_pkh]

As far as i know, management can tell others you are off sick and tell people that need to know certain things (such as in cases of potential spreading of illness) but that is it. No discussion of what illness, etc etc with those that don't need to know.

If you believe they have broken these rules (which from your post it seems is the case) then raise a grievance, your union rep can support with this.

[Cinderella]

I used to work two jobs and was signed off sick at Tesco and not the other job twice. I looked into the legality of it at the time, and it is perfectly legal as long as the jobs are not too similar in nature. The example I was given was that I could be signed off with a broken leg, which would support me from being expected to attend a job where I'm on my feet all day, but still attend an office job where I could sit down to work.

Honestly I would start a harassment claim against this person, as they are clearly going out of their way to target you and don't know the law themselves!

I have similar issues with Tesco sharing my personal information. I was being tested for cancer and shared this with my line manager, and duty forced me to give details when I called to confirm I wouldn't be in. Next thing I know, people were not only telling each other what was happening (and I wanted it kept private - didn't tell my family what has happening!) but they also knew the precise symptom that lead to the testing. I was not happy. This is in breach of multiple laws, so you have a strong position, but just need to demonstrate it. Keep a record of who is saying what to you and when, so you can use that if it comes up again.

[spike_pkh]

Also there is no job (except working from home) that you would be able to work whilst unable to work at tesco. You may need changed hours or duties whilst at Tesco, but if you are able to do something, then it is expected of you.

[NightAndDay]

Working from home jobs were office jobs, a fair few places have adopted the hybrid model of working, an office job is materially different to most shop floor jobs at Tesco for the main fact you're sedentary.

Good office jobs such as mine wouldn't have such inhumane sickness policies that places such as Tesco would though and let you go off until you're fully recovered even if the ailment didn't affect your working ability. To them if you're sick, you're sick regardless.

Don't ever let the precedent of working through any sickness be normalised, Tesco would love it to be the case, but the norm in most jobs is that sickness is sickness.

[horatiocain]

There are a host of jobs you could do while off work from Tesco, because you don't know firstly why the person is off, secondly what their other job is and thirdly what adjustments Tesco are willing to make in the interim.

For exame if the person is off work with stress at work then obviously only Tesco are the issue so ANY other job would be fine yo do.
If you we unable to move from a chair, and had pain with manual handling then ztesco may not be the job for you right now, because mostly managers have the pure sitdown roles and there may not be enough work for your shift.

If a fit note states not fit for work it means exactly that.
But you can ignore it with 1 employer and not the other, there are no legal requirements to treat both jobs the same.

[Sherwoodforest]

Stress at work doesn't necessarily mean its Tesco causing it, sometimes people just need to be honest, if its performance issues be honest with yourself, your boss, just because you struggle on one dept,maybe you might be better on another, sometimes people bring real life problems to work that affect work, it's not right to use a blanket statement stress at work must be Tesco's fault.

[King1999]

I think over the past few years tesco has and is causing a lot of stress fact......Its about time they were honest about that and pigs will fly.

[sunshineman]

I would love to see one of those Undercover boss shows going into Tesco. They will see how hard the staff work and how some managers do magic tricks by vanishing for hours on end. We have one manager who has a cig break every hour. What we need to see is fewer managers and more floor staff.

[Hibobhi]

Na I'm wouldn't want to see undercover boss in Tesco. The undercover boss would probably hang himself in full blown depression in 20 minutes seeing how f****ng incompetent Tesco actually is

[NightAndDay]

Stress at work doesn't necessarily mean its Tesco causing it, sometimes people just need to be honest, if its performance issues be honest with yourself, your boss, just because you struggle on one dept,maybe you might be better on another, sometimes people bring real life problems to work that affect work, it's not right to use a blanket statement stress at work must be Tesco's fault.

The problem is it normally is Tesco's fault, have you seen what the SYP Process looks like, managers can pluck metrics out of thin air for you to attain, make them impossible to achieve to get rid of you.

The law is useless against Tesco, if someone did take them to court, judges have to be careful not to poke Tesco too hard otherwise they'll take their business out of the UK and hammer our nations GDP.

[Redshoes]

There is a "stress at work" risk assessment form.
Hours are tight, standards may have to be adjusted. I have had colleagues come to me stressed but they are still trying to do the tasks that have been removed then others stand and chat then stress that they can't get done.
The IDQ has changed to wait time and there is now no allowed time to fill bags, till rolls etc. that has to be done during the day as best you can.  In the past two years the hours to deliver fresh and grocery have been cut dramatically. Fresh ask for help no matter how big the delivery. Grocery only have the hours to work delivery but back stock needs to be turned. The store manager down has to daily help support as would never get done otherwise. Desk and PFS are mostly single manned. Wages clerk has additional tasks and cash office continues to get hours cut.
There is the new skill training rolling out, everybody needs to serve, pick and fill. Training should start in july and take a year but at the end of this time every single colleague should be able to do all of these tasks. If they can't that needs to be documented with adjustment passports etc.

[newguy20]

Re: serve/pick/fill
All very well and good but will they be allocating hours to train people?
if not how on earth will this actually happen in practice, as there are insufficient staff as it is let alone pulling somebody off working a delivery to till-train them, otherwise people won't be properly trained as there will be no chance to actually explain or show things to them because you'll still have to do the same amount of work between you!
The other issue is, great, train them up but when a person hasn't done it for 6 months they've probably forgotten.

[Sherwoodforest]

You only have to be better than the worst member of staff,if the worst member isnt being managed on performance,then they cant manage you,look around,most departments know who itnis

[Redshoes]

Re: serve/pick/fill
All very well and good but will they be allocating hours to train people?
if not how on earth will this actually happen in practice, as there are insufficient staff as it is let alone pulling somebody off working a delivery to till-train them, otherwise people won't be properly trained as there will be no chance to actually explain or show things to them because you'll still have to do the same amount of work between you!
The other issue is, great, train them up but when a person hasn't done it for 6 months they've probably forgotten.

The store has a whole year to complete this training. It starts in July this year and ends July '23. 
Some people in my store just need a refresh, a few need training but it's on job training and online. It will tend to be the biggest stores that may have less people trained. The smaller stores have had to train to be able to survive. The difference being it's now everyone so the few who won't will have to. Those who can't will need to back this up with adjustment passports and possible OH referrals.
You only have to pick one serve, one pick and one fill. So if a grocery colleague you have the fill. You also probably have the serve as a relief cashier. So it's just the pick. If fresh it's probably the same and just need the pick training. If checkouts some might need the pick and fill but a refresh for many as a lot of colleagues started on shop floor. You don't need to tick every box on the fill but if you do that puts you in a better place for picking up overtime if that is what you want to do. If you only want to work your hours you still need to have to have these three elements. If for example the PFS had to close for the day the colleagues are trained and can support in store but the chances of them not doing primary role daily are very slim.

[Spidercatcher]

I would love to see one of those Undercover boss shows going into Tesco.

Oh, and so would I, so would I.        The Undercover Boss not getting paid for overtime for a start, and to see how long - if ever, no matter how many times you reminded them - their manager took to eventually sort their wages out. Yes, I'd love to see that!  ...  Amongst other things - but Tesco would never agree to Undercover Boss, in my opinion, which is a big shame - but what fun it would be for us if they did.   

[oldfashionedplayer]

interesting redshoes, our 1:1 information says the store must complete it during JUNE - JULY 2022, cause they normally leave all the training to the very last days or are over on it.

[Morris999]

The briefing pack that managers go through with each colleague that they then sign, says from July 2022 to July 2023.
It looks like a new online training is being released on click & learn for this, however whether this is just for new colleagues or everyone is not clear yet.

[FarmerFred]

Store manager here has been going around asking all the part timers if they've completed their training yet. Had a quick look and the training is online, but can't be bothered at the moment!

[Preacherpauly]

During the investigation I queried why would anybody know why I was off sick etc, why would somebody accuse me of me being in work elsewhere, basically told people ask questions. Unfortunately the cctv at my other place of work gets wiped every two weeks, by the time I received the letters and the date of the accusation the evidence was already gone.
I also queried why a regular member of staff (not management) was allowed to deliver the letter to my house.

I have been approached by 5 colleagues, three of which I would normally have a chat with, two of which I would only say hello too. They have all told me they know everything that has gone on with my investigation, so obviously my personal, private information is not being kept confidential. They've also told me this member of staff that went to my other place of work and my home has since been to my other place of work taking pictures of me whilst working. She is also sitting in on team 5 meetings.

Honestly I'm so embarrassed, I feel humiliated. This is my personal business, I didn't even use my union rep as I didn't want people gossiping, I feel so uncomfortable going into work or going to do my shopping.

I don't know where to go with this, the store manager is off long term. Managers are gossiping down to colleagues, feel like I can't make a complaint, because I'm accusing all of them, don't know who to turn too.

Some managers have loose tongues and will tell there mates what  reason people are off with and then they pass it on to others. It's disgusting. There is one GA in my store who loves to spread all the gossip round and it's obvious where they get there info from. No GA should be asking a manager what a person is off with.

[NightAndDay]

Tesco Store Management are absolutely clueless when it comes to GDPR and other legal requirements, unfortunately, countless numbers of CAs and Shift Leaders are just as clueless.

If a well equipped person did hold Tesco to account with supporting evidence of these breaches of confidentiality and GDPR rules, they could take Tesco to court over it and win some compensation. Unfortunately however, as we've seen in the past, the judicial courts at all levels are loathe to hammer the big T with big legal fines due to their immense power and influence which is why the courts have to play the middle ground in hitting tesco with the punitive naughty stick and having to bend the knee for more serious transgressions.

[Redshoes]

Store manager here has been going around asking all the part timers if they've completed their training yet. Had a quick look and the training is online, but can't be bothered at the moment!

The training that should be done now is the extra hours market training, takes about ten mins.

[Redshoes]

Tesco Store Management are absolutely clueless when it comes to GDPR and other legal requirements, unfortunately, countless numbers of CAs and Shift Leaders are just as clueless.

If a well equipped person did hold Tesco to account with supporting evidence of these breaches of confidentiality and GDPR rules, they could take Tesco to court over it and win some compensation. Unfortunately however, as we've seen in the past, the judicial courts at all levels are loathe to hammer the big T with big legal fines due to their immense power and influence which is why the courts have to play the middle ground in hitting tesco with the punitive naughty stick and having to bend the knee for more serious transgressions.

I have had a colleague tell the two biggest gossips in the store, then post on Facebook but then say it's the managers breaching confidentiality.

[NightAndDay]

Unfortunately some CAs are daft enough to disclose what should be confidential information about themselves and then blame managers that it's wide spread news, but on the other foot I've seen Store Managers spool through peoples personnel files, especially transfers to see how much of a rabble rouser they are, even discussing such details to other Store Management and Shift Leader colleagues at the pub.