verylittlehelps

Very Little Helps => All departments => Topic started by: biggerpicture on 08-07-20, 08:53AM

Title: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: biggerpicture on 08-07-20, 08:53AM
How many people work on your meat & dairy section? I'm sure we don't have enough people. There are usually 6 of us in from 5 unil 9 to do everything.
We have no night team so we fill in the morning. It's madness trying to fill whilst dot com are picking.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lackofinterest on 08-07-20, 01:45PM
dot comedy is nothing but a huge pain in the arse to the rest of the staff
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: King1999 on 08-07-20, 02:30PM
Everywhere is understaffed ....... heat map rubbish.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lucgeo on 08-07-20, 04:35PM
Quote from: biggerpicture on 08-07-20, 08:53AM
How many people work on your meat & dairy section? I'm sure we don't have enough people. There are usually 6 of us in from 5 unil 9 to do everything.
We have no night team so we fill in the morning. It's madness trying to fill whilst dot com are picking.

A "concerned vulnerable customer" contacts HO customer services, no choice and aisles crammed with cages and staff...there is still a pandemic and they are not adhering to social distancing rules.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lordadmiral on 08-07-20, 08:39PM
24h to fill dairy and meat?! Not enough. My experience from SS is 3-4 people at 7.5 working hours each, excluding meat. Work done at night.
Day staff fill second delivery in the morning including meat. That's another team of 4 people.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Fixxer on 09-07-20, 01:53PM
Superstore (not 24hrs) 1 person from 0500 to 0700, goes up to 2 till 1700 then it's 1 person till 1900, 2 people till 10 and back down to 1 until close at 0000

It used to be about 3 constantly from open to close but that's the way it's been for the past 4 weeks and we're told to expect it to continue until end Sept at least.
Produce are even worse hit.

Wastage and poor rotation are through the roof.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: King1999 on 09-07-20, 03:27PM
Well the less staff there is,is what they want.......enjoy high waste bills,crumbling routines,price errors and more importantly a completely demoralised workforce who your going to struggle to get back.A lot of staff blame the company for their poor mental health in our store, so company wide it must be massive......just a thought.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Nightslave on 16-07-20, 08:37AM
Our large superstore has 2  flexible staff and one manager for the whole meat and dairy. All they do all day are the routines, reductions and fill milk. It's very rare any of the blackstock is ever worked, including the star lines and promotional lines. Dot com start at 4am when we are trying to fill the shop. By the time we go home at 8am the shop is half empty. So no wonder customers are getting mad and shopping elsewhere. The heat map on nights is saying we are overstaffed, when most nights there are aisles with no one down all night. If we don't finish the delivery it is still there when we get in the next night and some of the grocery delivery from Monday night has still not been worked. Store manager moans what we have been doing all night, well you can't do much with no staff. Dot.com is more important than any other department including customers shopping and they get most of the overtime. I never known it this bad, we can all thank Dave Lewis for this mess.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lucgeo on 16-07-20, 08:47AM
You all voice your concerns, in writing, to your manager and the SM, dated and signed, and you keep copies. If you're in the union, your rep should be assisting you as an intermediary.

The waste should be unacceptably high, if the back stock is not being worked, due to O.O.C.'s and this should flag up on the waste report?
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Hammer10 on 16-07-20, 11:10AM
Just do your job and hours take your breaks let the managers get the kick in for it eventually they will have to do something about it that is what I have been doing for the past 20 years it takes patience yes you will have bad days but it’s not your problem if they can’t see that the store is not being filled then they are blind and ignorant.They get paid a lot of money to manage you do not .
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Longtimer45 on 02-09-20, 10:17AM
Sorry for jumping on this thread but not sure how to start a new post. Does anybody know what the specific new structure is for Fresh. Ie Produce & Bakery or Produce & Dairy?

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Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Siwel123 on 02-09-20, 10:51AM
What exactly do you mean by specific structure?
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Fixxer on 09-09-20, 03:55PM
Our store has just moved to a merged Produce & Bakery. Gone through 2 managers and now on the 3rd in the past 8 weeks. The managers are leaving saying it simply isn't possible to manage such a large dept with so few hours and only one manager to keep a hand on things
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Hammer10 on 09-09-20, 04:43PM
Well the manage should do what it says on the tin that is manage you have dairy staff and produce staff they should work together as one dept now not stay on their own areas .simple.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: BarryZola on 09-09-20, 08:39PM
Quote from: Fixxer on 09-09-20, 03:55PM
Our store has just moved to a merged Produce & Bakery. Gone through 2 managers and now on the 3rd in the past 8 weeks. The managers are leaving saying it simply isn't possible to manage such a large dept with so few hours and only one manager to keep a hand on things

Did you have a restructure of staff/hours when the departments were merged? New availability and available hours etc? Just wondering what the chances of redundancy for those on those departments would be haha! :)
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: NightAndDay on 09-09-20, 09:10PM
Another classic example of expectations vs reality, for all the  "Manage your expectations" thrown about there doesn't seem to be a lot of taking that on board by the senior management team, expecting the world from 1 or 2 resources on next to minimum wage.

As for Team Managers leaving at such a rate, it's a case of who breaks first, the immovable object or the unstoppable force, There are only so many applicants out there, what do they do if nobody wants the job and can't fill the position due to the unrealistic workload possibly due to no capability assessments and business requirements analysis being done for the new merged roles?
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Fixxer on 10-09-20, 11:36AM
Quote from: BarryZola on 09-09-20, 08:39PM
Did you have a restructure of staff/hours when the departments were merged? New availability and available hours etc? Just wondering what the chances of redundancy for those on those departments would be haha! :)

I can't imagine any such opportunities exist. Everyone is on such low hour core contracts in our store anyway (average over the 2 depts is 11.5hrs a week) that they just sort of shuffle around. Almost like it's been tactically planned they've cut everything back to core hours only  (leaving both depts on 1 person only from 11am onwards till end of twilight  - this in a reasonably large footprint superstore) and as soon as they start ramping things up there'll be people clamouring for any hours they can grab regardless of the time they are.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: FarmerFred on 11-09-20, 09:09AM
Quote from: Fixxer on 09-09-20, 03:55PM
Our store has just moved to a merged Produce & Bakery. Gone through 2 managers and now on the 3rd in the past 8 weeks. The managers are leaving saying it simply isn't possible to manage such a large dept with so few hours and only one manager to keep a hand on things
Not wanting to sound flippant but Produce & Bakery doesn't constitute a large department, maybe these managers should try being a grocery manager - as in Grocery, BWS, Frozen & Backdoor/Warehouse all under 1 manager with tightly squeezed core hours.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: biggerpicture on 23-09-20, 10:41AM
I have now got to fill, date check etc... the Deli grab and go section after the counters closed. Where are the hours showing for this?
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lucgeo on 23-09-20, 02:15PM
Ask your manager for a " let's talk" and request a copy of your job description, which should include timings for each job. Ask to see the heat map, and if the hours for the dept are running under or over?
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Fixxer on 23-09-20, 02:59PM
I doubt it matters what the hours say.

We currently have one person, twilight, on produce expected to do waste, finals, charity donations, back stock, waste again as well as pull in and work a full delivery (45 cage/dollies) all in a 6 hour shift. After there's only been one person on all day the state of the dept really doesn't allow for it.

Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lucgeo on 23-09-20, 03:20PM
If the hours, job timings and description differ,and in detriment to what's being expected from you, then it is a management issue, if the tasks aren't completed.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Redshoes on 24-09-20, 07:12AM
If the large stores go the same way as the small stores you will be doing many different roles in a day. This is the way things are going. Moving away from "that's not my job".
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: lucgeo on 24-09-20, 08:45AM
But each task will have a set time frame and a a job description. So if you're tasked to cover a specific role, then you should be TRAINED to do that role, and given the correct amount of time to complete it. So someone allocated a task to complete, must have the required shift hours to complete it. Not told the usual " it'll only take you 5 mins."
That is where the management let themselves and the CA's down. They push people to do tasks without sufficient time to complete, resulting in a domino effect on the next colleague coming on the section, being left with the non completed tasks to do, before they can commence on their own. It causes frustration and resentment between colleagues, which is all down to the manager not managing their department.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: biggerpicture on 30-12-20, 10:39PM
Is there anyone out there who is a twilight fill and a dot com store?

The hours seems to be less but the tasks seem to be increasing.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: newguy20 on 01-01-21, 08:19PM
Quote from: Redshoes on 24-09-20, 07:12AM
If the large stores go the same way as the small stores you will be doing many different roles in a day. This is the way things are going. Moving away from "that's not my job".

The thing is, IF it was implemented properly I can see the value in this... in utopia it makes sense. Really busy time on front end, staff come off filling to man a checkout for half an hour. Quieter evening, checkout staff go and de-card aisles and work capping shelves etc. Fred from Frozen has called in sick, well Bill from BWS can help out.
As long as everybody can ensure there's enough cover across the store so that things are done to an acceptable level and there's enough time to catch up later in the day.

BUT it just seems to be an excuse to cut hours back to the bare minimum and then some, so robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Result = people get fed up and leave, the staff who are putting the effort in stop caring because they're so exhausted every day, standards go down the toilet, then either A- they realise and increase the hours, B- they blame the staff and managers.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: NightAndDay on 01-01-21, 09:54PM
A WL3 lead manager I know in a superstore is off sick with coronavirus, he has told me there are 60 members of staff self isolating in the superstore he works in leaving the store with 6 team managers and just the store manager with a handful of cas, this shows there's plenty of fat to cut in superstore formats, but also that the expectation that cas can be sectioned off to just one department and not multiskill is not something that's going to stay, superstores have had it cushty for far too long.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Redshoes on 02-01-21, 03:48AM
I once worked in a superstore that took more money and employed more people than the local extra. My store only has 110 colleague so if 60 were all off it would be more than 50% of colleagues. We do have a local store that has been it but stores in the group are supporting.
Nightandday has left the company. As such can only report on second or third hand knowledge from people he has stayed in touch with.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: NightAndDay on 02-01-21, 11:16AM
While my knowledge of superstore is based off my knowledge in Express and what my superstore manager friends tell me, I'm still knowledgeable, convenience has had to multiskill since it's inception. In my 7 years in the company operational changes seldom happen, structural changes however seems to be what is constantly changing nowadays.

I've also managed to get managers fired due to my knowledge of policy and employment law.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Redshoes on 03-01-21, 09:25AM
You may be knowledgable but you have left the company, and a while ago. Having a friend who is a manager, regardless of the the format, is still only second hand experience. For example you have said on another thread that you have not experienced smart tills but replied to a till investigation issue.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: NightAndDay on 03-01-21, 11:02AM
I have experienced smart tills, they don't require lifts as the notes are deposited into the safe connected to the till, so not relevent unless the safe is full and they have to do it the old way.

Yes I don't work for Tesco anymore, but my job does involve having to know how Retail operations work and does involve Tesco along with every other retailer.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Welshie on 03-01-21, 02:27PM
That is not how the Tesco smart tills work . You still do lifts as normal , you no longer do manual till checks , its weighs the money as it goes in and out of till so it can pinpoint the time of an issue but you also have a till check function so it can be till checked between users .
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: NightAndDay on 03-01-21, 02:37PM
Might just be in Express then, Lifts weren't done on smart tills as you'd put the denominations into the safe and keep £100-£200 in the till at most for change, only when the smart till was faulty or G4S hasn't picked up the money from safe when it's full would lifts be used. What you described is how they work other than the lift part though.

I'd imagine due to the volume of money in Superstore, lifts were still in place due to how long it would take to feed each note into the safe.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Redshoes on 04-01-21, 06:40AM
Large format stores are different. As explained above the smart tills weigh the money for every transaction and an error can be tracked to an individual, easily. PFS and main bank have different lift limits. More money is kept in tills for cash back, and on CSD for lottery paid outs etc
There are two lots of training for tills depending on the format, as the tills are so different.
Title: Re: Meat & Dairy hours
Post by: Nomad on 04-01-21, 11:40AM
We're a long way from the OP.

Quote from: biggerpicture on 08-07-20, 08:53AM
How many people work on your meat & dairy section? I'm sure we don't have enough people. There are usually 6 of us in from 5 until 9 to do everything.
We have no night team so we fill in the morning. It's madness trying to fill whilst dot com are picking.