verylittlehelps

Does anyone have any details about the new format that’s being introduced in the PFS. We have been told very little apart from we will be single manned a lot of the time when this comes into place later this year?

Nothing?

Hi Penny, not heard anything about this yet, however I can tell you what happened last time they trialed this about 10 years ago
It was a bit of a disaster, and dropped after about 6 months, however they forgot to tell the trial stores that the trial had ended and also forgot to add the hours back into the stores wage budget.
From what I remember the PFS was meant to be single manned from open till 09.00/10.00am then 18.00/19.00 till close(22.00).  We had a couple of stores in our group trialling it and they had slightly different times.
They introduced magnetic locks on all doors, that can be un/locked from the till area.
Only a set amount of customers were allowed in at a time, and first and last thing customers were served through the hatch.
When single manned there was 4 pay at pumps only and 4 pay at kiosk pumps open.
There was a direct link to security support via cctv and intercom for any emergencies.
Obviously any issues on the forecourt, Duty manager had to be contacted to send someone over as the single colleague couldn’t leave the kiosk.
They were not allowed to fill or do any stock control routines,(they were meant to be completed when double manned)if they needed a toilet break they had to contact duty manager.
Like now duty manager had to open and close with the single colleague.
I know the PFS managers didn’t like it, and tried everything to keep it double manned even when they were meant to be single manned.
Then instead of rolling out the single manning in PFS, they decided to start getting rid of the PFS managers shortly after.

Personally I cannot see any reason why it couldn’t work being singled manned.
If you look at most other companies PFS kiosks they manage perfectly fine being single manned without having a main store to support if anything happens.
Many of these companies pfs kiosks are in remote locations and 24 hours.

PFS Moves into 3 categories

Normal Opening Hours/staffing then remote cctv during the night meaning no cover needed for Pay @ Pump

Part Single Manned with added security ie. screens, door locks added cctv, direct link to store etc

Full Pay @ Pump Only - no kiosk

Not being manned for any part of the day requires a different license to manned stations . Shops that are currently manned 24hrs wouldn't have this licence and no guarantee that they would get one so if they couldnt they would need to either close at night or stay manned . This happened in our store about 10yrs ago and due to where it is sited it was refused an unmanned license.

We’ve been told we will be single manned for most of day and only two at busy periods. Also told 13 garages are loosing kiosk completely

@Penny , have you been given a timescale for this and what part of the UK are you in ?

welshy -wee been told it will be aug /sept. We were all called on for a meeting on Monday  with store manager. Also told it’s UK wide it will be happening

Got told by our manager today that 24 hour pfs will be single manned. But she wasn't told what would happen to us being we close at 9pm.....

We have any been told that new cameras will be fitted and will  start up 24hrs again currently  shut  at 9 and we are not in the first phase ( whatever that is ! )

Any news on structure change Service manager v PFS??

Thanks Penny . We've heard nothing.  We're a 24hr pfs , 2 staff 7am-10pm and single manned 10pm -7am using the night hatch . It will be interesting to see what happens.

Quote from: Penny on 18-06-20, 03:14PM
welshy -wee been told it will be aug /sept. We were all called on for a meeting on Monday  with store manager. Also told it’s UK wide it will be happening

hi penny,
are you a 24hr store? we havnt heard anything about our pfs.  we are not 24hr

Our PFS Manager has been briefed, but give nothing more than that.

Does anyone know what stores have been/will be impacted by the proposed changes?

My manager has said that 'changes are happening'. Heard from a manager at a different store that there was supposed to be a meeting with all PFS colleagues on Tuesday...

Quote from: Nichster on 18-06-20, 09:35AM
PFS Moves into 3 categories

Normal Opening Hours/staffing then remote cctv during the night meaning no cover needed for Pay @ Pump

Part Single Manned with added security ie. screens, door locks added cctv, direct link to store etc

Full Pay @ Pump Only - no kiosk

hi nichster,
are these coming changes to all pfs or just the 24hr ones?

Welshie- we aren’t 24 hour we close at 8pm and have someone on site with door locked till midnight for pay at pump. Been told that person is no longer required as cctv will be monitoring pumps when this new structure starts

hi penny
have you been told there will be single manning during the day? and thanks for the above reply.

Hi owlnight- yes we have told it will be single manned most of day and cvtv monitoring pumps during the night

penny,
any mention of what they propose to do with the surplus staff??

Quote from: Penny on 19-06-20, 07:34PM
Welshie- we aren’t 24 hour we close at 8pm and have someone on site with door locked till midnight for pay at pump. Been told that person is no longer required as cctv will be monitoring pumps when this new structure starts

Is your main store a 24hr?

No we aren’t a 24 hour store.

Ours before covid closed at 9, then was supposed to be monitored by security in store (we haven't had security for about a year on nights), so just just be head office run? No clue.. But if it became a 24 hour thing I'd just volunteer for it to be honest.. Less problems with managers lol.

Quote from: Penny on 20-06-20, 10:44PM
No we aren’t a 24 hour store.

penny,
any mention of what they propose to do with the surplus staff??

Checkout manager merging with services

I'd be interested to see what they would do with ours to be honest. It's quite a large kiosk and in a residential area so we can't be 24hrs......we still have a pfs manager but we're usually left alone alot of the time. So wouldn't be surprised if we came under customer services.....

I'm not opposed to single manning (as long as all the security stuff is put into place......like an actual security screen, cameras that actually work, etc). I did think though in the training when it comes to the open/shut down procedures there has to be 2 members of staff, let alone when it comes to counts/shopping/filling/labels and all that other fun stuff haha

Quote from: Gorgeous69 on 21-06-20, 08:02PM
Checkout manager merging with services

I don’t think so. Our store just had a restructure and all the managers had to move departments but none got cut except that services manager became part time. Checkouts merging with services would be really tough.
1 manager to do checkouts, CSD, Trollies, Cash Office especially when the store manager gets the other managers to rumble 80% of the time.

My old store, the manager covered CSD, trollies, cash office, and exchange bureau. Also rumbled and covered PFS when their part time manager was days off.

I would imagine if the checkout manager took on services, it would be just as part time cover, should the services manager inherit PFS.

It's store specific and some checkout managers are taking on services too if it is vacant. It would seem that it's probably linked to the new structure in PFS sites and reduced amount of cash coming through the cash office.

If the new structure in PFS is based on sales and routines, is the sales part of this taken from before COVID. Our PFS has taken just under half of its normal sales all through lockdown and it's only just starting to pick up now as people are going back to work.

Hopefully it won’t go on sales during covid or we will all be gone! We are on a main road in the Kent area and usually have a lot of passing trade but sales have halved in the last few months

Quote from: pfstlc on 19-06-20, 05:30PM
My manager has said that 'changes are happening'. Heard from a manager at a different store that there was supposed to be a meeting with all PFS colleagues on Tuesday...

hi pfstic
did your store have any meetings today? my store hasn't, and store manager says he knows nothing about it!!

pfs staff in my store have all had to fill in availability forms and been told they may have to work some hours in the main store,they are not happy!

hi kaled
do you know when does this start in your pfs?  is your store 24hr?

Quote from: kaled78 on 24-06-20, 10:56AM
pfs staff in my store have all had to fill in availability forms and been told they may have to work some hours in the main store,they are not happy!

They only need to put their availability to their current shifts/ days/ hours...regardless what any manager tells them different. They can't refuse to work instore, as they are employed as customer assistants in their store. However...PFS sometimes come under a different store number to the main store...so technically  ???

Hi I am having trouble logging in to payslip view has the system changed and I don’t know about it

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I am sure I heard that the new System was coming on line this month and the old one stopping.

Quote from: kaled78 on 24-06-20, 10:56AM
pfs staff in my store have all had to fill in availability forms and been told they may have to work some hours in the main store,they are not happy!

hi kaled
have you been told how many hrs in a day will be single manned?

no not yet,we are a large superstore with .com and night crew,we used to be 24 hr opening,but have not been for some time now

Quote from: lucgeo on 24-06-20, 02:50PM

Quote from: kaled78 on 24-06-20, 10:56AM
pfs staff in my store have all had to fill in availability forms and been told they may have to work some hours in the main store,they are not happy!

They only need to put their availability to their current shifts/ days/ hours...regardless what any manager tells them different. They can't refuse to work instore, as they are employed as customer assistants in their store. However...PFS sometimes come under a different store number to the main store...so technically  ???

I'm pretty sure everyone's contract now says you may be required to work at other sites within reasonable travelling distance, as most pfs are at the edge of the car park I very much doubt you could argue that.

The technically bit was a little tongue in cheek...however I wouldn't put it past a manager to try and pull that, should they not have matching shift patterns instore..they couldn't match exactly with availability as different store, but it's within the acceptable perimeters for change of store.

My quote stands on not changing availability to go instore. Also if they have you working on higher pay band dept's...then you receive a higher pay if you work on there for a specified % of your hours.

Even if it was 1 hour on a higher paid bit like midnight to 1am, or covering a team leader etc you'd get paid that extra amount regardless of your % of hours worked, you should always make sure thry pay it otherwise they just got you cheaper and will do it more often...

Apart from briefly being told that possibly we could go single manned after 24hr 1s do. Not heard anything else.....apart from manager may be having a meeting next week regarding it but nothing concrete......

There are different time scales for different stores. Those that will know more will be in phase one and possibly phase two. The rest will just know that the changes are coming and which one of the three structures they will be moving to.
It could show when the next heat map comes down. It might give an idea of how things might look but no detail unless you are a site that is due to go into the new structure very soon.
As for availability, you don't have to put greater availability than your shifts but if you do that you are limiting your options. This is not a redundancy scenario so you will either stay in PFS or move to store if not required at PFS. The hours in store will need to be in Depts that are under hours. It may feel tight but that is not the same as being under hours.

If you change your availability hours, there is still no guarantee you won't be pushed into a dept on hours that aren't sustainable.
The onus is on them to fit you into your availability hours, if they come back and say they have somewhere with different hours, shifts etc, that you find acceptable then you can agree, meeting them halfway.
All dept's...in my experience, always operate under hours, it saves on the wage budget.

Any info regarding PFS, services and checkouts manager merger? When will this be happening

does anyone know what is happening with bakery and counters. are counters opening and is one manager running both in all stores please.

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This thread is very quiet considering some stores are meant to be starting the new single manning pfs structure mid August. Does anyone know any more on this? We have had our availability meetings, that's all. Awaiting heat map.

Does anyone know who’s responsible for confirming deliveries and invoices in the Pfs cause we do everything in our garage bloody annoying the store are never interested

Nothing going on in our Pfs regarding changes

We have been told its happening later this year in the third quarter

Quote from: Gorgeous69 on 08-07-20, 10:36PM
Does anyone know who’s responsible for confirming deliveries and invoices in the Pfs cause we do everything in our garage bloody annoying the store are never interested

You should do your own been like that for a long time,I would say the stores stock control have got more than enough on their plate after last year's cull.Your actually classed as a separate store so you should do your own stock control,invoices etc....

It is the stores responsibility to do the PFS Invoices...it was deemed part of the DSS routines, the ambient stock control manager in our store used to do them, but when they inherited the wages and admin, it was passed back to the DSS clerk.
However if the PFS have their own screen, then makes more sense for them to do it as and when the order arrives and has been checked off, as less time consuming than taking them instore for filing, or relying on the DSS clerk to collect on a daily basis, especially as the PFS invoices differ greatly to instore ones, being different suppliers and products. The clerk would need to be trained on how the volumes are counted, and the PFS staff would need to fully explain discrepancies when checking off delivery...not just a plus or minus against each item. How they expect a DSS clerk to determine how short or over the delivery was without a number next to each  ???

Quote from: Jessadtan on 11-07-20, 04:01PM
We have been told its happening later this year in the third quarter

hiya jessadtan,
have you been told how? like is it just the evening part that will be single manned, or later if tou are 24hr. ? our store manager says its not us, we are open till 9. in the pfs

Quote from: lucgeo on 11-07-20, 06:36PM
It is the stores responsibility to do the PFS Invoices...it was deemed part of the DSS routines, the ambient stock control manager in our store used to do them, but when they inherited the wages and admin, it was passed back to the DSS clerk.
However if the PFS have their own screen, then makes more sense for them to do it as and when the order arrives and has been checked off, as less time consuming than taking them instore for filing, or relying on the DSS clerk to collect on a daily basis, especially as the PFS invoices differ greatly to instore ones, being different suppliers and products. The clerk would need to be trained on how the volumes are counted, and the PFS staff would need to fully explain discrepancies when checking off delivery...not just a plus or minus against each item. How they expect a DSS clerk to determine how short or over the delivery was without a number next to each  ???

Garages should be doing their own stock control.Nothing to do with store,I feel sorry for the person lumbered with the dss......hours were cut massively last year in stock control.

Have to disagree on this as I was the DSS clerk until a victim of the cull last year! I had argued for years that it shouldn't be my responsibility, and it carried on being done by the PFS staff, until their manager went part time...I was shown the job description and it clearly stated that PFS invoices was part of the DSS role. Our PFS didn't have access to a screen in the garage, and that stood in their favour. That's why I stated if they have their own screen and access to the system, they should be doing it themselves.
Unless the job role pack changed with the restructure, then it remains with the DSS clerk.

Hi owl night our store manager hasn't any more news except its happening later in the year. We are not 24hour store we shut at 8 at mo

Quote from: lucgeo on 12-07-20, 01:29PM
Have to disagree on this as I was the DSS clerk until a victim of the cull last year! I had argued for years that it shouldn't be my responsibility, and it carried on being done by the PFS staff, until their manager went part time...I was shown the job description and it clearly stated that PFS invoices was part of the DSS role. Our PFS didn't have access to a screen in the garage, and that stood in their favour. That's why I stated if they have their own screen and access to the system, they should be doing it themselves.
Unless the job role pack changed with the restructure, then it remains with the DSS clerk.

If the PFS restructuring means single manned operations, then legally and from a H&S perspective that would drastically limit the roles that the person can do safely, it is already legally dubious from a H&S perspective to be single manned and be in the presence of other customers, but to do SC routines as well wouldn't be fessible due to nobody serving customers.

During the stock control restructure a lot of the tasks were put out to the Depts. I don't know if this was one of them. We don't have screens at our PFS but the colleagues come up to store and do DSS just before they clock out. There is a 15 min overlap and this allows them to do so. We have no idea about how things will be after restructure at PFS until we go through it but dual man is for tasks being completed and peak trade.
I assume tasks will be bunched into a certain time of day. Replenishment, stock control, date code checking and Costa machine all n ed dual man, just to name a few.
When single man what happens with assistance needed at pump, Costa needing milk top up, sand needing spreading on forecourt etc. I can only assume it will be assistance needed from store.

We have had our new cameras all fitted yes a lot beta quality but not for the convenience of staff, i.e. Drive off's, the cameras are not positioned more on actual pumps, we are 24 hr site opening kiosk at 5.45-22.15 (2 staff open till 2 then another 2 from 2-22.15) form 22.15 it's night manned by 1 person kiosk closed 8 pumps cleaning see and 4 left at pay@pump,,, from 20th Aug. All night staff have listed their jobs, Day staff been told we go LIVE on 10th Aug then a decision will be made on how, when & why it will be singled manned, all info we've been told is from an old manager as ours is saying she knows nothing.  Basically been kept in the dark.

hi hazelgrif,
thanks for the update, any further info after live date appreciated.

Just come in do your shift stop fretting about it working,have your correct breaks and go home on time.......running stores this tight is asking for trouble head orafice and Lewis and his crew aren’t in the real world.f*** them.......They give more of a s*** about colour coding keys than people that’s how pathetic it is now......you use to get buy in from staff they just do what they want now.

King1999 , stop fretting ??? People will be on there own,  away from the store , no security,  people wanting their cars filled and not being able to leave kiosk , having a queue while trying to contact store for help , higher risk of being robbed , it's not all about breaks . And I'm not sure if that's meant to say nightshift losing their jobs so theres another issue .

If you don't feel safe.....the company is legally bound to provide a safe place to work.Legally that goes for your mental health the company is treading a fine line.Shut the garage if you don't feel safe and grievance why.Its not up to someone on 9 pound an hour to make sure these things work.Just to remind that a trial doesn't mean it's been successful the company isn't transparent with its staff.

I would also add out a grievance in for each shift you are singled manned if you don't they will be more than happy to let you do it.Time to push back people.

Quote from: King1999 on 09-08-20, 03:41PM
If you don't feel safe.....the company is legally bound to provide a safe place to work.Legally that goes for your mental health the company is treading a fine line.Shut the garage if you don't feel safe and grievance why.Its not up to someone on 9 pound an hour to make sure these things work.Just to remind that a trial doesn't mean it's been successful the company isn't transparent with its staff.

This is not a trial or pilot. Phase one is starting in two weeks time, then two and three in the next few months. I expect every pfs regardless of size, trade, takings, size and opening hours will be impacted in some shape or form.
If you don't feel happy working on your own and it is your contracted shift you will be offered hours in the store. You can be contracted for two departments.

Just saying if your not happy grievance can't see anyone being happy working on their own,very arrogant dangerous turn for the company to take.How out of touch they are is becoming a worrying norm.

to add to this, how does this coincide with Tescos deputising pay policy? Being single manned by default means the lone person working is the duty manager and under their own policy would be applicable for the deputised pay rate.

They don't even get a skills payment for the responsibility they have. There is never a manager to back them up with a rude customer and now they won't even have a colleague they really will be alone. Cannot leave the kiosk unattended to help a customer, even a medical emergency they would still have to serve milk and meal deals while on the phone to the emergency services. Unless you have worked over there taking full responsibility for the forecourt and not just sitting on the till. You won't understand how much they don't call the managers for. It will be real eye-opener for them.

Quote from: Misha101 on 09-08-20, 08:50PM
They don't even get a skills payment for the responsibility they have. There is never a manager to back them up with a rude customer and now they won't even have a colleague they really will be alone. Cannot leave the kiosk unattended to help a customer, even a medical emergency they would still have to serve milk and meal deals while on the phone to the emergency services. Unless you have worked over there taking full responsibility for the forecourt and not just sitting on the till. You won't understand how much they don't call the managers for. It will be real eye-opener for them.

Let’s hope it is an eye opener then before anything serious happens.

Quote from: Misha101 on 09-08-20, 08:50PM
They don't even get a skills payment for the responsibility they have. There is never a manager to back them up with a rude customer and now they won't even have a colleague they really will be alone. Cannot leave the kiosk unattended to help a customer, even a medical emergency they would still have to serve milk and meal deals while on the phone to the emergency services. Unless you have worked over there taking full responsibility for the forecourt and not just sitting on the till. You won't understand how much they don't call the managers for. It will be real eye-opener for them.

Hopefully someone in this position sues Tesco for a 7 figure payout.

hi all,
does anyone know what hours /parts of the day are being single manned?

Last few hours each day 1700-2200

Quote from: NightAndDay on 09-08-20, 08:11PM
to add to this, how does this coincide with Tescos deputising pay policy? Being single manned by default means the lone person working is the duty manager and under their own policy would be applicable for the deputised pay rate.

Would getting rid of PFS managers in their way of thinking cover this our store I've found out is losing pfs manager and customer service manager,all sits with the checkout manager.You know how sneaky they are.

That rumour has been going around for years, so it wouldn't surprise me with all of the changes. I think It really would be unfortunate though for stores to lose that experience and knowledge. I don't know any manager in our store that could take that on to any standard. I expect they will change the title, role and responsibilities at some point so redundancy will off the table for them. With a good standard of the right manager in the right job, sometimes I struggle with the roles of the senior team in stores and the value they add. Compared to head count in our store that would be a great saving, even to lose one. We have four and it just feels to me eveything gets pushed down to the line managers anyway. I could be wrong and I'm not being spiteful. They are all nice people and when I read things on here I don't think every store has that. But if they are thinking purely financially it would make sense.

Quote from: King1999 on 09-08-20, 06:50PM
Just saying if your not happy grievance can't see anyone being happy working on their own,very arrogant dangerous turn for the company to take.How out of touch they are is becoming a worrying norm.

Yes definitely, I completely agree. I have heard some horror stories recently during the temporary night cover fiasco. I just don't see how they can honestly justify something so dangerous to be monitored remotely, and how can that possibly be legal ?Even with sensors? also how many are they monitoring at any one time? I think it's a rediculous decision who thought of it wants their head testing and the nodding dogs that have agreed with them are not putting our customers or staff first. I don't even work there and I can see it a mile off. 

ours shuts at 9, we are "supposed to monitor it through the night by cctv" (little secret = we don't have security or anyone to watch at night), so just head office apparently that authorizes everything from their end.... still something for managers to sign and whatnot to say evertythings been fine lol..

That doesn't suprise me at all. Whose logbook would cctv and security issues fall with? Is there something you could check to make sure it's working and in good order ? can you take their word for it? There are managers with responsibilities that I just don't trust and it's a tick in the box. I don't know how they could convince me otherwise. The proof is in the pudding I guess. But track record ? I want to be proved wrong. Where are the union in this? Has anyone done risk assessments at each location. I actually hope I'm just a bit ignorant about what's gone on behind the scenes.

Quote from: King1999 on 10-08-20, 03:11PM

Quote from: NightAndDay on 09-08-20, 08:11PM
to add to this, how does this coincide with Tescos deputising pay policy? Being single manned by default means the lone person working is the duty manager and under their own policy would be applicable for the deputised pay rate.

Would getting rid of PFS managers in their way of thinking cover this our store I've found out is losing pfs manager and customer service manager,all sits with the checkout manager.You know how sneaky they are.

I'm not exactly sure how they can exact due dilligence if they're not on site, I would be interested in seeing the capability study on how a Checkout Manager can do all of the responsibilities of a PFS manager without actually setting foot onto the fuel site, I'm no legal professional but even I can see shady ball licking activity when I see it especially from a HSE risk assessment perspective.

To add: https://skyguard.co.uk/what-are-your-rights-when-lone-working/

Just found on this link the following legal provision;

Under current UK legislation, companies must take measures to protect the welfare of all employees, regardless if they work supervised or alone. The following are examples of safety precautions that organisations may want to implement:

Accurate monitoring systems and technology â€" enabling employees to communicate easily

By the sounds of it, if they are only being monitored on paper, a grievance over failure to follow the law would be appropriate.

Quote from: owlnight on 08-08-20, 10:49PM
hi hazelgrif,
thanks for the update, any further info after live date appreciated.

.     Hi, we went live from tonight 10.08.20 no more  night staff, all gone, locked up alarms on pay@pumps left on. Down to big bro now, still nothing been said regarding single manned apart from it's going via sales reports, busy times and not so busy times.

Hi sorry about some spelling errors have my daughter asleep in same room and trying to keep screen dull ish... Anyway like I said we gone live from tonight, prior to this we have all had to sign a medical form stating that to the best of our knowledge we are fit and health,,,, all staff that are not full time has had to do a availability sheet up to a total of 36 hours, and also told if they don't work say on a Tuesday and there availability sheet says so, if overtime becomes available on that day the colleague can't do it. Needed assistance tonight around 9.30pm (30mins before close) had a very irate male come in shouting,swearing,threatening lone colleague (as second staff was locking up pumps outside) yet no assistant came, or no call,nothing. Say day 1 is anything to go by I don't hold out much hope.  Ps was told by Chubb engineers who installed new cctv that microphone now behind till area, so that person in Nottingham can speak to single manned person directly in event of a problem.

Did you call for assistance from the duty manager and was ignored?? Or have you been told that you are monitored, and assistance will be automatically available??

Grievance it, with the time and date, that you were threatened, that no assistance was forthcoming. They need to produce the CCTV footage, to support your grievance, so if they don't have any footage of the incident, then they are failing in their duty of care. Was there any report in the S&L regarding the incident, and was it signed off by the manager? If no mention and signed off, then that manager is guilty of falsifying the records. Also query why you have not been informed of the microphone system? This shows that you have not received the adequate training. I would also question why you have been given a form to sign stating your health?? This is not a health assessment, this is Tesco ticking boxes, to exonerate themselves  :-X

You have a H&S rep...they are a store rep, not a union rep, so you don't need to be a union member to request a meeting with them to discuss your grave concerns!

No part timer has to fill in their availability form up to 36 hours! They are lying! People's situations change, so if they state you are denied overtime on any specific day, as it's not on your availability sheet, they are lying!! Ask them to put both statements in writing.
How do they fill the overtime slots every day??....by having people work their non contracted hours, and the last thing a dept manager is going to do, when they are struggling to fill the overtime, is to first check, then deny an offer to work, as it's not on your availability form!!

It also works both ways...when they are struggling to fill that shift, that they've said you can't work  ;)

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 11-08-20, 03:14AM

Quote from: owlnight on 08-08-20, 10:49PM
hi hazelgrif,
thanks for the update, any further info after live date appreciated.

.     Hi, we went live from tonight 10.08.20 no more  night staff, all gone, locked up alarms on pay@pumps left on. Down to big bro now, still nothing been said regarding single manned apart from it's going via sales reports, busy times and not so busy times.

Were night shift moved to other roles in store or were they made redundant  ?

Night was only brought in since pfs had to be manned on the notes 3 new staff 1 already exsisting,, the 3 was told were on temp contracts i.e. 40 was and now been told there are being let go, the exsisting one is on sick leave already,,,,,,,,,, and with regards did I call for assistance I called duty no, but guess wat yet again noooooo pick up, happens all the time with us.

Thanks for info .
Our duty never answer or when they do , they just say they dont have anyone to send over 🙄

Quote from: lucgeo on 11-08-20, 08:44AM
Did you call for assistance from the duty manager and was ignored?? Or have you been told that you are monitored, and assistance will be automatically available??

Grievance it, with the time and date, that you were threatened, that no assistance was forthcoming. They need to produce the CCTV footage, to support your grievance, so if they don't have any footage of the incident, then they are failing in their duty of care. Was there any report in the S&L regarding the incident, and was it signed off by the manager? If no mention and signed off, then that manager is guilty of falsifying the records. Also query why you have not been informed of the microphone system? This shows that you have not received the adequate training. I would also question why you have been given a form to sign stating your health?? This is not a health assessment, this is Tesco ticking boxes, to exonerate themselves  :-X

You have a H&S rep...they are a store rep, not a union rep, so you don't need to be a union member to request a meeting with them to discuss your grave concerns!

No part timer has to fill in their availability form up to 36 hours! They are lying! People's situations change, so if they state you are denied overtime on any specific day, as it's not on your availability sheet, they are lying!! Ask them to put both statements in writing.
How do they fill the overtime slots every day??....by having people work their non contracted hours, and the last thing a dept manager is going to do, when they are struggling to fill the overtime, is to first check, then deny an offer to work, as it's not on your availability form!!

It also works both ways...when they are struggling to fill that shift, that they've said you can't work  ;)

. I will be asking h&s rep on Monday , as for Did I call duty yes all protocol was followed correctly, but guess what no answer. In regards to the availability I'm full time so doesn't affect me but colleagues who rely on o/t are/ have to now put their available 7 days a week just in case.

Quote from: Misha101 on 09-08-20, 10:16PM
Last few hours each day 1700-2200

Have you actually been told this officially?  Has anyone heard any more about the single manning yet ?

We`ve gone to unmanned nights (10pm till 6am), with 4 P&P open overnight, all with the new cameras / detection system. However my manager has said theres more to come before xmas, but doesnt actually know all the details yet. Manager is fighting to keep us double manned (we have a large kiosk), but we likely will be losing that and losing hours. Break cover is already being trailed from the store rather than on the rota in the evenings.

Our PFS has been told that they will be unmanned fully overnight with 4 pay at pumps open. They will be single manned from 5pm til 10pm when the kiosk closes. The duty manager will come across at 10 to 10 and will help cash up and then lock up etc

Quote from: Millie on 01-09-20, 03:08PM

Quote from: Misha101 on 09-08-20, 10:16PM
Last few hours each day 1700-2200

Have you actually been told this officially?  Has anyone heard any more about the single manning yet ?

Sorry I've just seen this. We have been doing this since mid August

Where your pfs's previously 24hrs permanently or did they just go manned at night last year when there was an issue with the monitoring  of unmanned filling stations ?

Ours went manned last year due to the whole unmanned issue

Same here. After they put in all the new monitoring equipment in. We are unmanned again through the night and all pay at pump with off site monitoring.

Other PFS which have a nightshift what is your rule on selling through the hatch? I have been told we never sell anything overnight. But then others have said they do? that said I had a couple of ambulance staff passing by at 2am the other week and let them buy sandwiches etc.

Equally I was told "never leave the kiosk" but also "use your judgement". For example, who's around, what's the situation. Is there a spillage etc which needs sand putting down. From around 2am until 4am it is dead quiet, usually I go out to get some fresh air whilst re stocking the sand bins, paper towels, p@p rolls etc.

There's no 'lone worker' procedure though which leaves them open to all sorts if something did go wrong. When I worked in another job where you were alone you would get a call from control room hourly to check you were ok.

When we had Nightshift, they were allowed to sell through the hatch.

However absolutely under no circumstances were they to go outside, so getting fresh air etc wasn't allowed, stocking the bins etc wasn't allowed. To be fair the night security guard had his rotating car park cameras zoomed on the forecourt, and would ring them up every 2 hours throughout the night to check on them. Also the person who went and did break cover for them

Quote from: newguy20 on 10-09-20, 01:48PM
Other PFS which have a nightshift what is your rule on selling through the hatch? I have been told we never sell anything overnight. But then others have said they do? that said I had a couple of ambulance staff passing by at 2am the other week and let them buy sandwiches etc.

Equally I was told "never leave the kiosk" but also "use your judgement". For example, who's around, what's the situation. Is there a spillage etc which needs sand putting down. From around 2am until 4am it is dead quiet, usually I go out to get some fresh air whilst re stocking the sand bins, paper towels, p@p rolls etc.

There's no 'lone worker' procedure though which leaves them open to all sorts if something did go wrong. When I worked in another job where you were alone you would get a call from control room hourly to check you were ok.

Some PFS's  make as much on non-fuel sales as a cat 1/cat 2 express store just during the night period (35k-60k a week) that's too much money for Tesco to ignore.

What I do not understand is there has been so much in my store already, particularly with pfs. The other thing I saw on LinkedIn was these future skills partners, saying they are supporting with changes in stores. What with bakery and counters in my store, what are changes are these people doing.

The Future Skills team are training managers on Work and Pay (new payroll system), they are also show colleagues how to access payslips, book holidays, change personal details, etc when Work and Pay launches in stores. Some Groups are switching in October, the rest will be rolled out in 2021.

I wonder if wage clerks will be made redundant then,or just moved around the business to shelf fill!

Quote from: Siwel123 on 10-09-20, 03:22PM
When we had Nightshift, they were allowed to sell through the hatch.

However absolutely under no circumstances were they to go outside, so getting fresh air etc wasn't allowed, stocking the bins etc wasn't allowed. To be fair the night security guard had his rotating car park cameras zoomed on the forecourt, and would ring them up every 2 hours throughout the night to check on them. Also the person who went and did break cover for them

Break cover? What's that?! on nights there's no point ringing up the main store for cover, they will flatly refuse to come over, sometimes I think the PFS could be on fire and they'd say they were too busy and had x number of aisles still to fill....

You inform the duty manager, preferably at the beginning your shift, or at least an hour before your intended break time, that you will be requiring cover for your break and give the time you intend to start it and for the length of duration. Ten minutes before your break, ring the duty phone and advise that your break will be commencing in ten minutes, and a no show of cover, will result in you closing the hatch, switching everything off and placing a greivance.
Can't see the store's night team foregoing their break, any more than you should be denied yours.

Anyone else heard news about PFS restructuring happening soon... have heard that from Feb they are going down to one member of staff at a time, converting half the pumps to pay at pump only so they can be remotely monitored by cameras, rostering a second member of staff for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the late afternoon to re-stock and complete routines.

Sounds a bit unrealistic as there will be issues that need attention throughout the day, drive off / ctp which take up time and need recording, customers needing help with the pumps, spillages etc... I know the answer will be "phone the main store" but you may as well speak to the store cat you'll get a more helpful response.

Newguy, where did you hear this?  I work in the PFS and I have heard nothing.  Do you have any more details?

All stores were briefed back around July this would be happening.
Only thing they were not told was when each individual store would go this way, however we were told it would all be complete in 12 months.
Looks like your store has finally been given its date.

There is a thread on here somewhere about this.

No one in my store knows about this but then we always say that we are like mushrooms.  This makes sense though as I have dropped a shift and no one is replacing me but we should have been told because this affects us.  I can't see it working, although we have been quiet since covid, we were previously so busy, we couldn't cope and we have patches now where we are manic and it's too much for one person to cope with.  I can't see it being possible to watch the pumps properly, serve customers, deal with issues etc.  It's not going to work, it's going to be very, very stressful for that one staff member and the potential for trouble is immense. 

Agreed. Unfortunately, head office doesn't give a toss about staff being overworked and stressed out, or the impact it will have on customers. All that matters is they can justify their jobs by, "saving" money.

So what happens when the one staff member needs to go to the toilet, fill for a customer, assist a customer, clean up a spill, deal with a non payment, a massive queue builds up, someone gets stuck in the car wash, a delivery arrives or the card reader breaks down and you phone duty and they do what they nearly always do, which is ignore you?  They must be out of their minds, it's not safe to operate with just one person. 

Whoever thought this up obviously has no experience of working in the PFS, every day we have a new and mostly nasty surprise to deal with.  I trust the doors will be locked and we will be serving through the hatch. Do they realize how long it can take to pick out someone's meal deal for them?  Kiosk sales will fall right down and all this to save a few quid, meanwhile the second staff member will be sat over the store on a till, bored out of their skull.  Complete bunch of idiots. 

We have a few staff who have left or dropped shifts or who are leaving, and have not been replaced. Where essential they have been covered by overtime.

We were all aware changes on the horizon, have not been given concrete details yet but that is what's being hinted at. As above there are many issues caused by single manning that don't seem to have been considered. Well they will just say 'call duty' and if you are lucky you'll get somebody turn up 10 minutes later who probably isn't PFS trained anyway?

There are some aspects of our current rotas that could be trimmed, particularly in the mornings when they have 4 staff on duty for a couple of hours... Even if they went down to 2 at all times and had the odd hours overlap for transfers they would still save quite a bit. Depending on how things go some people may transfer to the main store, or new staff will have hours cut.

Changes are store specific and single man hours will depend on trade and routines. From what has been said on here the stores get very little notice of when this launches in the individual stores/sites.

This is perhaps a more rational view and it may be (judging by the lack of news from the PFS manager) that they too have heard rumours or the 'grand plan' and we are yet to receive our allocation so it may be less bad than anticipated.

But it does show how the lack of communication and information simply spreads concern/fear/gossip amongst staff.

Our store has been told we are getting a security screen installed at the kiosk and hours will be worked around the PFS but assured of no redundancies just colleagues to move to other areas as per customer needs etc

What's the security screen ?  What hours is your pfs open at the minute ?

The security screen in our PFS means there's the lockable door between staff areas and the shopfloor and a proper glass screen where the tills are, with only a small slot underneath to scan products

It's so that when you go to single manning, the colleague is as safe as they can be. They are not to go out from behind there when they are on their own.

Oh ok , thanks . What's your current opening hours ? Are you currently 24hrs manned ? Close at night or pay at pump only at night ?

Our opening hours are 0600 to 2200. Pay at pump pumps on through the night (all other pumps are disabled and the kiosk is closed.)as long as the customer emergency cabinet is working and there is clear visibility from the cctv used to monitor any emergencies off site. If it gets foggy through the night for instance, the alarm receiving centre will phone the duty manager on the large chubb phone to let them know to either close the garage altogether or to fully man and open the kiosk. I hope this helps.

We are exactly the same except open 06.00/ 21.00

We are open and manned 24hr so I suppose our night hatch would be similar to your security screen except customers outside and we get the products from kiosk for them . We also don't have a customer emergency cabinet as we are never pay at pump only . Due to our location I dont think we would ever get an unmanned license so I think it would either be stay as we are or close at night .
Thanks Misha101

Quote from: Cbatt566 on 24-01-21, 03:04AM
Our store has been told we are getting a security screen installed at the kiosk and hours will be worked around the PFS but assured of no redundancies just colleagues to move to other areas as per customer needs etc

hi
how do you mean colleagues moved to other areas? are you referring to single manned? are you an extra store or superstore?

Yes single manned. We are a Extra store.

[mod]Please do not quote immediately prior post(s).[/mod]

Quote from: Misha101 on 24-01-21, 06:02PM
Our opening hours are 0600 to 2200. Pay at pump pumps on through the night (all other pumps are disabled and the kiosk is closed.)as long as the customer emergency cabinet is working and there is clear visibility from the cctv used to monitor any emergencies off site. If it gets foggy through the night for instance, the alarm receiving centre will phone the duty manager on the large chubb phone to let them know to either close the garage altogether or to fully man and open the kiosk. I hope this helps.

I would love to see their proposal for what the remote monitoring people will do when duty doesn't answer the phone and they need to close the forecourt... getting hold of duty on the phone is like gold dust.

It seems to have worked for us so far.  The pfs also has a chubb phone that the alarm receiving centre ring first to give us the information before they ring the store chubb phone.  Even though all the training information says 'competant person'  we haven't ever used those words to them, we have always said duty manager and it always has been the duty.

Just to add on top of that. The two way or headset. Befor the middle person leaves we ring duty to let them know we are bringing the two way over can you meet us at the desk. I have always made sure I physically hand it to them. As I expected a couple of times one manager has said to leave it at the desk and they will collect it. I gently remind them that isn't the process and don't forget they are on their own over there now admit it's not a perfect situation especially if noone answers. Just because nothing serious hasn't happened upto now doesn't mean it won't. You would want to do your best on your watch. 

In our PFS currently. When someone finishes nights the day staff come in at 6am usually two of them, one to serve and one to do papers, readings etc. I think they will rattle this down to just 1 in the AM to take nights off and until all the stuff on the forecourt is done they surely can’t expect that colleague  to open the shop with just one man and do all those jobs... we are busy PFS and have a lot of fuel cars users!

Our morning or day shifts have not been impacted at all.

Who needs the pfs when we have electricity.

Restructure goes on trade and routines. No two stores the same.

pfs manager in my store left last year and hasn't been replaced so both the services and part time checkout manager are badly covering as pfs manager. We've also had a few leavers and their hours haven't been covered. Overtime is also non-existent so we have to cover all gaps with checkout staff, which is usually most of the day. store manager has even said to single man it if we can't get the cover/its too busy instore, despite comms currently saying 2 colleagues and all pumps open at all times. I feel change is definitely on the horizon

Single manning PFS will be subject to additional H&S requirements, definitely cowboy management activities going on there.

PFS trial Happen from 1st March till 31st May at 6 sites closing the kiosk completely and being pay at pump only

As in closing kiosks during the day also ?

Yes sorry if I didn’t make it clear

 Every store has different structure, kiosk still open in certain stores and will have 2 people on . One manned only when not busy

If Tesco make these decisions I doubt there is anything we can do about it. I don't want to teach anyone to suck eggs and be patronising. I would encourage everyone who works in  pfs  to keep your shelves as fully stocked as you can at all times. Do as much as you possibly can do to maximize sales. I realise that I may sound niave, and yes the future of cars is electric so yeah thanks for pointing that out.
That is all we can do. Money talks we are fighting for our future jobs. If there is anything we can do to make them think twice about closing your kiosk then we should try our best to do it.

If you look at the way society is going (cashless and electric cars) you will see manned petrol stations will no longer be needed in the near future. Additionally look at any fuel companies competitor petrol stations and you will see these are largely single manned a lot of the time. A lot of Europe has unmanned fuel sites without any issues.

Tesco is just adapting to changing trends by restructuring. Yes any change is a challenge to those involved however if the business doesn't adapt to change it could lead to its downfall like Woolworths, Debenhams, Top Shop etc.

I fully suspect within 5-10 years manned checkouts will also become rare.

The PFS kiosk is not just about fuel sales. That does play a part but most people who visit the kiosk buy something else, it could be a Costa, cigarettes, a meal deal etc. Maintaining a good kiosk as Misha101 says is key. It comes down to money. If paying for two colleagues costs more than the money going in the till it’s a supported service.
Then there are the fuel cards. At the moment these cards need to go through a till. It used to be that they all had to be signed for. This has drifted to more pin cards. If pin enabled why can’t they pay at pump. Thie fuel cards also apply to the stores with dot.com. A single fuel card pay for all vans. They fill up at the end of shift so does that require the sites with dot.com to have the kiosk open later. 
Some sites also save fuel for emergency services. This means that when fuel runs low they shut off pumps earlier but can still allow emergency services to get fuel. This requires kiosk to be open or agreement changed, or amended to trade hours.
The future with electric cars is problematic but it is being talked of. There are a lot of people who don’t have a drive, let along a garage. If you don’t have a drive you can’t charge an electric car from home. If you don’t have a drive you can’t even be guaranteed a parking place outside your own house. I had a phone call from someone once trying to get me to move to an electric car. I said it was not practical as unabl3 to charge at work or home. They said “from your postcode I can see that there is a charging station 1 mile from where you live”. I was lost for words. They seemed to think it was acceptable that I walk a mile to fetch my car at the beginning and end of every day. My house is 115 years old, the area I live in was not built to support every house owning a single car, let alone multiple car households. The solution for streets like mine will not be easily resolved.

I realise that the single manning model will be different for every PFS out there, but can anyone already single manning give an example of what times you single man?  How is it working in general? And what happens on delivery days? Booker give us an 8 hour window, sandwiches never arrive at the same time either.

Our screens have gone in this week, there is a lot of speculation amongst staff, we have no facts whatsoever and the rumour mill is driving me insane!!

Single manning will only be when it’s not busy ie early mornings and maybe late evenings . You will have 2 staff on each shift and extra staff on delivery days . Night staff will be no more .

We have to be single manned full shift to call over for help when delivery comes! Never going to work !

Penny , has the change already happened  in your store ?

Quote from: anais on 17-02-21, 08:43PM
Single manning will only be when it’s not busy ie early mornings and maybe late evenings . You will have 2 staff on each shift and extra staff on delivery days . Night staff will be no more .

So is it closed at night ? Pay at pump only ?
Was your pfs open nights to begin with or just manned when the new laws came in about pay at pump about 18 months ago ? It's a bit of a sweeping statement to say nightshift will be no more without backing it up.
Pay at pump only is a separate fuel license, can all pfs get these licenses  ?

The store I work in has got rid of night shifts and close at midnight. Always 2 people on each shifts and another extra one when it’s a delivery day . Everything seems to be going ok. Don’t think they will ever open overnight, all about cost cutting

Ours is starting in April.  We close at 8 and all pumps will be locked. No nightshift

Quote from: anais on 18-02-21, 01:23PM
The store I work in has got rid of night shifts and close at midnight. Always 2 people on each shifts and another extra one when it’s a delivery day . Everything seems to be going ok. Don’t think they will ever open overnight, all about cost cutting

If always 2 on each shift , did you still get security screens in ?

Security screens are already up and we have to wear headsets when we are one manned

Our Pfs has totally gone to pot! I've worked in it for over 20 years and I have to say these past few months have been the worst! No care given to us over covid, we are told to stick to the rules and only allowed 1 till open but all pumps still available causing a queue, only 2 customers allowed in at one time, try spending your entire shift trying to get the general public to count to 2!! Absolutely no support from the store at all, no breaks covered no extra person to do stock deliveries or to pick from store, noone answers the phone or comes to check on us yet the deputy manager comes over and has a go because we have had complaints and the store looks bare! No covid cleaning trolly allowed now just a bottle of sanitiser, anyone not wearing a mask we can challenge but absolutely no back up if they kick off so we have to give up or stand up for ourselves with only 2 staff whilst trying to serve and do everything else. It's a total s*** show, I for one would happily take redundancy as this job isn't what it used to be, more and more pressure and less and less support. They really don't care about our staff or our side of the business until someone complains to head office, the whole management are useless! We have a deputy store manager that overrode the traffic light system 3 times on nye just to get the tills ringing
! How noone working there didn't shop him ill never know but that's going beyond reckless

I would suggest to all who aren't getting breaks covered to raise a grievance to the SM (or PFS manager) for violations to the working time directive, if you're not able to take your break, then that is illegal, you should also get back pay as a result of this as well as the breaks are automatically deducted from your hours worked, so in essence you would be working a certain amount of time every day unpaid which might also result in you being paid less than the NMW.

Quote from: anais on 18-02-21, 01:23PM
The store I work in has got rid of night shifts and close at midnight. Always 2 people on each shifts and another extra one when it’s a delivery day . Everything seems to be going ok. Don’t think they will ever open overnight, all about cost cutting

Quote from: anais on 19-02-21, 02:00PM
Security screens are already up and we have to wear headsets when we are one manned

I'm sorry but I dont get the contradiction  ? We are always 2 manned with an extra for deliveries BUT  you wear a headset if single manned ?

Quote from: HildaHills on 19-02-21, 03:00PM
Our Pfs has totally gone to pot! I've worked in it for over 20 years and I have to say these past few months have been the worst! No care given to us over covid, we are told to stick to the rules and only allowed 1 till open but all pumps still available causing a queue, only 2 customers allowed in at one time, try spending your entire shift trying to get the general public to count to 2!! Absolutely no support from the store at all, no breaks covered no extra person to do stock deliveries or to pick from store, noone answers the phone or comes to check on us yet the deputy manager comes over and has a go because we have had complaints and the store looks bare! No covid cleaning trolly allowed now just a bottle of sanitiser, anyone not wearing a mask we can challenge but absolutely no back up if they kick off so we have to give up or stand up for ourselves with only 2 staff whilst trying to serve and do everything else. It's a total s*** show, I for one would happily take redundancy as this job isn't what it used to be, more and more pressure and less and less support. They really don't care about our staff or our side of the business until someone complains to head office, the whole management are useless! We have a deputy store manager that overrode the traffic light system 3 times on nye just to get the tills ringing
! How noone working there didn't shop him ill never know but that's going beyond reckless

We are not supposed to challenge anyone over masks, it’s a polite friendly conversation as you won’t know any hidden reason people are not wearing masks.
My understanding, and I may be wrong, is that four pumps for single manned and rest go to pay at pump. I’m happy to be corrected on this but if others are remote monitored and pay at pump you do still to monitor but are only arming four.
Stores are finding own ways to do shopping. Our team support start at 6am and the store opens at 7am. They do change run and then do shopping list from PFS and delivered. In time the team support are going to be trained on confirming transfers to PFS but at the moment this is picked up by stock control. 
Breaks are covered by store, PFS colleagues may not be able to go at times they have done before as they now fit in with the whole front end rota that includes CSD, self service, main bank and team support. Our cash office colleagues are trained for checkouts, PFS, CSD and checkouts. Our CSD colleagues all trained for PFS and checkouts. Not so many checkouts colleagues train for CSD and PFS. A local store to me uses trolley colleagues for PFS, that will depend on training capabilities.
Extra shifts have been put in for break cover. The person doing that shift may not be trained in all areas but they can relive someone who is in.
PFS deliveries are a different issue. There is a much bigger time window when they arrive. Much harder for the store to send someone down at short notice. The ideal is dual manned for deliveries but with such a big window this may not always happen. The solution must be to either narrow down delivery times or to train up more people. Sometimes the only trained colleagues is on CSD for example and unable to go up as nobody to take relive at CSD.
Our PFS don’t like colleagues are really nice people but they are not good at sharing info. Relief colleagues have been told they are of no use as not fully trained but have been sent up for training and experience. We have moved forward from this a bit now but our PFS colleagues now feel too many people coming up from store and are asking for certain people. This is not always possible.

That says it all, some stores are sh*t others(i.e. Redshoe's) are the best thing since sliced bread  :o  :D

Pity MM can't get them all the same  8-)

Problem is if  store staff not fully trained , Pfs staff end up spending their break training them . This has been my experience.  Also i0f not fully trained you cant leave pfs for your break and even if you're in kitchen , have often been called to sort and issue they're not trained on . That could be why they ask for certain people maybe those people actually know what they're doing and pfs staff get their proper break

It sounds like you have a very well run store operation with sensible managers, staff and shared values. The sharing of information is paramount in a department such as the pfs and some of our staff are not always as helpful as they could be either, for whatever reason. It would be one heck of a book to have every senario that could happen, so experience is often vital. Processes and routines in the business are becoming a lot simplar now as well. There aren't many departments that cannot be learnt in a few weeks with a good training coach and support. The pfs can take little longer however but you don't need to be trained in there to put out a grocery delivery or count tobacco. It doesn't take long to learn how to confirm a delivery or phone in orders for coal etc.or report pump and airline breakdowns, it is understanding all the alarms that go off and how to resolve them that takes more time, and running a safe and legal forecourt. The right people in the right jobs, with a great manager and a one team mentality across the store and networking with other garages helps tremendously. 

Our guys have been told kiosk closing for 12 weeks "trial" and they get to work instore, pay at pump only

@Misha , I agree , it's the things that take a lot of time and you might only deal with once every few months if your just covering breaks , ie; drive off or customer  to pay but they're also vital things that have a legal aspect to them .

Quote from: Welshie on 20-02-21, 10:30AM
Problem is if  store staff not fully trained , Pfs staff end up spending their break training them . This has been my experience.  Also i0f not fully trained you cant leave pfs for your break and even if you're in kitchen , have often been called to sort and issue they're not trained on . That could be why they ask for certain people maybe those people actually know what they're doing and pfs staff get their proper break

We have PFS colleagues that go home for breaks but they both don’t go together. We also have colleagues that sit in own car for break. They like to get away and get a bit of time out, nothing wrong in that. We have not moved to new structure yet but by what you have said I assume you have and that this have given you shifts of more than 3.75 hours alone so need fully trained and experienced for break cover. As it stands for us we have a fully trained PFS colleague and can put up a trainee.
We have struggled, covering breaks is not easy. We have things going on in store and we are unable to cover an hours lunch with 10 mins notice. The PFS colleagues are told to contact team support every morning to tell them break needing covered for whole day. Team support are also supposed to visit PFS and check breaks. Even so it goes wrong sometimes.

No Redshoes , not new structure , mostly  and very regularly nightshift and also extremely short staffed so frequently working evening shifts on hatch . We've been sent people that don't even have till numbers .

We are perhaps fortunate because our PFS is on a busy dual carriageway etc so have been told that no single manning. Night shift now gone but evenings
However, triple manning will be got rid of, this mainly impacts the morning staff. Most mornings there are 3 staff from 7am to 2pm, afternoons and evenings we only have 2 anyway, officially no breaks as 4hr shifts mostly but on the odd 5/6hr shift the break is taken in the kitchen. There is an element of mickey-taking from some people but in all honesty there's little interest from management in the PFS, if they took the time to visit and manage this wouldn't happen.
We do not have any shifts where people move between front end departments to cover breaks except one where a PFS colleague covers lunch break on CSD , but if they are away and somebody else covers they don't do it as not trained.
The frustration with multi skilling etc is that whilst a great idea in theory it requires good management to put into practice, to organise training and crucially to keep the multi skillers up to scratch. We have about 6 multi skillers from various depts into PFS but maybe once a month will one fill a shift, really they should organise to send them over every couple of weeks for a few hours with a PFS colleague going onto tills etc. This way they learn more and become more useful.

Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world. Stores can’t spare people for a few hours to train like that. If fully trained colleague is with a trainee that is fine and best way to train.
My store has been very busy with daily increase in sales but as we are in lockdown and people are staying local to shop and some not going to work the fuel sales are down on pre-COVID levels. We were almost at Christmas trade level recently due to bad weather being added to everything else. Sales in PFS are still down though, people are not in work still, we are in lockdown so they are not supposed to be travelling.
We are heading away from double manning the PFS at certain times, we are certainly not drifting towards triple manning. We have full timers in our PFS so they need lunch hour cover. We can’t put in a shift even for this. At the very most you would have two people requiring an hours break and nobody will do a two hour shift so it would have to be minimum of 3.5 hours but we can’t afford 3.5 hours to cover a 2 hour break period but in most cases it would be less than this. We struggle to fill PFS overtime as it is. We can however justify a shift in store when we have a lunch hour at PFS, CSD, team support and then general checkout breaks. It’s all in the planning but someone who wants to go for an hour at 1600 may have to fit in with others and go at 1615 for example.

As long as staff worry about and fulfil the company needs, it's convenient when the company doe's not have to concern its self with staff needs.

I think at present in many pfs, it's hard to fill the overtime because people know they won't get breaks or any support needed . The worse the lack of support the harder to fill overtime . Management are creating the problem and then moaning about it . We used to have people practically fight over overtime until fewer and fewer breaks covered because store couldnt spare anyone . Now theres times the store are having to cover a full shift  but it's a problem of their own making .
I would love to work in your store/area redshoes , everyone must be so law abiding and stick to rules rigidly,  we're as busy as ever all day and I would say when it comes to milk , meal deals etc we're busier .

We will see what sales are like when petrol cars are a thing of the past, more discounters have opened and people are going back to pubs and restaurants. Already T have lost the Arcadia group as tenant.

It doesn't seem that long from the 10yr old car scrappage scheme  , now they're saying  in 10 yrs we'll only have electric cars . I just dont see it happening  , as redshoes posted earlier  , if you don't have a driveway you cant be guaranteed you can charge your car . So to achieve this you would also need a huge housing project to enable households to have electric cars and as during a pandemic we housed the UK homeless in hotels , I cant see that happening.  Unless the government are prepared to say only the prosperous are allowed cars , there is no way that the UK will reach its target for electric cars .

Basically denying everyone's freedom to travel where they want.Totally agree,this isn't a luxury for the rich it's for everyone.It's not realistic.

I agree that this will hit poorer families harder. There are a lot of terrace houses without driveways and unless everybody is given dedicated parking it won’t work. I suppose they could come up with a battery you could take into the house to charge, but then if you can’t get parking near your house this would have to be carried, along with the milk etc.

Petrol and diesel cars will still be on the road , the 2030 target is mainly for the manufacturing of Internal combustion engines , so pfs will be around for a while yet

In 2030 you won't be able to buy new petrol/diesel cars but all the vehicles already bought will still be on the roads. It will probably take another 10-15 years until all those are taken off the road as parts become obsolete and petrol stations become fewer and fewer.

Having said that would love to know how residents of flats especially high rise get to charge their electric cars or owners of terraced homes with multiple cars......

I have always thought the next car I buy will be my last.  But the more I learn about new cars the more I am inclined to keep my already twenty year old Civic on the road until the time comes for me to chop it in for a bus pass and taxi account - say another 15 or 20 years.

Quote from: King1999 on 22-02-21, 05:16PM
Basically denying everyone's freedom to travel where they want.Totally agree,this isn't a luxury for the rich it's for everyone.It's not realistic.

They are doing no such thing, First car ownership is not a necessity its a luxury which a lot of people do not have. Live anywhere except the extreme sticks and public transport is good enough and if the need is there will get better, in citys there is currently no need to own a car at all.

As for nowhere to park and charge up your car, when did it become the governments resposibility to provide you with either? If you want a car make sure you have provisions to park it and fuel it.

You can currently go anywhere in the world using public transport so how exactly would they be denying your ability to travel?

Slightly off topic now I know. Although it's still relevant..In my mind I was thinking that it will be like self service tills. They will start with a couple on the forecourt, then half and half, then eventually all of our   forecourts will just be charging points and services like air and water. Having looked at a website that says we are partnering with Volkswagen to roll them out. It looks like they will be going in the carparks. There are so many on the list from last year. Doesn't anyone on here have even one charging point? I know we haven't, but as I said the list is quite extensive.

You have probably hit the nail on the head.

Quote from: Redshoes on 21-02-21, 04:26AM
Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world. Stores can’t spare people for a few hours to train like that. If fully trained colleague is with a trainee that is fine and best way to train.

I agree in that the company chooses to not employ sufficient staff for a training 'float'... but within the constraints they could surely say "Right, Alice from checkouts, you're PFS trained but haven't been down there in a couple of months, so tomorrow I'm sending you there for 4 hours, you'll be working with Bill who's fully trained over there, meanwhile Carol who normally works there will do 4 hours on the checkouts instead". To avoid multi skillers losing their knowledge.

QuoteWe are heading away from double manning the PFS at certain times, we are certainly not drifting towards triple manning. We have full timers in our PFS so they need lunch hour cover. We can’t put in a shift even for this. At the very most you would have two people requiring an hours break and nobody will do a two hour shift so it would have to be minimum of 3.5 hours but we can’t afford 3.5 hours to cover a 2 hour break period but in most cases it would be less than this. We struggle to fill PFS overtime as it is. We can however justify a shift in store when we have a lunch hour at PFS, CSD, team support and then general checkout breaks. It’s all in the planning but someone who wants to go for an hour at 1600 may have to fit in with others and go at 1615 for example.

I agree it presumably depends on the size of the store, ours is large enough that departments can cover their own breaks, and there's a big silo mentality here amongst many of the staff. I also agree on break times, for example there are two staff on CSD who insist on going on their break at 1pm sharp and refuse to budge... which is fine and dandy as they usually work different days... until they work the same days and the manager ends up covering for an hour! they are old school and untouchable.

Tesco needs to have training recorded for due dilligence purposes, without record of completed training from employees, the actions managers can take to improve productivity and performances of colleagues is reduced by legal barriers, specifically that an employee can't be disciplined for failing to do something they haven't been trained on.

Silo mentality or "knowledge hoarding" is a sign of a bad culture within the store which stems from weak management, you need adequate managers to change the culture to abide to Tescos core values, one of them being to share knowledge.

Yes but knowledge is power its always been like that in Tesco from the top down.

If person B knows as much as person A then why do we neen person A at all.

It's never been about operational knowledge at Tesco, just who you know, knowledge and competency alone will only get you as far as a shift leader. You have to be friends with the right people to get any further.

Which we can also clearly see by the abundance of SMs that don't know policy or process.

This in spades. We have all seen the SMs kids get full time jobs when non exist, family members parachuted into jobs that were not available yesterday.

Quote from: NightAndDay on 23-02-21, 04:05PM
Tesco needs to have training recorded for due dilligence purposes, without record of completed training from employees, the actions managers can take to improve productivity and performances of colleagues is reduced by legal barriers, specifically that an employee can't be disciplined for failing to do something they haven't been trained on.

Silo mentality or "knowledge hoarding" is a sign of a bad culture within the store which stems from weak management, you need adequate managers to change the culture to abide to Tescos core values, one of them being to share knowledge.

All training is now online, PFS included. The old training is retained for a certain period of time but with the exception of PFS it is stored in personal files. There is a section in the site register to list fully trained PFS colleagues, managers and then reliefs. During an audit it is the online training that is reviewed. The PFS now has annual refresher training. The old style was refreshed every four years.
Knowledge hoarding is something that a manager should deal with, I agree, but if forced it becomes poor quality. Breaking old habits and changing culture takes time too. Changing old out of date routines is hard too. Historically it has been like pulling teeth finding out the retention period for paperwork. This has at long last been made clear but the culture is to keep everything, I’m my store anyway.
Change is scary for some and there have been a lot in recent years. This makes people cling on to knowledge that they do have.

Yes, I'm aware it's all done electronically now, it has been the case when I was there, I'm also aware of the list of fully trained PFS colleagues and managers as I was one myself years ago.

The issue still boils down to corporate not allocating a training budget in stores, just because the medium of how training is recorded has changed (from TRCs to Electronic) doesn't mitigate the problem that this activity should be done during working hours, as well as the issue of untrained colleagues being performance managed.

There are different learning styles. Most people prefer on the job training. We do have a few tha like to read everything first and we give them time for that. I can’t watch someone do something and learn from it, I need to be hands on.
For this years annual training there was a brief to read and then online training. It’s best done on the tablets as we have the new updated MPC’s that are very slow and we don’t have many and none at PFS. The manager went down with a tablets, covered colleague on till and they did training in the back. He did that repeatedly until all through. Checkouts and CSD did a similar thing. Nobody expected to do it during serving at the same time. It took longer to read the brief than to do the actual training.

The annual training does not cover everything that you could experience in PFS. How to change the price on the gantry for example. This is not in the other online training either. The training is good and it is great that it’s now annual rather than every four years but it can’t cover everything. It’s the sharing of how to change the price on the gantry for example that some of the newer colleagues don’t know as it’s a matter of timing. You need to be in and you need to be in with the right person too. If the colleague you are on with always does it for you it’s hard to learn but it’s a simple task but if it has never happened during your shift you may not even know about it.
I’m not targeting the price change on the gantry, it’s just an example. There are many others.

Electronic training is pathetic......you would be better  off doing it on a piece of loo roll and flushing it.

Quote from: Redshoes on 25-02-21, 07:26AM
The annual training does not cover everything that you could experience in PFS. How to change the price on the gantry for example. This is not in the other online training either. The training is good and it is great that it’s now annual rather than every four years but it can’t cover everything. It’s the sharing of how to change the price on the gantry for example that some of the newer colleagues don’t know as it’s a matter of timing. You need to be in and you need to be in with the right person too. If the colleague you are on with always does it for you it’s hard to learn but it’s a simple task but if it has never happened during your shift you may not even know about it.
I’m not targeting the price change on the gantry, it’s just an example. There are many others.

You're right and there are many other examples I'm sure.

The online training... personally I find it's only useful after you've been shown around the task/department by somebody - at least you have an outline of what's going on. But the online training isn't suitable on its own - for example there's nothing on the PFS training about how to complete a CTP and what the process is - it mentions CTPs but doesn't actually talk you through what the process is. And that then becomes about being lucky enough to be on a shift with someone who can do them and is helpful, who goes "Hey, you'll need to know this, I'll show you what we do".

Really there should be a long ticklist of things for each area which someone can complete as they learn from colleagues, online training etc and then after a few months in the department a manager can identify any 'gaps' in the learning that need to be finished off.

@new guy , I agree but the problem is the pfs never stops and with only 2 staff  noone has time to say , let me show you how to do it . If the situation arises that a ctp needs done the experienced member of staff will usually say , I'll do that for you while you serve . This is not refusing to share knowledge, it's a case of not being able to leave customers waiting while both members of staff do one ctp .

Quote from: Redshoes on 25-02-21, 07:26AM
The annual training does not cover everything that you could experience in PFS. How to change the price on the gantry for example. This is not in the other online training either. The training is good and it is great that it’s now annual rather than every four years but it can’t cover everything. It’s the sharing of how to change the price on the gantry for example that some of the newer colleagues don’t know as it’s a matter of timing. You need to be in and you need to be in with the right person too. If the colleague you are on with always does it for you it’s hard to learn but it’s a simple task but if it has never happened during your shift you may not even know about it.
I’m not targeting the price change on the gantry, it’s just an example. There are many others.

I understand and agree with you, the reality is that not all operational activities or use cases are covered by the e-learning material, I don't however think there's a reason it can't be, I think the disconnect between the real world situations and procedures you encounter on the shop floor and the missing material around it is a result of a disconnect between head office employees and the front line. In fact I think a good start to resolving this problem would be for forum reps to bring it up in the meetings.

The online training is the minimum training. It takes time to build experience and I think the training needs to be retouched by colleagues. In theory you can do the online training before you ever visit the PFS but until you experience it what you have learned may not make much sense. The reason for going online is so that it can be adapted and changed. There is the annual refresher training but it’s not the only training.
You will never get every single thing you can experience into the training and if you do it would become very big and overwhelming. We don’t want the training to become a three hour exam. The main focus of this years annual review was fuel spillage and what is minor and what is major and how to deal with it. Last years focus was something else.
The restructure has three structures. With the changes there will be times at the majority of sites where there will be some single man times. The remote monitoring is supporting these times but I assume other times too. There are safety measures like headsets, bullet proof screens and new doors to support the colleagues. Different sites will have different times of single man but it seems to be very early in the morning and late in the evening.
In the past year we have had two code 10 closures to our PFS before 6am. This is unusual but it happened. It was different things but was a big thing to deal with for the PFS colleagues and duty manager. We only have one manager in at that time of day and full focus has to be the code 10 and another manager phoned to come in to open store etc. In one case the remote monitoring would have prevented it becoming a code 10. In the other the remote monitoring may have supported the store with details of the event, as the cctv footage would have been better and rather than picture being emailed it would be cctv and remote saved and shared with relevant people. The training that the PFS colleagues had for both events was fine with no confusion on what to do.

Quote from: dizzy_1 on 20-02-21, 04:02PM
Our guys have been told kiosk closing for 12 weeks "trial" and they get to work instore, pay at pump only

Really? I've not heard that. Have they told you why and when at all?

It’s happening I posted about this on the 16th February

PFS trial Happen from 1st March till 31st May at 6 sites closing the kiosk completely and being pay at pump Only.

This was trialed in my group, it did not work and was reversed. The sales for the store dipped as customers were going to other sites that had open kiosks and then into stores to shop. This was before COVID though. All very different now, a lot of transactions are pay at pump only and low kiosk sales.

Any new info on going single manned, we have had monitored CCTV put in, which means for us a man in Nottingham is viewing our pay@pumps when we're closed 2200 till 0545.

When we open up we have to make a call and Nottingham tell us if cameras and tannoy are working, we are in Birmingham.  Now we've had an engineer out regarding head sets so we have contact with store.  I Believe we are going within 2 weeks of this to single manned.

Anybody else started it off ?

Quote from: Himynameus on 16-02-21, 03:16PM
PFS trial Happen from 1st March till 31st May at 6 sites closing the kiosk completely and being pay at pump only

Do we know which sites or why they were chosen?

Quick up date, meant to be going single manned from 11th April so I been told this morning ( not by my pfs manager) but apparently union is going crazy about it and trying to put stop to it for safety reasons,,,,, secondly originally told second staff member in main store store was going to be having head set on while colleague alone in pfs, not true team leaders being trained with head sets not the fully trained pfs staff member.

Thanks for the update .
When kiosks got the security screens  was it just that done or was it as part of a bigger refit ?

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 17-03-21, 12:06PM
Quick up date, meant to be going single manned from 11th April so I been told this morning ( not by my pfs manager) but apparently union is going crazy about it and trying to put stop to it for safety reasons,,,,, secondly originally told second staff member in main store store was going to be having head set on while colleague alone in pfs, not true team leaders being trained with head sets not the fully trained pfs staff member.

report it to your local newspaper and acas

Team support are already wearing headsets. They go live with the new structure to service shift leaders or off till activity on 11th April too. The second colleague to wear the headset needs to be a competent colleague so it needs to be someone who has done the relevant online training. They may not have years of experience, that takes time. If you are going single manned it could be that the second PFS colleagues is now in store and it will be them on standby to go back up to PFS. It should to me that they have said that the team support will wear the headset to control who goes up to PFS but they have not thought through the fact that they will be wearing a checkout headset anyway.

There is a new version of the Vocovo Headset that is able to communicate with the PFS as well as other Vocovo Headsets and the Checkout Callpads. Stores will be getting them before everything goes live

Quote from: Redshoes on 18-03-21, 07:25AM
Team support are already wearing headsets. They go live with the new structure to service shift leaders or off till activity on 11th April too. The second colleague to wear the headset needs to be a competent colleague so it needs to be someone who has done the relevant online training. They may not have years of experience, that takes time. If you are going single manned it could be that the second PFS colleagues is now in store and it will be them on standby to go back up to PFS. It should to me that they have said that the team support will wear the headset to control who goes up to PFS but they have not thought through the fact that they will be wearing a checkout headset anyway.

you no what thnk i will that that ie getting in touch with newspapers at this stage ill try anythimg

we have had the new head sets   and had enginneer in again yesterday to check coverage and yet again he couldnt get it from pds to main store. so come 11th april we will c.

We were given two ways that the middle person gives to the duty manager before they leave. It works well.

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 17-03-21, 12:06PM
Quick up date, meant to be going single manned from 11th April so I been told this morning ( not by my pfs manager) but apparently union is going crazy about it and trying to put stop to it for safety reasons,,,,, secondly originally told second staff member in main store store was going to be having head set on while colleague alone in pfs, not true team leaders being trained with head sets not the fully trained pfs staff member.

we been told our kisosk beimg kept open during single manned and out the 12 pumps we have 8 will do to pay@pump and 4 left open....we are a busy [fs and 4 pumps open is going to course us so much grief with customers, if vapour recovery shuts one of ours we have riots, our site is very very prone to cusomers out burstd and verbal insults through at us,,, and we are also prone to shoplifting on say 3 times a week basics, yet now being expected to take all this being single manned without the support of our co worker.

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 19-03-21, 06:27PM

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 17-03-21, 12:06PM
Quick up date, meant to be going single manned from 11th April so I been told this morning ( not by my pfs manager) but apparently union is going crazy about it and trying to put stop to it for safety reasons,,,,, secondly originally told second staff member in main store store was going to be having head set on while colleague alone in pfs, not true team leaders being trained with head sets not the fully trained pfs staff member.

we been told our kisosk beimg kept open during single manned and out the 12 pumps we have 8 will do to pay@pump and 4 left open....we are a busy [fs and 4 pumps open is going to course us so much grief with customers, if vapour recovery shuts one of ours we have riots, our site is very very prone to cusomers out burstd and verbal insults through at us,,, and we are also prone to shoplifting on say 3 times a week basics, yet now being expected to take all this being single manned without the support of our co worker.

middle person? do you mean second colleague

No sorry. We are double manned. Then one colleague leaves at 6 or 7 depending on the day. They call that colleague the middle person. They then flick the pumps viewed by the cameras over to pay at pump so are just concerntrating on the other 8.  They handover the two way to the duty manager who will let them know to put their name in the logbook on mpro. If at anytime a customer or yourself needs help such as drive off or customer to pay they will fill the book out if it's busy. They have always helped or sent someone over. As I have said on previous posts they have supported the colleagues. You are not to leave the till area to go into the kiosk. If people steal they steal just let the duty know what has happened. They told me it was a little nerve-racking at first and touch wood it's been ok. I am a rep and have supported them in meetings during this time. I am trained in the pfs but work on grocery.

What times are you going single manned?

Quote from: Hazelgrif on 17-03-21, 12:06PM
Quick up date, meant to be going single manned from 11th April so I been told this morning ( not by my pfs manager) but apparently union is going crazy about it and trying to put stop to it for safety reasons,,,,, secondly originally told second staff member in main store store was going to be having head set on while colleague alone in pfs, not true team leaders being trained with head sets not the fully trained pfs staff member.

Is there anyone else that finds the timing of this slightly ironic ? A year ago you had to remove a cycle helmet to enter kiosk and they choose to do it when everyone has to have a mask over their face  8-)

Thank you for your feed back and really do appreciate it, am I right in thinking that you aren't one of the pfs staff that is being left single manned.  Must also say with the area we are in and the huge amount of abuse we get it is a little worrying. I've already had 4 staff tell me how nervous they are at this coming into affect I've explained that their fears and apprehension must be mentioned to management, but won't because of the fear of losing they positions.

I've aired my opinions to union and management so guess it's just a case of sitting tight and hoping no one gets hurts in the process.  It's going to happen and hopefully will all be OK.  I've worked pfs for 14+ years and fully aware of the possibilities that may occur.  Perhaps when we are actually told what hours and when we will be single manned may make it less nerve racking.

Also no set times for our Bradgates, Bookers, fast track, cpl, Warburtons, Wiseman costa deliveries, and that's without D/offs, Ctp disability usage, fore court spillages, customers who just need help at air machine, or staff needing use of toilets.  But hay-ho I guess we will see what happens very soon.

As far as Bradgate, spillages etc go you call on a competent colleague from the store to help you. You wear headsets and a fully trained competent colleague in the store wears one and they come up from store when needed. When not needed they carry out tasks within store. There should be a competent colleague list in your site register and these should be the people who support.
This is a soft structure change. If it comes back saying you need to loose 50 hours in your pfs but your store in generally over hours there is no point in moving people into Depts that are already over hours anyway. You will probably stay as you are but base schedule will need to be fixed. More changes will come as people leave, in this case they will probably not be replaced. This is a general comment and all stores will not make the same decisions on how to many the extra hours.

Is anyone currently doing this and does a competent colleague come over from store when needed ? Or do you just get told they're too busy, no trained staff, store short staffed, too many sick calls etc etc like when you try to get break cover ? 

Yes we are. I work instore but have covered sickness a few times since the change. I was bricking it the first few shifts I won't lie! I also said this to the duty manager at the time lol and they were supportive. The middle person leaves at 7pm I have had my break, brought the papers in and checked costa is full, most of the time Bradgate has been in before they go. If not we just make sure the sandwiches are tidied and pulled forward to help with rotation so another colleague from the store is able to put them out easily. We call the store as soon as we see the van pull up. They understand the cold chain so have always been prompt. The paperwork doesn't have to be done straigjt away it can be left till the morning if need be, but I have always been able to do the slips and book, but not able to confirm on the screen out the back. The driver picks up the pinks from the day before. We enter the temperature on from the slip on the mpro app on the pda. The team have always been great to me and understand that occasionally it may not be perfect when they come in the next morning but know that I have always done my best. I think! I have only asked the duty to come over a few times. I have always encouraged them to pop over for a cuppa and some have taken up the offer and the others appreciate the gesture. I understand not everyone has a good supportive team behind them. Not all managers are great and we have had the odd spat but I am a union rep which means extra training in difficult situations so manage to keep my cool and am mostly respectful( lol ). Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't I'm not a perfect employee but I think my flexibility, experience has helped me thus far and I have broad shoulders and can cope with being sent to Coventry ( no offence ) for a few days. It wasn't as bad as I thought but I would still rather have a colleague with me!  Nothing has gone wrong up to now and touch wood it won't. A few months or a year down the line they may get complacent and that is my biggest worry
Sorry for the long answer but I felt it easier to write what my shifts have looked like to me.  I hope it helps and doesn't annoy you all too much! 😬

VLH always welcomes new "Day in The Life of ......", we do not have a PFS.  If anybody does a DiTLo... email it to VLH, strict confidentiality observed and author/source is not credited on website.

Misha good to hear you're getting the support most of the time . Are you only single manned after 7pm ? Does someone come down to help you close at night and how does that impact on the time you get home compared to time you're mean't to get home ?  Our store is not particularly supportive of pfs and many managers, including store manager would need a map to find it so we would have genuine concerns although there is no sign of this happening in our area yet .

I honestly hope it does not come down to everyone as it hasn't always been easy as it may sound I assure you. Single manned after 7pm. One til is lifted,  drawer reset and closed. Night manager comes over about 9.50/55. They pull the shutters across the windows, as the colleague starts to close the pumps and locks the cigarettes. They do the lifts on the last til, they double check the amounts and counter sign the lift slip. We are contracted til 10.15. Only once or twice have I left late and that was early on as we were getting used to the quickest most efficient routine.

I assume you are pay at pump at night then and pumps not locked , fire extinguishers etc brought in then and forecourt closed off ? We are still 24 hrs but when we close bank holidays,  it's a nightmare.  You cone off entrance to forecourt to lock pumps and customers will literally knock cones out of the way to make it to a pump before you lock it .

[gmod]Did you intend to add to the post you quoted ?[/gmod]

Yes. Custimers still need access to the cash machine so we cone off the closed lanes and turn those lights off,  keep them  on the 24 hour pumps

We should be p@p overnight however the CCTV system isn't linking to the monitoring centre, so having to close at night. What we do is around 8pm do newspapers, top up consumables on the forecourt, check things are all ok out there etc, lock up bunkers bring in cages, at this point we put the cones ready by the entrance/exit. Then at 9.45pm we lift one till that GA then goes out and cones off the entrance for 9.50pm, GA in the kiosk closes pumps down except those in use, (our locks don't work so have to power off). Last customer leaves and the exit then coned off.

Big divide between early and late teams in our PFS unfortunately. We are not going single manned but additional manning is being cut back on . although right now we have extra hours for some reason.

I wonder how many sites that is happening to. Several times we haven't been able to leave pay at pumps on through the night. So no sales. Which would cause less overall sales, which then affects the manning of the site with budgets and heat maps etc.

Just catching up with this thread and I find it quite shocking, if tesco want to run petrol filling stations, then they should be prepared to run them properly and that means having adequate staff.  We have not been told anything about going single manned yet, the subject has been raised but our manage has denied that this will happen.  I really would not want to cope in there on my own, it's not right. 

Quote from: Misha101 on 24-03-21, 02:38PM
I wonder how many sites that is happening to. Several times we haven't been able to leave pay at pumps on through the night. So no sales. Which would cause less overall sales, which then affects the manning of the site with budgets and heat maps etc.

It's a bit like how when we had the night shift we were not allowed to sell through the hatch. Which struck me as odd because surely your minicab driver at 2.30am wanting some red bull or a bag of crisps is a captive audience and the staff are there anyway!

What if Bookers turns up late? Our delivery window is supposed to be 7am till 7pm , and yet, just last week - we had 4 full cages arrive at 7.45pm? Bradgate was here with 10 boxes, Arla was pulling up and we had a tanker. A challenge for 2 of us, let alone one! The pfs im at already has P&P overnight. When will these changes happen? When will J14 happen?

Because you are frequently in touch with the duty manager you have given them the heads up about what will happen over the next couple of hours. So they will be aware that you will be needing extra help at some point. When it was new they came over to see it for themselves so they understood the pressure, and have always been good at sending someone. Unfortunately, they sometimes seem to be ok with leaving a grocery cage til the morning which I do feel bad about . It's only happened twice with me so far since September thank goodness! The day staff are not affected directly by single manned shift so have been more understanding of the pressures.

Thank for the information Misha101 , it's good to  hear from someone who's actually doing the job as opposed to what it will be like on paper .

Quote from: Misha101 on 25-03-21, 11:08AM
Because you are frequently in touch with the duty manager you have given them the heads up about what will happen over the next couple of hours. So they will be aware that you will be needing extra help at some point. When it was new they came over to see it for themselves so they understood the pressure, and have always been good at sending someone. Unfortunately, they sometimes seem to be ok with leaving a grocery cage til the morning which I do feel bad about . It's only happened twice with me so far since September thank goodness! The day staff are not affected directly by single manned shift so have been more understanding of the pressures.

Sounds like you have a good level of support from the duty managers. Was this always the case or have they been forced to because of the single manning? Managers here are allergic to the PFS.

I hear ya!  It wasn't always like that I assure you. It has been mostly since the change to be honest although I work in store so I do see the managers a lot more and generally get on well. Luckily because I helped out at really short notice in the first few weeks as I'm pfs trained. I was nervous about it and those managers have remained pretty loyal. Others however.....!!

In my experience the PFS is ignored by every one of the instore managers up to and including the SM, Its not uncommon for the blue van driver to leave because no one comes to sort out the safe. If deliverys are later than the staff are available for then it will all be left for the next days shift.

I do not envy them.

Hi everyone we have been doing singled manned at times for a few weeks now not working well told if we don't like it then we can move to the store and they will get others to do it the headsets don't work cameras and tannoy keep going offline we are about 7 mins away from the main store and the arc doesn't monitor the cameras when singled manned they just monitor the amount of traffic passing through

Sorry to hear that.
We have been single manning since last summer. The cameras have been offline a handful of times but that was more down to updates and maintenance. Otherwise in my experience they do monitor the forecourt but it is generally an overstay for a vehicle that has been there 30mins or a person for 15 minutes I believe. But it seems to be all done by sensors triggering an alarm at their end rather than someone physically watching. Have the alarm receiving centre ever phoned you on the Chubb phone? They phoned us to ask about an overstay during single manning hours and asked me if I knew the reason. They have also phoned the night manager quite a lot regarding alarms and overstays. Is that what you mean when you say monitoring traffic?

Is this happening in all Tesco's? Working In the PFS is hard enough without  having the added pressure of single Manning... And with the door open as well. It's as though they don't care about the staff anymore.

I've heard that PFS will be getting the pay grade that CSD also get? Any truth or just a rumour?

I heard this also,but not in stores that still have a pfs manager

Is it just our Pfs manager or is it wide spread that they are bloody useless? We have countless paperwork to do, computer work with checking and confirming deliveries, our own stock control where we resize labels print new ones gap scan and counts every day we have to sign this as done on the check list, yet our manager can't even process a refund!! We have only one till working and 12 pumps, the work load is beyond stressful now with more customers ( we are situated near the M5 so tourists are a plenty) more paperwork and less staff! Never more than 2 in at once and the fight to get break cover is unbelievable! Over 20 years service and I'm about to jack it in, wondered if it's just our pfs or is this throughout the board. Oh our manager is PT does 4 shifts a week 3 of these are duty manager shifts so not even in the pfs

It's a joke . I too work in Pfs with a part time manager . We do all the work , as you mentioned while our manager sits in the kitchen drinking coffee or popping out for a cigarette. So because we have a Pfs manager we won't get higher rate if pay ? Let's get rid then . Getting the same rate as a 17 year old with no responsibility how is that right !!

Wow, thought it was just my pfs manager that done nothing and I mean nothing, she's p/t 4 days a wk 10 till 3:30 lucky if we see her for 10 mins per week, we do it all and I mean all, including getting cover our selfs when others off or on hols. So as. For csd rise but not if there's a pfs manager please take ours because it will make our job lot easier.

I'll offer ours first! Right Dictator who loves to give out a let's talk but can't even work the till properly. I am praying for a total restructure which results in getting shot of our manager who is quite honestly a hindrance

We`ve lost our PFS manager - its a designated part time front end one now. Also, Bookers have stopped delivering properly , so its a store shop (and daily) to keep the kiosk topped up - Bookers only bringing about 6 ad blue and the weeks cigarettes....

Do you have the staff to do the shop? We've been given a brief saying hours have been designated but I've not managed to see any extras on the rota. Only 2 staff at any one time and god help us if we need break cover, its never going to work. Ours is a busy kiosk we sell a lot of grocery items, I see bare shelves by the weekend especially if the weather heats up

Yes, we have 3 in the kiosk in the mornings for routines/breaks and store shop (till early afternoon - so a 5 or 6 hour shift i think) . Afternoons will be 2 people

We have 4 people in the afternoons

We have 3/4 in the mornings, and only 2 in the afternoons, sometimes with an hour overlap around 5pm, sometimes not.
It does cause issues between the shifts as the morning staff complain that evening team haven't filled or done transfers, when there is no extra person to allow transfers to take place (let alone breaks!).

It doesn't seem very consistent across the board does it? The size of the kiosks can't vary that much surely. 
We never have four people at anytime.
Mind you with the extra shopping to be done now and the usual waiting for trasfers to be signed. On top of completing waste routines, reductions, gap scan, counts, Costa cleaning, rotation and cleaning. It would keep them all busy I should imagine.

We've been given no extra staff or hours on our rotas to do a shop yet I've seen the information sent down by head office stating 22hrs a week have been allocated for this!my useless manager couldn't answer me when I questioned why there is funding for a 3hr standalone shift every day yet none have been put up.
Staff are leaving due to the awful conditions noone is being replaced and we have 2 off sick!

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the three hours a day are being used for checkouts.

That's what they seem to do in our store for hours they've received as credits yet most of us still spend the majority of our shift answering 'service calls'  ???.

I also wouldn't be surprised if some twerp at HO has said: 'Let's add task X,Y & Z, tell stores they are over hours and see how many people leave, without replacing them, so we don't have to pay redundancy!'

As it was a soft structure change our PFS is running at over hours. We were given 14 hours for the shopping but no extra hours have been put in as we are sitting at 30 hours over on the structure change. This means that the 14 hours allocated are being used by the store but only in that these 14 hours are now not being stripped out of the overtime for the whole store. The additional 16 hours is still coming out of the store overtime but holiday and sick cover is not always 100% covered.
We are a smaller site. We have 8 pumps and we are single manned for about six hours a day.

We get our hours

In terms of hours, Mr Redshoes you seem to know your stuff in this respect. Are the hours for all the front end departments somehow linked? (C/Out, S/S, CSD, PFS, Trollies, C/Office).
Our PFS is under hours with overtime needed several days to cover the shifts (even before the additional hours for shopping) - we have about 25-30hrs of vacancy.   However we cannot recruit because checkouts are vastly over hours - but only for the morning shift. Supposedly they are getting check out staff to move over to the PFS on an ad hoc basis, but the checkout manager  is reluctant and blocks it, and has had a few shouting matches with services manager and PFS colleagues about her staff being "stolen" and "I'm failing IDQ because of this". If a trained checkouts person puts their name down for overtime in the PFS they are routinely taken back to the main store "because they're a cashier not a PFS staff and I need them here". It's all going a bit to pot. Really we should be able to recruit to the vacancies, or to move somebody permanently. But apparently none of this can happen because of the morning situation on checkouts.

This is one thing I don't quite understand as, from what I've read about the Ideal Base/Heat Map, if a department is over-contracted and there are hours available elsewhere you can seemingly transfer someone (so long as the process is followed correctly, and they agree) so it effectively balances out?

Not that I can ever get my head about hours for checkouts-in our store Monday morning is somewhat diabolical for service calls and it's made worse as there are only three or four of us on the shop floor who aren't exempt from answering them. If a couple of us are off at the same time and those hours aren't back filled then you can guarantee to spend at least two/three hours on there as a relief and that's just in the morning!

Quote from: newguy20 on 22-08-21, 07:24PM
In terms of hours, Mr Redshoes you seem to know your stuff in this respect. Are the hours for all the front end departments somehow linked? (C/Out, S/S, CSD, PFS, Trollies, C/Office).
Our PFS is under hours with overtime needed several days to cover the shifts (even before the additional hours for shopping) - we have about 25-30hrs of vacancy.   However we cannot recruit because checkouts are vastly over hours - but only for the morning shift. Supposedly they are getting check out staff to move over to the PFS on an ad hoc basis, but the checkout manager  is reluctant and blocks it, and has had a few shouting matches with services manager and PFS colleagues about her staff being "stolen" and "I'm failing IDQ because of this". If a trained checkouts person puts their name down for overtime in the PFS they are routinely taken back to the main store "because they're a cashier not a PFS staff and I need them here". It's all going a bit to pot. Really we should be able to recruit to the vacancies, or to move somebody permanently. But apparently none of this can happen because of the morning situation on checkouts.

Hours show on the tablet for individual Depts. As in checkouts, self service, scan as you shop are different Depts so PFS is definitely a different dept but there is a however. In my store it is agreed that if one is over and another is under but they balance between them then it's ok but if possible the tablet work should be done. If someone is contracted to checkouts but is filling a PFS shift they should be moved in the tablet for example. PFS, CSD have to be manned and it's often at the expense of checkouts. Both PFS and CSD need fully trained and experienced colleagues. It's quicker and easier to train for checkouts and all new starters should be checkout trained. The way we look at it in my store is that PFS and CSD have to be covered, even at the expense of checkouts as checkouts can then be back filled with reliefs. This can be frustrating for checkouts but it becomes one area to focus on and not three. Our off till colleagues are fully trained on CSD and PFS, along with some checkout colleagues. We also have a great number of shop floor colleagues trained in PFS as we are a variable model store.
In my store we have one manager for the whole of front end. We therefore don't have managers arguing over colleagues being moved. I think it's only the very big stores that have retained managers for all the different front end areas but it could be that your store is top heavy with managers.
In an ideal world if one dept is over and another is under the hours should be moved. I find it hard to understand how the PFS will be under hours so soon after a soft structure change. Most PFS sites are sitting over hours so could it be that if someone is off sick or on holiday that the shifts are not being fully covered. That would explain why the checkout manager may be reluctant to put colleagues over to the PFS at the expense of checkouts. It states in the tablet the allowed hours and the used hours so it's crystal clear for anyone who has access to viewing, this will be all managers, wages, shift leads and any off till colleagues that used to be team support.

Interesting post thank you.
In our store (a large extra) one manager does checkouts, another does services/PFS/assists checkouts. that's the new structure for us I assume because of our size. From hearing things on here I think our store is very 'old school' in that the departments are different and never the twain shall meet.
Our PFS is very busy because of our location, it was running marginally under hours and then we had 2 people leave, and 2 people cut hours. During the recent structure change I think they trimmed a few hours off, but nevertheless there are still vacant shifts to cover each week, even before sickness/holiday/the bookers cover. We do not do the lone working, there are at least 2 PFS staff on duty and at night it is remotely monitored p@p.
The number of colleagues trained is interesting, we have 18 staff in the PFS, and 8 others from checkouts or other departments. If they are desperate, an untrained cashier will be used with a trained PFS colleague. CSD has 9 staff on the department, cover for holidays/sick falls to 2 cash office or 1 pfs colleague who can move around.
The checkout manager has a pathological hatred of 'her' staff being used elsewhere ('it's not about the hours, it's the point, the services manager should cover her own shifts not steal my staff'). Which seems to be where the arguments come from. It has got to the point of her coming into the PFS and scrubbing cashiers names off the overtime shifts they have signed up for in the PFS because she wants them in the store. Petty comes to mind, if she is having genuine difficulties surely this should be escalated to the store manager not result in her giving snide or rude comments to us GAs. Oh and she doesn't complain when it's christmas and 3-4 of the PFS staff regularly do difficult-to-fill overtime shifts on checkouts!
As you say it is far easier to find cover for a checkout operator, since every single colleague is trained (excluding the odd one who perhaps hasn't done it for a long time and forgot their logon) so that's where the gap normally ends up.

The friction does not help anyone, it won't help fill the shifts.
The word from on high is "one team" and not playing this game won't go down well.
The reality of not covering a PFS or CSD shift is the dept has to close, this can't happen. Covering these areas should be seen like this but there is often resentment and frustration.

Is there any update with pfs getting a pay rise to the same rate as CD?

I work in a pfs and not heard anything about this

Quote from: Biglove on 04-09-21, 08:07PM
Is there any update with pfs getting a pay rise to the same rate as CD?

Dream on mate :D

I read it on this feed a few weeks back... I also work in a pfs and I think it's a joke that we get paid same rate as checkouts when we do so much more.... And we don't have a pfs manager either ...

So much more?

Yes. Especially now that booker has stopped delivering groceries. We have to go over to the main store and transfer things across. But there's little stock in there either so the manager isn't happy to share stock. No support either but always quick to mention our bare shelves.

I hope we do start getting paid more! Over the years the job has just gotten more and more. More processes, more jobs that need doing (with no training on how to do them), whenever it involves something with duty (like checking waste) it's a struggle!

It's been even more of a struggle since being merged with checkouts under management restructure. We see no one unless they want some training done, or a major issue in the pfs with faulty equipment like pumps all going down (as they keep breaking and helpdesk is useless) then getting shouted out why they weren't informed. When we have an issue and need guidance on they don't have the faintest idea what we're going on about. They don't even know what time we open in the morning!!! We literally do everything with little to no thanks or recognition.

Thankfully in regards to shopping we were given 16 hours extra now Bookers only delivers tobacco and tons of adblue. With that, we've been able to keep pretty fully stocked especially as we aren't to plannogramme no more. Store doesn't like it that we take "their stock" but we don't really care. We see it as they want us to keep pfs stocked so we need to take "their stock". Ultimately in the end of the day it's "Tescos stock", we come under the main Store, so as long as it sales, who cares?! to be honest since doing our own shopping, we feel like we're selling more as we rearranged our shelves, have more of a selection in most areas now and more things customers want.

Quote from: Biglove on 14-09-21, 09:54AM
Yes. Especially now that booker has stopped delivering groceries. We have to go over to the main store and transfer things across. But there's little stock in there either so the manager isn't happy to share stock. No support either but always quick to mention our bare shelves.

oh no you dont do you, well thats me told me.

Hi, I've heard pfs staff that do not have a pfs manager will go to CSD pay.

hope PFS colleagues are keeping safe at the moment... its been mayhem the last 2 weeks and this is a fully manned pfs so heart goes out to those of you trying to manage this in a single manned site. closing down been a nightmare each time. so much abuse of staff.

Last chance from the fuel companies to hold us all at ransom before electric is the only option.

The whole place has gone to pot in our pfs. No stock no staff and no communication. Absolutely dreadful. Our manager now decides we all have to do 15 mins of weeding a week as well as everything else. She is an absolute joke! My question was " how can 2 members of staff be legally controlling and watching 12 pumps if one is bent over pulling up weeds with a butter knife?" Answer " there's still 2 of you within the pfs boundary" so there you have it! No wonder 4 long term members of staff have jumped ship in the last 2 months, sad but truth is they have been driven out by desperation, they know the job role so well and have more knowledge than any managers but those in charge won't be told!

I'm near enough 100% certain "weeding" isn't an expected duty of a ca. Sounds like this PFS manager needs reading the riot act.

I don't know if this is the right thread, I can't find anywhere else to put this, or work out how to start a new one.

I'm wondering what's happening with other pfs' as in are you the same position as ours ? going over the store everyday to ensure we have some sort of stock our pfs.. having no support from anyone in the main store.  Seen as an absolute nuisance when we need to be checked off or suggest we might need someone to walk back with so we don't break our backs with the cage or get run over.  8-) And any requests to get our own deliveries back seem to fall on deaf ears. What's going on elsewhere in England/Scotland/Wales please.

[admin] Ref: starting new topic. Please read VLH Supporter Benefits (http://www.verylittlehelps.com/index.php?page=17)[/admin]

Quote from: NightAndDay on 20-10-21, 10:29PM
I'm near enough 100% certain "weeding" isn't an expected duty of a ca. Sounds like this PFS manager needs reading the riot act.

I would do it but not the kind of weed they are thinking of.

Quote from: Biglove on 30-12-21, 07:40AM
I don't know if this is the right thread, I can't find anywhere else to put this, or work out how to start a new one.

I'm wondering what's happening with other pfs' as in are you the same position as ours ? going over the store everyday to ensure we have some sort of stock our pfs.. having no support from anyone in the main store.  Seen as an absolute nuisance when we need to be checked off or suggest we might need someone to walk back with so we don't break our backs with the cage or get run over.  8-) And any requests to get our own deliveries back seem to fall on deaf ears. What's going on elsewhere in England/Scotland/Wales please.

Ref: starting new topic.  Please read VLH Supporter Benefits (http://www.verylittlehelps.com/index.php?page=17)

Similar here. Some managers simply refuse to sign transfer notes. We do several trollies a day but things often go out of stock in the main store. We did get some additional hours to do these transfers at the start, but it's all disappeared now. We can get through 2 trollies of screen wash a day alone as we are next to a busy motorway.

There were rumours about direct delivery returning in the new year.

Support from the main store often non existent, no break cover etc.

As to weeding, no chance, half the time even if you go out to replenish paper towel etc you come back to a queue as colleague is on their own.