Pfs restructuring

[Redshoes]

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 Changing old out of date routines is hard too.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.

[NightAndDay]

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.

[Redshoes]

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.

[Redshoes]

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.

[King1999]

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

[newguy20]

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.

[Welshie]

@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 .

[NightAndDay]

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.

[Redshoes]

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.

[Misha101]

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?

[Himynameus]

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.

[Redshoes]

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.

[Hazelgrif]

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 ?

[gytha_ogg]

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?

[Hazelgrif]

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.

[Welshie]

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

[lackofinterest]

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

[Redshoes]

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.

[blooblah12]

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

[Hazelgrif]

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

[Hazelgrif]

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.

[Misha101]

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

[Hazelgrif]

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.

[Hazelgrif]

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

[Misha101]

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.