verylittlehelps

Who do you think pay your wages, just interested to know. Customers going through the tills generates money for the company who in turn pay your wages. Putting items in a trolley does not generate money, it has to go through a till. If shelves are empty there may be reduced sales but if customers can't get a till there will be no sales. Customers may walk out mid shop if not enough items on shelves but if the shelves have gaps and then there are no tills to be had the customer may walk out or not come back. If this is the desired reaction by colleagues they need to be aware that a pay out from a bankrupt company is very minimal and not to be wished for.

Quote from: Redshoes on 26-02-23, 03:58AM

Quote from: lucgeo on 25-02-23, 11:13AM

Quote from: londoner83 on 25-02-23, 06:08AMCheckouts = main bank tills.

Self-serve and scan as you shop werent in universal existence (if at all) in 2005 so aren't covered.

End of the day, if the business ultimately sacked someone for repeatedly refusing to operate a till would you be able to show at a tribunal  it is such a unreasonable request or would a court feel the average man/woman etc in the street would consider it fair and reasonable a shop worker in 2023 should be able to sign on and operate a till or man a self serve area?

A tribunal would find in favour as an unreasonable request, due to the 2005 agreement.

You yourself in your last sentence have the checkout and self serve as one, as indeed they are as both come under the same department umbrella for checkouts.

Checkouts and self service are actually different Depts, in the system. Overtime is requested separately, each is either over or under hours. Colleagues can be contracted to either self service or checkouts as a primary task. Training is separate. Skills are different.
When we have festive temps we don't tend to train them on self service. We train people when we think they are going to be kept on or we aim to try and keep them. I do however have a couple of colleagues who don't do self service, one has not been trained and one has requested not to go back on self service after being off sick.
Self service tills are far from being an easy option. It's much easier to go on a main bank till. You have to watch multiple tills and often when very busy. Most stores now have T.tills and NCR tills within self service. They work a little differently and if you have to sign in as part of an intervention it's different. 

You have a couple of people who won't go on self service?

75% of the checkouts department at my store won't go on self service!! It's the same handful of people all the time. They flat out refuse.

I have two checkout colleagues who won't or can't do self service but I also have a bunch who will only do up to about an hour. After this they get frazzled, it's not about the standing. One colleague says she can't stand for long but then when I say I can review her hours as she is only person in until main bank opens she says she can do that. I then have a batch of colleagues who love self service. Some are old hands that now have sore shoulders from years on checkouts, others just love the fast pace. We average 50% take up of self service, as in how many of our customers use them. Most of the customer WOW comments we get are from self service.

@Redshoes

I'm not singling you out...honest 

I've asked many times before on this forum but never get an answer...what is the agreed ratio for colleague per self serve till?? I'm pretty sure it used to be 4-6 depending on time of day, 6 at quiet periods such as early mornings when all not in use,  and 4 at busy periods when in use constantly?

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who knows the current agreed ratio with USDAW regarding the manning of self serve, especially as the amount has drastically increased plus the introduction of the scan and shop, where a % of shoppers per day are set for random checks by the operators?

That's a very very good question, particularly in light of the fact that Usdaw consistently campaign on matters such as "respect" and "freedom from fear" due to the abuse colleagues receive from customers year in year out. So with that in mind, I totally agree that surely there ought to be an agreed ratio for H&S reasons.

If not, then it's basically the O.K. Corral.

Quote from: lucgeo on 28-02-23, 08:49AM@Redshoes

I'm not singling you out...honest 

I've asked many times before on this forum but never get an answer...what is the agreed ratio for colleague per self serve till?? I'm pretty sure it used to be 4-6 depending on time of day, 6 at quiet periods such as early mornings when all not in use,  and 4 at busy periods when in use constantly?

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who knows the current agreed ratio with USDAW regarding the manning of self serve, especially as the amount has drastically increased plus the introduction of the scan and shop, where a % of shoppers per day are set for random checks by the operators?

It's not a simple answer I'm afraid. It depends on how busy self service is. The brief is only a guide, it says to dual man if busy but one colleague to 4-6 tills as an average. The Hub investigations do however ask if the self service was busy and fully manned.
My colleagues however don't like self service dual manned, they tolerate training but prefer being single manned other than that. They say two people just cause extra congestion and there is not room. Also, if main bank is not fully manned it pushes more customers to self service but if a till had been available to them they would have used it.

As a skilled baker who is the only skilled baker on the shifts I work am I expected to be checkout trained? I pick up no overtime, work 2 days a week and have very inflexible fixed hours.. Thank you in advanced for your help 

Yes - every colleague is expected to be trained in pick/fill/serve so the fact you are a skilled Baker doesn't automatically grant you a exemption.

However seeing that working a checkout is a lower paid role and in theory Tesco are supposed to deduct any skills payments if you do a lower skilled task;  in reality I can't ever see you being scheduled there on a contracted shift.

If you were, it could lead to a cut in your wages which would be unfair as it could cause financial hardship or alternatively see Doris on the till next to you being paid less than you whilst doing the same task.

Obviously if you choose to pick up OT at the lower rate on tills these concerns wouldn't apply as you volunteered to do the shift at the agreed cashier pay rate.

Brill thanks Londoner83 

Quote from: NeglectedBaker on 28-02-23, 10:35PMAs a skilled baker who is the only skilled baker on the shifts I work am I expected to be checkout trained? I pick up no overtime, work 2 days a week and have very inflexible fixed hours.. Thank you in advanced for your help 

it's as londoner83 says..."However seeing that working a checkout is a lower paid role and in theory Tesco are supposed to deduct any skills payments if you do a lower skilled task;  in reality I can't ever see you being scheduled there on a contracted shift."

It's always been the common understanding with higher pay band colleagues, in that if YOU ask to work/ change to another department, then you'll receive the  band for that department, but if THEY ask you to work/ change to another department then your band remains unchanged.

Any attempt by any store management team to reduce your pay, whilst being scheduled to work on a lower pay band department...is gross misconduct and would fall at the door of the manager who authorised the deduction!

A skilled baker is unlikely to be asked to support checkouts. There is the whole cross contamination thing, money is dirty. The vast amount of transactions is by card but money still plays a part.
However, you can never say never. What if there was a big equipment failure in the bakery on a day when there were sick calls for checkouts. A lot of what the company is doing is to try and change the mind set and if we have colleagues totally tied to one area when another is struggling it does not make sound business sense.

you say money is dirty, but so is most of the store, stock, trays (godly filthy), so just provide sanitizer and allow to wash hands? sorted there to be honest..I do believe though that if everything is as you say down, they may as well go elsewhere.

Does the checkout training include training on how to challenge customers if they suspect something hasn't been paid for? Are checkout staff even supposed to do this or is this something for security?

Had a situation where I paid for all my stuff at the self service checkout. As I was leaving the staff member stopped me and rudely pointed at my bag and asked if I had paid for that.  I pointed out that she had just seen me using the tills. Then her story changed to 'did I have any tags left on'. When asked why she thought I would have any tags on she would not answer. Eventually after having to ask many times she pointed out there was a scanner as you leave the self-service area.  Did not ask me to go through again to double-check.  I had to make that decision myself. Sure enough it didn't go off.  Just as it hadn't gone off when I first went through.  No apology came.

So is this the normal sort of interaction customers should expect?

If she had genuinely thought she heard the security scanner go off she should have said something like 'I'm sorry sir, I think we might have left a tag on something. Could you just pop through the scanner again' and then followed up 'I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken. Enjoy the rest of your day'.

To me that would be good customer service. What I received was terrible Gestapo style customer service.

Well I have the pdf file on my phone ready for when they come for me for checkout training as I have never done so due to my stance of never handling alcohol since day 1 in store for over 5 years .

Anyone know if you are a checkout colleague if it is compulsory to be trained at PFS?
Asking for a friend!

all are being trained as PFS now with with the customer assistant role covering PFS, ours have recently completed it so that if there is a need to support they can, not sure in terms of old timers though for whether they are expected to like normal checkout training, but i know Self serve is required since it was after anyhow..

Quote from: fatlad on 05-12-23, 07:02PMAnyone know if you are a checkout colleague if it is compulsory to be trained at PFS?
Asking for a friend!

No it's not compulsory to be PFS trained, there's a lot of regulations in the PFS and online training needs to be completed before you do it.
If you are a variable model PFS there's additional training and a health declaration to sign too.

Apparently the manager states that if you are a serve, pick, fill colleague you can be made to train to work at PFS. She has never before mentioned this to my friend in all the years she has been on checkouts. If this is incorrect could you point me in the direction of the policy??
Thanks

Quote from a store manager I can't make people do jobs they have to be willing or other problems like attendance etc... creep in.Why doesn't the said manager put it out to the store and ask everyone.Tesco are struggling as it is to make the job attractive in recruitment and in day to day current jobs.Thats from a union rep on the national forum.You can stream line too much.

That doesn't really answer the question

I would say picking on one person and not making everyone do it,is discrimination.You won't get a clear answer Tesco runs in too many grey areas nothing is uniform.

Quote from: fatlad on 06-12-23, 10:03AMApparently the manager states that if you are a serve, pick, fill colleague you can be made to train to work at PFS. She has never before mentioned this to my friend in all the years she has been on checkouts. If this is incorrect could you point me in the direction of the policy??
Thanks

The trick is to ask the manager to provide evidence from the policy to back their position. If they can't produce an official Tesco policy document that explicitly states that PFS training is mandatory then they don't have a leg to stand on.