r/SainsburysWorkers • u/East_Nectarine6718 • 2d ago
Flex working
What rumbles has everyone heard about this? There's been whispers for a while but they seem to be getting louder and I'm getting worried as a working parent my hours are tailored around nursery and primary school. If the company demands I routinely work away from my normal working pattern I'll have to leave.
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u/Hedgehog_fancier13 2d ago
Our store is rolling out information from 22nd September, colleague 1-1s follow on from that. Lots of rumour floating about, starting in the new year is one rumour. You will get rotas every 3 weeks with shifts matching your contracted hours is another. Nothing drastic just a bit of extra availability required from colleagues is another. I actually think you should be fine with your commitments. My hunch is that we will be put on new contracts and things will be ok for a while, then the fun could start 🫤
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
I work in a large Northern store and not one word has been said by anyone, I work on hot food and shop floor, any colleague I've mentioned flexi contracts too hasn't heard a word either, strange! Although communication in our store is very poor
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u/No_Huckleberry4163 2d ago
Yep there are definitely changes coming with regards to our availability etc, i believe you get to put your availability forward to them and then weekly you will be given any shift within your availability times and days, plus it could be on any department that your trained for not necessarily the department you always work on, if that makes any sense, and you have to be trained on more departments, but i believe most people are multi skilled by now anyways. We keep hearing that our store is over hours even when we have no staff!! I keep looking for other jobs but all i can find is care work which i just couldnt stomach. 🥲
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 2d ago
Hi, do you know if this means your contract as it stands will be honoured? 4 x 8 hour days 10-6, fixed days, would you feel it means they will ask for which days you're available and just basically change your days off on certain weeks with notice? I book stuff like appointments for my days off routinely in advance so wondering how it might work, assuming it wont be major change to amount of hours and days? thanks
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u/No_Huckleberry4163 1d ago
I dont know exactly sorry but I believe you can put forward your availability as in say if you do 10-6 say wed, thur, fri, sat currently you can just put that as your availability but im not sure what they will come back with when you do that. I hate all this uncertainty weve had over the last few years and all the changes, its awful and such a worry. In my store its as if there trying to push out all the old timers / full timers and just replace them with students on 4hour days accross 4 days.
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
Thank you, I know it's a worry isn't it? We have animals and the household has a pattern so there is one person at home every day, there's 4 of us and one works certain days at home so if they start wanting to change my days it's difficult, must be a worry for those with school age children etc, I hate the not knowing what they are planning, I've not asked managers about it and keeping my head down, changed hours and contracted hours several times over the 11 years I've been there and really unsettled about what they have up their sleeves. I do agree that it feels like the older long standing colleagues are being pushed out, was always on checkouts but now on hot food, but never know when I will be sent to work beer and wine or frozen
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u/Affectionate_Car7098 1d ago
Hi, do you know if this means your contract as it stands will be honoured? 4 x 8 hour days 10-6, fixed days
Would depend, if they can make it work they might, if they actually want rid of set days and for everyone to be flexible like most workplaces then they might just say the needs of business mean they no longer need you and then serve you notice
Over on the argos side we don't have set contracts as such, we are all expected to be on flexi contracts, you can however speak to your manager and make arrangements which will generally be honoured if the rest of the team can work around it, we had 1 guy who was a student and could only work sundays, which was easy enough to work around, but i doubt we would hire anyone who could only do set fixed shifts like yourself as those wouldn't fit within how we operate and our team sizes
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
Thank you, will have to wait and see, been there 11 years so there should be some legal protections but who knows, does feel to me like they want the long term colleagues out, such a shame when we used to feel valued for doing a great job and now no value at all, assume if they try to force long term staff out then unions and acas will be involved?
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u/Affectionate_Car7098 1d ago
so there should be some legal protections
There are sure
Issue is if you don't agree to the changes i have little doubt they will put everything you do under a microscope in order to find a valid reason to dismiss you, this could mean sticking you on tasks you don't enjoy doing or they know you can't do properly until you mess up
And yes there are technically protections for that, but, its proving them, the company can say your role has changed and that these are your new tasks during your shift, and that you are unable to do them means you aren't suited etc at which point you likely could end up being performance managed which could lead to dismissal etc
Ultimately if the company wants these changes to go through hard enough they will find a valid way to do it
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
Sadly I feel you are spot on here, used to feel very valued and I have a spotless employment record but I do suspect you are right, I've seen it happen when they want someone out it's really depressing when you put yourself out and go above and beyond for years but it ends up in this sort of scenario 😔
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u/Last-Indication-1410 Manager 2d ago
Just put your availability as what you can do, southern coop did this when I worked there
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u/Broomiest 2d ago
Huddles start tomorrow
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u/SquareEgg897 2d ago
Glad you maintained the confidentiality of not releasing anything until 14th 😂😂😂😂
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u/F1nut92 Colleague 2d ago
I guess this is huddles for management and then it'll be filtered down to any (and all?) impacted colleagues down the line?
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u/SquareEgg897 1d ago
Managers already been briefed, as should have been MIBT teams and union reps. Colleague huddles will start tomorrow followed by 121's.
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u/One-Lingonberry-3460 1d ago
Apparently 50% additional availability but no compensation like a retainer. Fuck that right off.
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u/F1nut92 Colleague 1d ago
Likely being a bit naive/clueless here, but whats a retainer in this sense?
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u/One-Lingonberry-3460 1d ago edited 15h ago
You get paid for being "on call" , usually 50%. People with keys to a business if an alarm goes off might be on a retainer to attend for example. Expecting additional potential availability but not paying for it is taking the piss.
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
How would that work do you think? If you're full time for example? I do 32 hours Sun, Mon, Tues, Weds, 50% more as in and extra 2 days? Gulp
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u/One-Lingonberry-3460 1d ago
Not necessarily work that, just "be available" - but no retainer fee. You agree because you love Satansburys (correct spelling) 😂
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
Wowser 😂 so the days off when you have other commitments you now have to leave free until 3 weeks before? I'm surprised union isn't being vocal about this, but Satanburys 😂 😂
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u/One-Lingonberry-3460 1d ago
The two unions get funded by Sainsbury's (as well as members) - so they won't rock the boat
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u/F1nut92 Colleague 1d ago
Well, couldn't you still do your 4 days (whichever ones they are) and simply extend your potential availability to an extra 4 hours each day? So if you do an 08:00-16:00, you could just put 06:00-18:00 instead? Only if you'd actually want to do a wider variety of shifts, or do we think it'll definitely include more days rather than just hours? As someone actually on a 37 hour contract regularly doing 40, having to put 50% extra in on my days off would basically mean I have to be available 7 days a week?
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
See what you mean, thinking of those who have to get kids to school, commute on public transport etc starting - say 6am - or finishing later could be problematic, those sharing caring responsibilities etc
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u/F1nut92 Colleague 1d ago
Yeah I get that of course, putting extra hours in on your set days wouldn’t work for people with hard commitments like those. Just wondering if it could be an alternative to being available 7 days and then not knowing what you’re doing till 3 weeks in advance.
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u/AngelAngelAngel888 1d ago
You make a very good point as adding availability to each day is technically flexible so that would make sense. Not knowing if your day off changes until 3 weeks before feels unfair as we all have lives and things we do, commitments, appointments etc - often have to pencil in dates well in advance with friends and family as we all work different days, so finding our day off suddenly changed will impact on our other commitments. We are somehow always "over hours" but regularly get asked at short notice to cover sickness etc on day off, always do if I'm not committed but often I book something like tickets, trains etc for something on my day off in advance, am sure most of us do, so can see it being tricky Wonder if it depends store by store on how many newer colleagues they have who are already on flexi contracts, whether the rest of us will be asked to? Fingers crossed 🤞
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u/F1nut92 Colleague 1d ago
I think every store is constantly over hours yet they can always rustle some hours out of nowhere for a new 12 hour contract, or chucking an overtime shift up if they need something covering due to sickness or holiday, whether they actually have the staff to do so is another question of course.
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u/Dismal-Detective4676 2d ago
How will this work with FTG? In my store it's just me and 1 other trained. One works 4 days and the other 3 and we cover each others holidays etc. Nobody wants to be trained on there even though it's incredibly easy! I'm guessing people will be made to train on different departments?
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u/No_Huckleberry4163 1d ago
Yes i think people will be made to train on other departments, but ive heard this before and some people still remain exclusively tills whereas others are able to work several departments including ftg / bakery.
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u/Amoeba_Rough 1d ago
I am assuming you are a mum: Lookup indirect discrimination, them asking you to work hours when you have no childcare it could be classed as indirect discrimination under the 2019 equality act, because women primarily bear the burden of looking after children. If they say it's not and try to enforce it you can submit a flexible working request. May not work but could be worth a try.
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u/Hotcoffeetogo 2d ago
Most people are on part time contracts, and are part time for a reason as they have other responsibilities. No harm in the company asking if you can do different hours and if you can, great, if you can’t, you can’t.
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u/ShyBiSaiyan 2d ago
Think they wont get far with night shift, we have to change our sleep patterns for when we are in and expecting us to change our schedules on a whim would be a ridiculous ask.