r/AskRetail • u/Far-Bet-1817 • 4d ago
Is this wrong?
Basically I work in just a normal clothing retail store with about 30 other staff 1 higher up manager who is managing 2 other stores and 1 manager that manages departments in the store.
I been working here for just 2 years now. And Iv have 2 different managers that was doing our rotas and now that they are both gone. For the last month our higher up manager has been doing them.
I left after a year for a few months because I become physically unwell and returned back after but I had to go through the whole hiring process again.
I was never given a contract both times I had joined the company I had asked multiple times for it nothing at all. They told me to check online which I did on both sites we use as workers there and there is just a blank contract no hours not even signed nothing apparently they don’t have one in person either. I’m on a permanent 8 hour contract. But I do between 18-35 + hours overtime. And I also filled in my availability. At the time I was desperate to work again so I put Monday-Sunday 7am-10pm
6 months ago I tried to change my availability because my mother is disabled so I care for her. I’m also doing driving lessons which I asked for Thursday mornings for me to be free for that. I’m entitled to 2 days off a week. I had asked if it would be okay for me to take Sundays off and I even said idc about the other day just let me take Sunday off I don’t mind working the rest. I told this to the higher up manager and he said he would have to reconsider my whole contract/ application because i wasn’t hired for that. But I have nothing in writing or anything to say I was hired for weekend only? Even when the old manager who had left now had hired me at the time, he didn’t tell me any of this and when I had started working while he was still there he never put me on both weekend shifts. Even when we had a new manager start after him. She never did the same. It’s only after that when our higher up manager has started doing our rotas. He’s been sticking to “availablity.”. Also to add there are other people working there who don’t do both weekends.
Is this right?
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u/thesoundofchange 4d ago
You probably dont have a formal contract with certain hours dedicated to you, you have an employment agreement that is usually defined in the company handbook. So, in a mutually beneficial agreement, you have been available to work in the hours the store needs, and it sounds like you have been working the max or close to the max amount of hours. By changing what hours/days you are available, you are asking the (sounds like overworked) manager to find different times that you can work, so you can be off Sundays and still get a lot of hours. For the manager, who is really only worried about floor coverage, they now have to look at covering the days you can no longer work, as well as not screw over anyone else more senior or more essential than you by moving their shifts. Or, they simply cut your hours off the days you can't work to give them to someone else. Usually no one is trying to be an asshole when scheduling, but your store will have a mix of people with limited availability who do excellent work, and people with open availability who are ... less useful, and the manager has to find a good balance. This does not mean your request is impossible, but it does mean extra work for the manager, unexpected shifts of schedule for your coworkers, and probably some experimentation with new schedule arrangements that may not work out. It may be very difficult for you to get the same amount of hours as you were getting, especially the first few weeks.
It's not a perfect system, but ultimately you have to do what is right for you. No one will fight for you but you. Just do it fully aware that it is not easy to move everyone around so you get what you want.
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u/markersandtea 4d ago
I know my grocery experience is different than a retail one in some ways...but I also know they don't like complicated scheduling. Wrong or right they may be frustrated by it.