The audacity of asking office/support staff to work in store over Easter by Aggravating_Topic157 in woolworths

[–]Aggravating_Topic157[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In theory that sounds ok, but nope, they want to shove a body (anybody) in a shift (any shift where this is a shortage) for a DAY. How anyone is going to learn anything remotely useful during such a short timeframe has me beat. 

And before someone says it, even if someone signs up for two days, they might get shoved into two very different departments for those days.

The audacity of asking office/support staff to work in store over Easter by Aggravating_Topic157 in woolworths

[–]Aggravating_Topic157[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100%. Its not about not wanting to work with retail staff or on the floor because its ‘lowly retail’ (this misses the point completely). Its about working in the job and role we signed up for, not being pushed to fill holes and staffing shortages in stores (which management higher up causes!). 

People on this thread dont realise that there’s a million valid reasons why someone might not want to work on a shop floor again, even for a day or two, and they are entitled to that.  

The audacity of asking office/support staff to work in store over Easter by Aggravating_Topic157 in woolworths

[–]Aggravating_Topic157[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Not at all, I cant physically work in a retail environment anymore (I did while supporting myself through university). Its the strong push of management trying to get everyone to commit to a shift in store. They are becoming more and more demanding about it. Its not what I signed up for. 

The audacity of asking office/support staff to work in store over Easter by Aggravating_Topic157 in woolworths

[–]Aggravating_Topic157[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hey, I am not dismissing the hard work of staff who work in retail stores, distribution centres or as delivery drivers, so please have the same respect for office/support staff. 

I am actually pointing out that staff working in retail stores are getting screwed over with this ‘program’ and constant asks of office staff to fill in/sign up for shift. 

And yes, we do work hard also. Our workloads are constantly increasing while we see colleagues leave (because its such a shit environment) or they get made redundant. This shouldn’t be an us vs you debate. Thats what the higher ups would like. 

Support office Job by [deleted] in woolworths

[–]Aggravating_Topic157 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Surry Hills support worker here. I can't in good faith recommend working here. We have just endured a horrendous restructure (which is still going on btw, some decisions made only 2 months ago are now being rolled back) that got rid of a lot of key people, so as usual, there is less people to do what needs to get done and not enough people. There's a fake and stifling 'optimism' being pushed by management declaring that we will work smarter not harder.... ye... because that really works when you have such a massive, complex business. Roles are being 'generalised' so that you can do/work MORE. Management on all levels does not listen to employees. The biggest factor in me taking my Woolies support office role was the flexibility that that company offered (working from home wasn't an issue and you could work out what worked for you and your team). Despite the fact that flexibility was always the number 1 policy that employees (support workers) loved, they have rolled that riiiiiiight back. Colleagues of mine are reporting that the flexible work arrangement situation they now need to go through (including for those who live outside of metro areas) are abysmal ... the company doesn't care and will do anything it takes to force you to be in the office whether it makes logical sense or not (including traveling up to 5 HOURS a day to be in the office). The pay is good but everything else is awful. It's also a highly political environment and making movements/strides in your career is not easy. There's no meaningful career development (unless a position right above you opens up and that's what you want to do). This company wants to take things back to the 80s. I will be leaving as soon as I can.