Retail Job question

Jellybaby1

My son works in retail. He was unemployed for a long time before he got this job and he likes the job but is beginning to feel a bit down about it because he is on basic wage but even when he works Saturdays and Sundays he doesn't get any extra pay. The explanation was shops are open 7 days a week now so there are really no weekends any more, every day is a work day. Is this normal now in the retail sector? When my daughter worked in retail she always got extra pay for weekend work, either time and half or double time.

Hollister11

When I worked in retail over Christmas in 2015, I was paid a standard rate and 1.5 times on Sunday.

If he isn't happy with his wages, he should go to college to get a degree and a better paying job.

It's retail. It's easy, not well paid, and not something most people plan on having a career in.

Queenalocin

It depends on the terms of your employment. If you are employed to work X number of hours Monday to Sunday during the opening hours then you probably won't get benefits for working at weekends. You would get overtime or time off in lieu if you work more than X number of hours.
If you were employed to work Monday to Friday, and were asked to work Saturday or Sunday then you might get bonus payments.
However that is pretty much a thing of the past with most retail businesses including all 7 days and late night opening in their regular employee contracts.

Musicman2000

Hollister11 wrote: »

When I worked in retail over Christmas in 2015, I was paid a standard rate and 1.5 times on Sunday.

If he isn't happy with his wages, he should go to college to get a degree and a better paying job.

It's retail. It's easy, not well paid, and not something most people plan on having a career in.

Unfortunately a degree is not going to magically get you better wages.

Hollister11

Musicman2000 wrote: »

Unfortunately a degree is going to magically get you better wages.

No not necessarily. But if you have a degree in IT, or finance or instance your minimum salary will like bu 26K. Compare that to retail where you could earn 10p/h for 40 hours a week, for lets say 50 weeks of the year. That 20,000.

You not going to earn to much more than that in retail, where if you have a degree and a "career" your wages are going to increase substantially.

pilly

Hollister11 wrote: »

No not necessarily. But if you have a degree in IT, or finance or instance your minimum salary will like bu 26K. Compare that to retail where you could earn 10p/h for 40 hours a week, for lets say 50 weeks of the year. That 20,000.

You not going to earn to much more than that in retail, where if you have a degree and a "career" your wages are going to increase substantially.

There are plenty of people out there at the moment with degrees working in retail so I'm not sure why you think it's the magic answer?

Corruptedmorals

Yep, there are indeed plenty of degrees amongst retail workers.

Saturdays won't get extra pay, they are treated as a standard day. Sundays, bank holidays and public holidays should though, but unfortunately how much more is vaguely worded and is up to the employer how they interpret it. Large chains and stores tend to be unionised so usually pay time and a half Sundays. It's not really a sector where he's going to rake it in regardless though. If he works for a small company unfortunately bringing up his rights might not go down well, he would need to weigh it up first. When you are temporary and new you can be gotten rid of very easily.

neonsofa

Hollister11 wrote: »

No not necessarily. But if you have a degree in IT, or finance or instance your minimum salary will like bu 26K. Compare that to retail where you could earn 10p/h for 40 hours a week, for lets say 50 weeks of the year. That 20,000.

You not going to earn to much more than that in retail, where if you have a degree and a "career" your wages are going to increase substantially.

If you actually get a job in the industry after graduating. Many people can't and end up working in retail til they do.

Jellybaby1

Thank you everyone for the responses. We know what a degree brings, I know several young people who left Ireland because there was no work for their degrees here. However, I only asked if not getting extra pay for Saturday and Sundays in the norm now, and I have received those answers, thank you again.

languagenerd

I've worked several retail jobs, as well as a couple of office jobs that involve weekends, and none of them gave extra pay for Saturdays. All but one of them paid extra for Sundays, in varying amounts. The Organisation of Working Time Act is vague on it - for Sundays, you should get a reasonable allowance or time off in lieu, but there are exceptions.

Bravobabe

Generally, in my experience young people working in Retail are not treated that well.
Zero hour/Minimum Hour Contracts: The policy of many retail stores seems to be "treat them mean - keep them keen". The work rosters employed by some stores are ridiculous. Example 3 hours per Mon-Thur. and 4 hours on Sat. This is in a Shop (Sportsworld for example) which opens 9am-7pm and 9am-9pm Thurs/Friday. And next week you are on a totally different plan. As a person with experience with rosters and budgets it would make sense to provide regular full/half-day shifts and fill and provide cover with smaller hours for peek periods. This benefits the business because they can better plan cover and suits employees as they have a set pattern (happier employees = more productivity or customer service).
Turnover of Staff: If there is a high turnover of Staff, it points to "issues"
Management: In my experience many "trainee" managers are little more than shop assistants with a different coloured shirt and maybe an euro per hour more for the responsibility. As with all jobs, some take the road that that being a Boss you have to "boss" people, rather than "lead" them. This is probable encouraged (there is no real management training).

As regards your Son, he should look at this job as a "stepping stone" in to the labour market and as a temporary measure until something better comes along. Unless he is very lucky to be working in a store which values employees, he will be treated as a usable, replaceable resource with few rights or redress. Use the job to build up some experience and some money, but if he is not happy don't leave it too long to move as jobs like this can effect your confidence and actually lead to depression.

People will say that it suits people to work 3 x hours per day and it does suit some people but it does not suit the majority. It is not fair to have no idea of what days or hours you are working next week or the week after and there is no business logic apart from denying employees access to permanency or employment rights.

Mrs OBumble

Bravobabe wrote: »

Management: In my experience many "trainee" managers are little more than shop assistants with a different coloured shirt and maybe an euro per hour more for the responsibility. As with all jobs, some take the road that that being a Boss you have to "boss" people, rather than "lead" them. This is probable encouraged (there is no real management training).

That's certainly true in some chains. But not all of them. Some of the German supermarkets have very rigorous training programmes.

Bravobabe wrote: »

People will say that it suits people to work 3 x hours per day and it does suit some people but it does not suit the majority.

And it is not the majority who work on those contracts.

Yes, there are some people who work on short-hour contracts who would like more hours or more stable hours. These people are free to look for better jobs.

But equally there are others who love the fact that they can work when they want to, and not when they don't. Students, semi-retired grandparents, artists / musicians / actors, etc. These are the folks who would lose out if the ability to have such contracts were not allowed.

Bravobabe wrote: »

It is not fair to have no idea of what days or hours you are working next week or the week after and there is no business logic apart from denying employees access to permanency or employment rights.

It is quite possible to be permanent and on a roster which changes. Guards and nurses do it regularly. And if they reach the end of their shift and the person taking over from them hasn't turned up - they stay until cover is found. Unlike retail workers who typically don't.

I'd argue that there are other employment rights issues (firstly sick leave) which need far more urgent action than zero or low-hour contracts or varying shift patterns.

Scraggs

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

My son works in retail. He was unemployed for a long time before he got this job and he likes the job but is beginning to feel a bit down about it because he is on basic wage but even when he works Saturdays and Sundays he doesn't get any extra pay. The explanation was shops are open 7 days a week now so there are really no weekends any more, every day is a work day. Is this normal now in the retail sector? When my daughter worked in retail she always got extra pay for weekend work, either time and half or double time.

It varies from retailer, in my experience if the basic hourly rate was higher than minimum wage there was no extra Sunday pay.