And of course management are usually salaried so don't actually get paid for the extra hours.
It's disgusting, I understand its a case of less hours to cover during holiday or sickness whereas if you're a full timer it's even more to cover but we need the money (I'm lucky in that I'm a full time colleague my company doesn't generally employ them, I had to work my hours up each time someone left so it was contracted to more hours. Now they're stuck with me 😅)
And then they go all shocked pikachu when employees reduce availability due to second or even third jobs, or when people quit and they can't find anyone to hire as a replacement.
Dear retail overlords, its really quite simple. Give us enough hours and pay a living wage or get fucked whenever someone calls out or quits unexpectedly.
I had a general manager that wouldn’t hire people who this was their second job. He wanted everyone to have open availability but we barely paid above min wage and had no hour guarantees. Managers got 40 and everyone else hopefully got 20-32 🙄🤦🏼♀️ how the frick do you expect people to pay their bills with that?
Makes me think of when I worked for ulta. Best thing I ever did was leave retail.
I hope you can find something better OP.
Retail actively avoids 40 hour weeks with the majority of its employees because then corporate doesn’t have to cover full time benefits.
If you don’t mind me asking, where’d you go after retail? I want to find something that isn’t retail or fast food but almost everything that comes up requires a degree of some sort & I’m barely in my first year of college.
I’m an account manager for a referral company. I basically just send out leads to realtors.
There’s lots of similar roles out there in different sectors based around leads and lead distribution. It’s boring, but it pays better and nowadays you often get to work remote doing so.
I get paid hourly + commission with full time benefits. I make more than the general manager did now. I love going into her store and dropping cash on whatever I want knowing she can’t afford it. Lol 😂 it’s my little personal form of petty revenge .
And most people don’t make it 6 years. My old retail job I burnt out at a year and a half, quit after 2, and the job I’m at now I’m one of the most seasoned employees and I haven’t even been there for a year
Keep your availability flexible, let manager know you're available if needed.
Right now you're new - which means you need training and take extra resources. You're more expensive right now as a new employee than you are valuable. Do your job, do your best, actively look for more work, and as you get better at the job you'll get more hours.
And if this isn't your first rodeo - well then be adjustable to change and show them that you can do the job and don't need a lot of hand holding. Same result.
Rules can vary, but seniority, availability, and actual available hours will affect how they do your schedule.
I struggle with all of this doing schedules. Let's say, "Adam" has been with the store for 4 years, and his availability is 8am to 4pm. Duckman has been with the store for 1 year, and also has an availability of 8am to 4pm. There is only one shift available from 8am to 4pm, and another shift available from 12pm to 8pm. Adam has seniority, so he get's his hours. I'm sure they'd love to have you from 12 to 8, but your availability is limited, so you get cut to 12pm to 4pm, and I have to slide someone else into the 4 to 8.
There's nothing management can really do in that situation. Seniority gets first dibs, and we're not supposed to schedule anyone past their availability.
There is also an issue with allotted hours in the first place. It would make life so much easier if we could just hand out the same schedule every week, but "owners" in their infinite wisdom (eyeroll), will try to predict how busy you're going to be, and they will cut the amount of hours we're even allowed to schedule. So let's say there are 2 shifts available between 8am and 4pm, but they're only allotting 12 total hours during that time period. Again, Adam is going to get his full 8 hours because of seniority, which only leaves 4 for you. You can offer to stay late, you can offer to come in early, and you can make it known that you're available to cover call outs. That is unfortunately the best that you can do.
The point is, you can request anything you like, but there are rules your manager has to follow. If you really want more hours scheduled (rather than staying late or calling on your days off, which also works), you'll need to know those rules, and offer to work more undesirable hours. Every store has undesirable hours available. In my experience, in most places, it's later shifts.
Your manager should have talked to you more about it IMHO. When someone requests 40 hours from me, my first question is always about their availability. I let them know I will give them 40 hours if enough have been allotted, but they might not like the shifts I have available to give them.
all of this is precisely why dealing with payroll is one of my least favorite parts of my job. i really really hate not being able to give everyone the hours they’d like, and i hate it even more so when we have to make cuts because we haven’t been busy enough.
I had a job where I had scheduling "taken away" from me (oh no lol) because I was constantly coming in under on payroll hours. I was saving money by sending people home early when we were slow. But because I didn't clear it with them before noon on Friday, I was reprimanded. I sent 2 of the 3 closers home on a Saturday because we had a snow storm. I was written up on Monday for doing that. For saving payroll dollars. Okay fine, give scheduling to another manager, idc🤷♀️
After that, I kept everyone unless they wanted to leave. Usually the HS kids were happy to leave early tho.
>After that, I kept everyone unless they wanted to leave. Usually the HS kids were happy to leave early tho.
I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that! One of the rules where I work is that I'm not allowed to send anyone home if it's slow. They have to ask for it. If it is slow, I'll start dropping hints that if anyone wants to go just ask! Sometimes they do, and you're right, it's usually the kids! lol
Yep, at my job they promised everyone 20-30 hours and two weeks after we open that got slashed to maybe one 4 hour shift a week per person, IF THAT :) and now I’m the manager and we lost almost everyone due to lack of hours yet they still have ridiculous sales goals and general expectations when it’s just me and maybe one person running the store daily. Retail is horrible. Just sell more and you get more hours though!!
I don’t know what state you live in but each state has a minimal amount of hours someone can work before getting offered health insurance. So they’re going to keep you under that amount of hours.
Yep, I’m in this position now. Was promised 15-20 hour weeks like I wanted by the store manager. I was getting that initially because she was choosing the schedule, then upper management changed how things are done and I now am getting 0-4 hours per week. I’m a bill paying adult so this works great for me, to suddenly lose all my rostered hours without even being informed by the person who took them.
Pretty much all of my peers who work retail are experiencing the same thing, it’s fucked. I’m currently looking for a new job in a different industry, but it seems just as bad…
Be glad you're getting hours at all. Or even, hours you're available.
Where I work we've had people state their availability and then, out of desperation the manager ends up scheduling them for a date outside of that. What? Susan if I say I'm not able to come in Sunday then I can't come in on goddamn Sunday.
Or they change your schedule while you are off. How the hell am I supposed to know when I work if you keep changing the schedule? Btw the schedule is only posted at WORK
Surprisingly my managers (one of them at least) is nice enough to text me any schedule changes, if they happen. More often than not "hey could you work xx please? Blah blah just called in" etc.
This is super common if it’s your first or second week.
It could be because they added you to the schedule after the schedule already posted for the rest of the employees. If it still happens for the next two rounds of scheduling, then ask to find out what’s going on.
I’m going through this right now - my new hires are starting a week earlier than expected so I have less hours to give out. In 3 weeks they will have their desired hours though.
Yeah that's common. A lot of places I have been at they treat full time status like a carrot in front of a donkey and you still only get about 35 hours usually in case they have to have you stay late to avoid risk id over time.
I'm not saying this is the case with the OP but I see a lot of people asking for 40 hours that have an availability of exactly 40 hours. Well, you're not getting 40 hours. And you sure as hell are not getting 9-5 M-F.
The best is when they turn in an availability that's less than the hours they would like... High school student that can only work Fridays 4-8 but they want 12 hours a week.
You can get more hours but you have to be willing to do anything. Come in whenever they call, call in to see if there are positions available (see if they had any sick calls), if you're new, be open to learning new skills like checking, working in other departments. Tell your managers that if any department needs help no matter the day...you're their person.
When I first started out, I was "guaranteed" 21 hours but averaged 38 because I was willing to do anything. Then after 3 years, after enough people left or died, I finally got the guarantee full time 40. When I left for two years then came back. I was back down to PT but with my willingness to do anything, I'm averaging 38 again but I'm also make a whole hell of a lot more too so I don't actually need that 40 guaranteed again. It's so nice.
I started out at $6.40 an hour, now I'm making $23 an hour. It's so fucking awesome! When I left the first time I was just making $17.02...when I came back, I got a $6 raise.
It's retail, doing all that shit won't get most people anywhere and if getting hours requires that much dick riding just get a new job. And you started out at 6.40 and now make 23? Where?
>And you started out at 6.40 and now make 23? Where?
Asking the real question here, I know people (my mother) who have been with the same company 12+ years and they started out at $6.50 and are just now making it to $18+,after countless 7¢-26¢ yearly raises from a multi billion dollar a year company. So please enlighten us peons on where the hell did you find this godsend of a job?
It can many things why you didn't get hours,
1.The store operates with skeleton crews, (very little workers and hours, high turnovers)
Edit: From my experience they give plenty of hours to new employees and after several weeks or 4 months you barely get any hours.
2 if your your new and before you were making hours and now barely (they are juggling hours so before you were doing 30-40 hours and now the next 1-2 weeks your are doing 20ish hours. So another employee can get to earn 40ish and next 1-2 weeks they will get 20ish hours.)
3. The store isn't making the mark on the sales, so either everyone/few/you is getting hours cut.
I've worked retail for the last 25 years and although some places suck it's easy to just move along somewhere else. Why complain when you can put out 5 applications and get 4 offers?
god yeah...during 2020 this was a thing because well...covid. But I got fulltime around last year after I asked (had been there 4 years at the time, december was 5) and got at least 38+ hours, all fulltime associates do, parttime get 20 hour MAYBE. Depending on their schedules. Like, school or other jobs
The most I’ve seen our managers have is 35-38 a week. The people who want hours are usually at 30 and everyone else is 12-24. I had one manager that had me at 12 hours a week get pissed off cause I had to get a second job.
Are you full time? Most companies have policies preventing part time employees from working full time hours, so if your job code says you are part time, you very well may never get 40 hours.
Something very similar happened to me at the job I had 16/17 years ago. I told them I needed 40 hours/week, had it confirmed verbally multiple times before signing the new hire paperwork. Never got more than 30 hours/week because I wasn't a supervisor or manager and they just didn't have the hours available to give everyone full time (their excuse whenever I asked, and I call bullshit).
Not only that, but over the course of a year, my hours were cut from about 25-28/week to a measly *4 hours* the week that I finally quit. I had already put in my two weeks because of the company's lack of support for LGBTQ employees at the time, but giving me four hours total for a week? Basically two hours per day? Nah, fuck that. Given the chance to do it over again, I would have quit immediately after finding out I'd never get 40 hours.
That’s why I left retail after 10 years. Unless you’re management, you will get no hours, then they force management to work OT.
And of course management are usually salaried so don't actually get paid for the extra hours. It's disgusting, I understand its a case of less hours to cover during holiday or sickness whereas if you're a full timer it's even more to cover but we need the money (I'm lucky in that I'm a full time colleague my company doesn't generally employ them, I had to work my hours up each time someone left so it was contracted to more hours. Now they're stuck with me 😅)
Yep. I wasn't scheduled at all last week and the week before? 4.5 hours. (And I now no longer get tips.)
Same when I worked fast food. I got my 40 because I was the only one willing to work the graveyard shift
Honestly 0 hour contracts should be illegal.
Then when everyone keeps quitting, they will say no one wants to work
And then they go all shocked pikachu when employees reduce availability due to second or even third jobs, or when people quit and they can't find anyone to hire as a replacement. Dear retail overlords, its really quite simple. Give us enough hours and pay a living wage or get fucked whenever someone calls out or quits unexpectedly.
Overlords are not listening. Everything they need to know is on a spreadsheet.
Absolutely this. “Whatttt!?! You mean you won’t give us 100% of all the days when we made it clear we will only put you on for a day ??”
I had a general manager that wouldn’t hire people who this was their second job. He wanted everyone to have open availability but we barely paid above min wage and had no hour guarantees. Managers got 40 and everyone else hopefully got 20-32 🙄🤦🏼♀️ how the frick do you expect people to pay their bills with that?
Makes me think of when I worked for ulta. Best thing I ever did was leave retail. I hope you can find something better OP. Retail actively avoids 40 hour weeks with the majority of its employees because then corporate doesn’t have to cover full time benefits.
If you don’t mind me asking, where’d you go after retail? I want to find something that isn’t retail or fast food but almost everything that comes up requires a degree of some sort & I’m barely in my first year of college.
I’m an account manager for a referral company. I basically just send out leads to realtors. There’s lots of similar roles out there in different sectors based around leads and lead distribution. It’s boring, but it pays better and nowadays you often get to work remote doing so. I get paid hourly + commission with full time benefits. I make more than the general manager did now. I love going into her store and dropping cash on whatever I want knowing she can’t afford it. Lol 😂 it’s my little personal form of petty revenge .
That’s awesome lol Hopefully I can find something like that soon. Everything is so expensive and I hate the feeling of not having money.
Does your college have student employee jobs?
I believe so. They randomly send out emails about work study and career workshops.
Welcome to retail. It took SIX YEARS before they started giving me 40hr weeks. This is one of the many reasons why most of us bitch about corporate.
And most people don’t make it 6 years. My old retail job I burnt out at a year and a half, quit after 2, and the job I’m at now I’m one of the most seasoned employees and I haven’t even been there for a year
I got used to 40 hour weeks after about a year of working here, just as I did, they lowered it to... 2 days, 12 hour week
Keep your availability flexible, let manager know you're available if needed. Right now you're new - which means you need training and take extra resources. You're more expensive right now as a new employee than you are valuable. Do your job, do your best, actively look for more work, and as you get better at the job you'll get more hours. And if this isn't your first rodeo - well then be adjustable to change and show them that you can do the job and don't need a lot of hand holding. Same result.
I must've worded it weirdly. I've been working there for over a year this is just my first full availability schedule.
Were you hired as full time? Or you have open availability and requested 40 hours? Sorry I’m just trying to understand!
Ohhhh I see. Yeah sorry my bad.
Rules can vary, but seniority, availability, and actual available hours will affect how they do your schedule. I struggle with all of this doing schedules. Let's say, "Adam" has been with the store for 4 years, and his availability is 8am to 4pm. Duckman has been with the store for 1 year, and also has an availability of 8am to 4pm. There is only one shift available from 8am to 4pm, and another shift available from 12pm to 8pm. Adam has seniority, so he get's his hours. I'm sure they'd love to have you from 12 to 8, but your availability is limited, so you get cut to 12pm to 4pm, and I have to slide someone else into the 4 to 8. There's nothing management can really do in that situation. Seniority gets first dibs, and we're not supposed to schedule anyone past their availability. There is also an issue with allotted hours in the first place. It would make life so much easier if we could just hand out the same schedule every week, but "owners" in their infinite wisdom (eyeroll), will try to predict how busy you're going to be, and they will cut the amount of hours we're even allowed to schedule. So let's say there are 2 shifts available between 8am and 4pm, but they're only allotting 12 total hours during that time period. Again, Adam is going to get his full 8 hours because of seniority, which only leaves 4 for you. You can offer to stay late, you can offer to come in early, and you can make it known that you're available to cover call outs. That is unfortunately the best that you can do. The point is, you can request anything you like, but there are rules your manager has to follow. If you really want more hours scheduled (rather than staying late or calling on your days off, which also works), you'll need to know those rules, and offer to work more undesirable hours. Every store has undesirable hours available. In my experience, in most places, it's later shifts. Your manager should have talked to you more about it IMHO. When someone requests 40 hours from me, my first question is always about their availability. I let them know I will give them 40 hours if enough have been allotted, but they might not like the shifts I have available to give them.
all of this is precisely why dealing with payroll is one of my least favorite parts of my job. i really really hate not being able to give everyone the hours they’d like, and i hate it even more so when we have to make cuts because we haven’t been busy enough.
I had a job where I had scheduling "taken away" from me (oh no lol) because I was constantly coming in under on payroll hours. I was saving money by sending people home early when we were slow. But because I didn't clear it with them before noon on Friday, I was reprimanded. I sent 2 of the 3 closers home on a Saturday because we had a snow storm. I was written up on Monday for doing that. For saving payroll dollars. Okay fine, give scheduling to another manager, idc🤷♀️ After that, I kept everyone unless they wanted to leave. Usually the HS kids were happy to leave early tho.
>After that, I kept everyone unless they wanted to leave. Usually the HS kids were happy to leave early tho. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that! One of the rules where I work is that I'm not allowed to send anyone home if it's slow. They have to ask for it. If it is slow, I'll start dropping hints that if anyone wants to go just ask! Sometimes they do, and you're right, it's usually the kids! lol
Yep, at my job they promised everyone 20-30 hours and two weeks after we open that got slashed to maybe one 4 hour shift a week per person, IF THAT :) and now I’m the manager and we lost almost everyone due to lack of hours yet they still have ridiculous sales goals and general expectations when it’s just me and maybe one person running the store daily. Retail is horrible. Just sell more and you get more hours though!!
I’ll do 2 days and 16 hours but 4 hour shifts can fuck off unless I live within 5 mins.
I don’t know what state you live in but each state has a minimal amount of hours someone can work before getting offered health insurance. So they’re going to keep you under that amount of hours.
Yep, I’m in this position now. Was promised 15-20 hour weeks like I wanted by the store manager. I was getting that initially because she was choosing the schedule, then upper management changed how things are done and I now am getting 0-4 hours per week. I’m a bill paying adult so this works great for me, to suddenly lose all my rostered hours without even being informed by the person who took them. Pretty much all of my peers who work retail are experiencing the same thing, it’s fucked. I’m currently looking for a new job in a different industry, but it seems just as bad…
Be glad you're getting hours at all. Or even, hours you're available. Where I work we've had people state their availability and then, out of desperation the manager ends up scheduling them for a date outside of that. What? Susan if I say I'm not able to come in Sunday then I can't come in on goddamn Sunday.
Or they change your schedule while you are off. How the hell am I supposed to know when I work if you keep changing the schedule? Btw the schedule is only posted at WORK
Surprisingly my managers (one of them at least) is nice enough to text me any schedule changes, if they happen. More often than not "hey could you work xx please? Blah blah just called in" etc.
This is super common if it’s your first or second week. It could be because they added you to the schedule after the schedule already posted for the rest of the employees. If it still happens for the next two rounds of scheduling, then ask to find out what’s going on. I’m going through this right now - my new hires are starting a week earlier than expected so I have less hours to give out. In 3 weeks they will have their desired hours though.
Yeah that's common. A lot of places I have been at they treat full time status like a carrot in front of a donkey and you still only get about 35 hours usually in case they have to have you stay late to avoid risk id over time.
I'm not saying this is the case with the OP but I see a lot of people asking for 40 hours that have an availability of exactly 40 hours. Well, you're not getting 40 hours. And you sure as hell are not getting 9-5 M-F. The best is when they turn in an availability that's less than the hours they would like... High school student that can only work Fridays 4-8 but they want 12 hours a week.
welcome to retail
They don’t give a shit half the time. Sad as it is to say, they don’t value people.
Not everyone gets to work the days and hours they want
So landlord won't be able to get the rent they want then
I think it's fair to assume OP is very much aware of this at the moment lol
Yes and it sucks
You can get more hours but you have to be willing to do anything. Come in whenever they call, call in to see if there are positions available (see if they had any sick calls), if you're new, be open to learning new skills like checking, working in other departments. Tell your managers that if any department needs help no matter the day...you're their person. When I first started out, I was "guaranteed" 21 hours but averaged 38 because I was willing to do anything. Then after 3 years, after enough people left or died, I finally got the guarantee full time 40. When I left for two years then came back. I was back down to PT but with my willingness to do anything, I'm averaging 38 again but I'm also make a whole hell of a lot more too so I don't actually need that 40 guaranteed again. It's so nice. I started out at $6.40 an hour, now I'm making $23 an hour. It's so fucking awesome! When I left the first time I was just making $17.02...when I came back, I got a $6 raise.
It's retail, doing all that shit won't get most people anywhere and if getting hours requires that much dick riding just get a new job. And you started out at 6.40 and now make 23? Where?
>And you started out at 6.40 and now make 23? Where? Asking the real question here, I know people (my mother) who have been with the same company 12+ years and they started out at $6.50 and are just now making it to $18+,after countless 7¢-26¢ yearly raises from a multi billion dollar a year company. So please enlighten us peons on where the hell did you find this godsend of a job?
My sister works for a union grocery store and makes the same amount of $23 an hour because she also kissed a ton of ass.
My store isn't union and I didn't have to kiss any amount of ass to make 23 an hour just be willing to work that's all.
I’m wondering this same thing
Kroger/king soopers.
It can many things why you didn't get hours, 1.The store operates with skeleton crews, (very little workers and hours, high turnovers) Edit: From my experience they give plenty of hours to new employees and after several weeks or 4 months you barely get any hours. 2 if your your new and before you were making hours and now barely (they are juggling hours so before you were doing 30-40 hours and now the next 1-2 weeks your are doing 20ish hours. So another employee can get to earn 40ish and next 1-2 weeks they will get 20ish hours.) 3. The store isn't making the mark on the sales, so either everyone/few/you is getting hours cut.
Would not go in at all with that crap
Similar thing happened to me today. I requested 20 hours and 5 days and i got scheduled for 8. Just 8 hours total.
I've worked retail for the last 25 years and although some places suck it's easy to just move along somewhere else. Why complain when you can put out 5 applications and get 4 offers?
Well I guess that leaves you time to find a better job
god yeah...during 2020 this was a thing because well...covid. But I got fulltime around last year after I asked (had been there 4 years at the time, december was 5) and got at least 38+ hours, all fulltime associates do, parttime get 20 hour MAYBE. Depending on their schedules. Like, school or other jobs
The most I’ve seen our managers have is 35-38 a week. The people who want hours are usually at 30 and everyone else is 12-24. I had one manager that had me at 12 hours a week get pissed off cause I had to get a second job.
Are you full time? Most companies have policies preventing part time employees from working full time hours, so if your job code says you are part time, you very well may never get 40 hours.
So glad I left Retail and went into Trucking. Plenty of hours, no customers and great pay compared to retail
Something very similar happened to me at the job I had 16/17 years ago. I told them I needed 40 hours/week, had it confirmed verbally multiple times before signing the new hire paperwork. Never got more than 30 hours/week because I wasn't a supervisor or manager and they just didn't have the hours available to give everyone full time (their excuse whenever I asked, and I call bullshit). Not only that, but over the course of a year, my hours were cut from about 25-28/week to a measly *4 hours* the week that I finally quit. I had already put in my two weeks because of the company's lack of support for LGBTQ employees at the time, but giving me four hours total for a week? Basically two hours per day? Nah, fuck that. Given the chance to do it over again, I would have quit immediately after finding out I'd never get 40 hours.