Sunday, October 28, 2007

Whistle Blown at Terry's Head Office

I work at Tesco Head Office and came across some very interesting material :

- Commercial staff having 'secret' accounts with suppliers whereby the Tesco buyers overpay in the good times with the understanding that they can call on the deposit to artificially show improved management of margins when demanded by senior management, up to £25m would be 'squirrelled' away in this manner at any one time. On 2 occasions that I was aware of these secret accounts were used to commit fraud;

- land buyers having to buy x sqft of land to achieve objectives and in turn receive lucrative bonuses, regardless of whether there was any real chance of building a store on the land;

- staff particularly in the property department receiving excessive hospitality, such as receiving multiple fully paid skiing holidays a year;

- mislead staff about the planned offshoring of jobs to India, Tesco senior management knew from the start they intended to lose 2,800 jobs in the Head Office and move them to India. Even when the headcount in India made it above 1,000 they still managed to keep news of this out of the press - other companies were hammered in the press for losing far less UK staff to India;

- a case of bullying and poor management in a store lead to an employee with mental health issues committing suicide, the initial investigation was a cover up;

...more to come

Tesco Nightworkers Depressed

Ive been working for Tesco for about 5 years pretty much. Market Deeping (2875) store. I work at nights with a few others and feel very very depressed. Because from what we see is that the whole store is relying on us all the time. And when something fails its all our fault. Yet things could be sorted out in the day if they work around things better instead of relying on us 100%. Cause the grocery department workers mainly at night. And about 4 in the day.

And to make it even more stupid. Our store manager apparently came up with this idea letting us have christmas eve off if we work Boxing day this year. Now that be taking the biscuit far as i'm concerned. Its a national holiday. So it aint gonna happen no matter what.

But the main thing that is really upsetting me the most is, The constant relying on me. Just cause i know a fair bit of the shopfloor and stuff. Doesn't mean i should be a Jack of all trades compared to the other G.A's. Everyone should be treated the same. And i do hate the constant asking on how im getting on and which gives me the feeling they need an extra body somewhere else every 5 seconds. Or i aint going fast enough for them.

And last off all. Ever since the nights have been going. We dont get the great food benefits compared to the days. All we got is Sweets and rock hard sandwichs in the vendor machines. Bit unfair dont you think.

Alex

Friday, October 05, 2007

This is why Tesco is not hot!

Cages left out for hours, sometimes the whole night. especially yogurts and long life. chiller too full for this stock as spliting down the order needs to be done in there. Unless its christmas and raw meat has overflowed into the provisions chill, then the split is done in the warehouse or shop floor.. how long do you think it takes to split down 80+ cages and then put it on the shelf? more than 20mins.. try hours..

Waste on the shop floor. Fresh waste I mean.. often catch customers digging around the baskets of now out of code reductions.

The policy of never paying staff for half hours.. so if you start at 2130-0700 you only get 2200-0700 pay.

Confidentiality of the 'sick book' when you phone your name, dept and reason for absence are put in a book, this book is then taken to every handover where anyone there can browse through.. any team leader, manager, options candidate, pre options.. and trust me.. it's not confidential.

A thing called 'rolling stock' Where a loose produce item is out of date.. the label on the side of the basket/dolly somehow vanishes (making it illegal) but gets sold anyhow.. or another one is out of date loose things again.. being bagged and put in the reductions cabinet.

The same old one about fire exits blocked up.. always blocked up.

Working in a 24hr store on the tills by myself with no security guard. what about the 2 at all times rule?? i now refuse to work there by myself on such occasions.

Produce Dollies with raw meat stacked in baskets above fresh unwrapped produce.. mainly apples, they dont even have a plastic cover. think of that next time you give your child a tesco apple.