Short-staffing in retail leaves shopworkers exhausted: Usdaw

Short-staffing levels in retail workplaces leads to customer frustrations and additional stress for staff, states a retail worker union on Sunday (23), calling on for fair reward, proper training and support for workers.

Speaking to Usdaw’s Annual Delegate Meeting in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, Dave McCrossen – Usdaw Deputy General Secretary said that when companies strip back their wage budgets, it's our members who pick up the slack and keep the business going.

When a business is run on the bare minimum staffing levels, things can go very wrong, very quickly. When one staff member goes off work sick, it puts massive pressure on the remaining staff and ultimately that leads to more staff becoming unwell, and taking time off, or leaving their job completely, says McCrossen, adding that there's even more pressure on the staff who are left, especially when overtime is frozen and even when staff are replaced, recruitment processes can take a long time.

“It is always the staff that feel the pressure during those difficult times and for those who are customer facing, they have a double whammy. Not only are they stressed and exhausted by understaffing, they also have to deal with complaints over poor customer service. When customers can't get the items they need, or they are stuck in long queues, or forced to use a self-service checkout, because there simply aren't enough staff to help them; it is the workers on the frontline who bear the brunt of that frustration. It really does add insult to injury.

“For years our members have been through continuous restructuring and changes to their working practices. They've been expected to be flexible and support their employer throughout those changes, but employers need to show support in return. They cannot simply run our members into the ground. First and foremost, that is simply wrong and unfair, but burning out their staff is also bad for the business.

“Overworked staff can't be as productive and they make more mistakes. When they go off sick, or leave the business, it costs money. They lose the knowledge and skills of experienced staff and of course, understaffing affects customer service. It is a false economy.

“Staffing levels and members’ workloads have always been a priority for this union. This is raised by reps and committees at all levels. Whether it's implementing policies on how many self-service tills one staff member can manage, mapping workplaces to see where resources are most needed, or challenging unrealistic pick rates or delivery schedules and when it comes to multi-skilling, the push for flexibility must be reasonable. Staff must be fairly rewarded and proper training and support must be provided.

“The union will continue to raise this issue, whenever and however we can. Where low staffing is impacting on our members' safety or wellbeing, we will challenge it. We won't accept the bare minimum as the norm. We expect better, and our members deserve better.”