Getting burned out.

source

It's been a tough weekend at work for me. Every day has been massively pressurized due to not having enough staff or resources to run the place properly. It doesn't get me stressed to have to work under pressure as I have been there for years and can keep things running through experience and prioritizing the basics for the customers. I do however get frustrated by not having the place right. Not having it to a high standard for our customers who come to shop. Closing down the shop yesterday was an experience as I can't remember the last time it was in such a horrible state.

I work in a shop that is part of a large chain so everything is controlled from head office at the other side of the country. At the moment we have 20 staff in total which isn't great and I would like at least three more to keep the roster covered properly. This isn't helped by having two people on holiday which will always be the case throughout the summer. One on maternity and another with a broken leg. That puts us down to 16 people to run a massive retailer with thousands of customers per week. This would be a struggle regardless but we then had three people out sick over the weekend which really fucked us.

The worst part is that they are more than likely sick from all the hours they have been working as we don't have enough staff. It's a vicious circle. Every year we get targets for productivity and inventory and every other aspect running the shop which we are expected to hit. The district manager is around to put the pressure on us from above. I've been there for 10 years hitting these targets and every year they reduce them even tighter. Every year they expect more turnover with less resources which has gotten to the point that the standard of the store has dropped so low that it's not even fit for purpose. To run it properly we would need to be allowed about 50 more hours per week.

We don't physically have the time to do all of the tasks required in the week never mind the extra stuff that we would love to do to make the place better. It's sad to say that we have gone over the tipping point where the store can't function anymore. To stay within the hours allowed to run the place we have to skip so many jobs that are required to keep the place going to a high standard. The basics of cleaning, rotation, daily standards, warehouse organization ect... all get pushed to the side as we struggle to get stock on the shelves and keep the checkouts moving during the day. We have gotten to the stage where we are just performing the most basic functions of retail and everything else pushed to the side. It's disgraceful really.

If it was my store I would be ashamed to let people into it with the way it is running now. We try as hard as we can to keep the place going and maintain the standards but it's just not possible anymore. We have told this to the powers that be but they only answer to money and their shareholders. They care nothing about the people on the ground. They ask for our feedback in surveys and yet nothing changes. The staff are getting burned out and sick from work and it will only get worse over time. It's sad to see how companies treat people these days as they take profit over people and just expect to replace them once they have been used up.

Maybe it's just my opinion but I don't see the point in burning through staff for the sake of a few extra euro at the end of the year. We waste so much time and effort into training the new ones and trying to motivate the old ones that it is actually more wasteful in the long run. All the studies show that.

While I was there yesterday trying to get the alcohol onto the shelves I was just dreaming of $100 STEEM in a few years and the changes we would see. The different life we could have if we weren't enslaved to the companies that pay the wages. Don't get me wrong, I actually like my job for the most part and the rant is only about the fact that we are not being allowed to perform it and run the place to a proper standard. Not being given the tools to do the task that they are asking us to do.

It's almost impossible to work when your hands are being tied behind your back.