Morrisons forced to retrain school-leavers

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People like you make me sick. No doubt you are one of these people with biggoted views on the unemployed and people seeking benefits. Then when these people who leave school without any sort of qualifications but still decide to get out there and get a job you still look down on them. At least they're trying, at least they're doing an honest days work, which can't be easy in todays job market.

i agree..

Reply 41

SsEe

Original post by Aequat omnes cinis

Pretty much. The majority of jobs these days are service based. Are you going to trust a lawyer, a bank manager, your investment manager, a teacher, or a cashier for that matter, if they cannot engage you in pleasant conversation and maintain eye contact and be confident?

I certainly wouldn't.

I just think it's a bit harsh to take people who lack social skills and put them along with people who can't read or write into the "unemployable" category.

You may have guessed, I have very few social skills. Eye contact is not intuitive and natural for me. It's just how I am and it's never going to change. But I could stack shelves. I could memorize the layout of a supermarket in a few hours and I'd have no problem telling someone where items were. Everything that's practically required is in place. But because I might have an awkward stance, or minimal facial expressions, I may not be trusted? Do people really think that because my eye contact isn't natural, I'll misdirect them just for giggles? Or that I'm not intelligent enough to know where items are? That's the vibe I'm getting from the article and this thread.

BTW, I do have a job but it still worries me that this is the attitude people have towards those without social skills.

Reply 42

jus2sik

Original post by The Cornerstone

From my colleague's description of him, you're right :lol:

i know the type, this old lady last week asked me to bag her £80 worth of store brand shopping (over 20 bags) in the eact order she wanted it, it was a stupid pattern of having everything with the longest use by date on the bottom and the shortest on the top, she was adamant i put her eggs underneath her 2 kilo bag of chips. Anyway at the end of bagging everything she said she didnt like the way i packed her shopping, so she got me to do it all again, 40 minutes later from when she originally came to the check out she discovered her eggs were cracked, my manager was standing near by watching this whole thing and he offered her more eggs and she left, he said to me next time work evenings if you dont want to deal with people like that, and now i never do :u:

Reply 43

Daniellejo.

If half of their staff haven't even got one GCSE then of course they're probably not going to have great literacy and numeracy skills.
Surely they realised this when employing.

And I realise that this fact is an example of how education has failed them but it's just that they sound shocked by the standards of these workers after employing them; as though their qualifications (or lack thereof) weren't clues enough.

Reply 44

Aequat omnes cinis

Original post by SsEe

Bro, don't get me wrong, I don't have exemplary social skills either, in fact, I'm fairly anti-social. Yet it is a fact that people will give people greater trust if they present themselves in a confident manner, smile and maintain eye contact and it simply more pleasant for the customer. People who lack social skills are not nessecarily unemployable. But certainly they are less employable than those with them. For what it's worth, I wouldn't worry yourself too much.

Reply 45

burgergetsbored

Well done for them wanting to go straight into a job rather than doing what half the people do and sit at home bringing in benefits without plans to find a job. I don't understand how you can't know how to make eye contact though, or stack shelves for gods sake! I know they're not things you learn at school, but I mean....they're not hard are they! I've worked at a supermarket before, and it's ridiculously easy. Mind the managers can't really complain too much, they should be training them when they get there anyway (maybe not in maths and English though :P)

Reply 46

SsEe

Original post by Aequat omnes cinis

I think it's just one of those things that are "sad but true". And I should probably hang onto my job!

Reply 47

Aramiss18

How embarressed would you be if one of these kids was your child?! Major parenting failure. It amazes me how nothing is done about children who are dumb as soup. Also, why is everything the fault of schools/teachers? Sure, things have been dumbed down in the last decade but where the hell are parents in all of this?! I'd be a ashamed to have a child lacking such skills.

Reply 48

Aramiss18

Original post by Daniellejo.

If a supermarket is complaining about poor numeracy skills it means they can't use simple addition to figure out which coins to use to give £3.79 in change. I could do that when I was 9 so don't blame the education system or the employer. Anyone who can't perform these sorts of tasks is brain dead. We need more Darwin.

Reply 49

AdzD

Original post by Aramiss18

There is Darwin in Orsdall, only if you achieve educationally your likely to be bullied no end. Same for most of Salford.

Reply 50

Erich Hartmann

Original post by Ham22

Are they employing people who are brain dead? It's their own fault then isn't it.

There are more to the story than just that unfortunately.

These large supermarkets chains are often arm-twisted by councils during the planning permission stages, they are often made to promise that they would take on unemployed youths from the area in which that supermarket will be located at and what often happens is the councils themselves send those 'brain dead' ones to the store and arm twist the management into taking them. Happens not just with supermarkets but plenty of other businesses that can hire significant numbers.

Reply 51

Erich Hartmann

Original post by RyanT

Shouldn't a company expect to train its staff?

That's what they used to do. I had a co-worker in my last job who was in her 60s. When she first started in retail they weren't even allowed near the customers for 2 years because they were being trained up.

45 years ago supermarkets and society were rather different.... and people normally started work as an apprentice, usually for very little pay.

A company should expect to train its staff, yes you're right on that account, indeed there needs to be some training in regard to health and safety as there are long hours on feet and lifting involved, there obviously needs to be training with regard to how to operate the barcode and labelling systems and without a doubt there needs to be training with regard to customer handling........ but something must be terribly wrong if a school system can spit out young people who don't even have the arithmetic as well as oral and comprehension skills to go through such trainings......... and no a company should not be needing to train you how to do simple maths and how to show up at work on time.

Am pretty sure your 60-something colleague would have been told to bugger off 45 years ago if she had consistently showed up for work late and could barely communicate.