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Sainsburys Probation

Hi everyone so I know this should be on a different forum but I wanted to remain anonymous. I'm coming up to the end of my probation at Sainsburys in 2 weeks time and I'm nervous about whether they'll keep me on. I thought it was going fine but yesterday I didn't have a good shift. Our manager came up to us and told us that we need to work faster and be more productive and that between us 4 colleagues we should be getting the whole department finished by closing time. I thought this was unfair as the colleagues who were on before our shift yesterday literally did hardly any work so we had loads to do yesterday and we usually do actually get our department finished before closing time but our manager was saying that we still need to work faster or "conversations might take place upstairs."

Not just that but myself and another colleague were doing FOA on Wednesday (which is like ordering stock that has run out) but we didn't know that FOA can only be done between 8pm and 10pm so we were doing it and then at 10pm the handset cut off and we couldn't finish. We didn't know that 10pm was the cut off because no one had ever told us we've never been given training. Myself and my colleagues who work our shifts together all started at the same time we are still learning but we've never been given training and we don't have a more experienced colleague on with us to help. Our manager said that this was the first time this whole year that our department has failed to complete FOA so now I feel bad. Our manager also said that other managers have told her that we "talk too much." I think that's unfair too as we only talk if we are standing in the same area while working we don't just stand around having a chat and like I said earlier we usually always get the department finished it's just occasionally we can't manage everything.

I still don't even have a clock in number or a handset log in despite asking several times to be given these. My other colleagues got these a week after joining. Like I said I'm coming to the end of my probation and I don't want to lose my job but I'm worried they might get rid of me even though I work hard but just make honest mistakes sometimes.
Reply 1
To be honest it's not that bad it's tolerable part time but it's just that the management is so unorganised. It took them a month to get me a uniform, I still don't have a clock in number or handset log in, I wasn't paid correctly the first 2 months and I've received no training whatsoever but I've never been bullied or anything by the managers they just have unrealistic expectations and don't give us training but get annoyed when we make a mistake every now and then. The pay is good for retail too £9.20 an hour makes it more bearable to work there part time.
Reply 2
You're right but I guess I'm just desperate. It's my first job and it took me a year of applying to finally get one so I don't want to lose it. I'm already stresses enough with uni I don't want to stress of having to find another job again especially since my current one fits in around my uni timetable perfectly and is close to home.

Sorry about Holland and Barrett. That's just retail isn't it? Get treated like sh*t. We are nothing but numbers to the management.
Original post by Anonymous
To be honest it's not that bad it's tolerable part time but it's just that the management is so unorganised. It took them a month to get me a uniform, I still don't have a clock in number or handset log in, I wasn't paid correctly the first 2 months and I've received no training whatsoever but I've never been bullied or anything by the managers they just have unrealistic expectations and don't give us training but get annoyed when we make a mistake every now and then. The pay is good for retail too £9.20 an hour makes it more bearable to work there part time.


You may not know this, but the company is in a lot of chaos because they've just abolished all team leaders and abolished a third of all managers in the big stores. There are a lot of issues all over the company about pay as that system has changed too and they've just got rid of most of the premiums and stuff and it's lumped on the managers. This is all totally linked to the fact that you get a whopping £9.20 an hour. I worked for the company till not that long ago and before the minimum wage pay rises I earned £2-3 an hour less. Although it's sleight of hand. The company boosted it and are going to freeze it for two years! Fresh is also one of the hardest departments to work on.

They should't have four rookies doing FOA. Your manager is a complete moron! It's not that you can't do it, it's just daft for how much emphasis is placed on it by the store manager/regional manager and someone completely new and unsupervised. Reason manager will be annoyed is in the morning meeting/4pm rumble they'll get a telling off from the store manager. The regional manager may even pick up on it (unlikely).

The training for FOA is on the portal, but it isn't very well written. You simply shouldn't be doing that.
P.S. I thought they were a very poor company to work for. There was a lot of variation in how different stores/departments were run. Some were the height of cushiness before the cuts, others were hell on earth, particularly at demanding weekend shifts with 1 member of staff to cover 50,000 square feet. People who worked in the small/medium stores were generally happier than the big stores that often had a lot of problems.

There was about 20% of the company who had a religious view they were excellent to work for. You always had to be careful what you said around them.

I think they'll probably keep you on after your probation. But challenge everything if they try and let you go. Get a half decent union person or colleague to go in with you.
Reply 5
My pay situation sounds similar to yours at H&B. I wasn't even paid the first month because I wasn't on the payroll for some reason and then instead of paying me ASAP they waited until the next month and just added it on. But then I was told I'd been overpaid so had to pay some back. Then just last week I FINALLY got my pay slip because it's online and yep you guessed it they didn't bother setting up my account for 3 months. So after viewing my pay slip I find out they have the wrong tax code for me and I've been taxed when I should have a personal allowance so I've had to phone HMRC and should get the money back on my next pay. I definitely remember filling out a P46 at my induction but the manager must have f**ked up (yet they have the cheek to tell me I'm not productive enough). Next pay is due on Friday so I can't wait to see what they've messed up this time!

Why did the pet shop hire you if they were closing anyway wtf?

If I do get dismissed after probation I'd be disappointed. Having experience may help get another job but how would I explain to them that I got let go for "not working fast enough" and making mistakes due to having no training?
Reply 6
Original post by Anonymous
P.S. I thought they were a very poor company to work for. There was a lot of variation in how different stores/departments were run. Some were the height of cushiness before the cuts, others were hell on earth, particularly at demanding weekend shifts with 1 member of staff to cover 50,000 square feet. People who worked in the small/medium stores were generally happier than the big stores that often had a lot of problems.

There was about 20% of the company who had a religious view they were excellent to work for. You always had to be careful what you said around them.

I think they'll probably keep you on after your probation. But challenge everything if they try and let you go. Get a half decent union person or colleague to go in with you.


I work in a massive store in fresh foods so maybe you're right. The managers around departments are constantly changing too it's so annoying. I work in the evening until closing time and they expect the whole department to be done by closing time so if it's not done we get the stick for it even if it's the fault of the people who were on in the morning for not doing enough work. And we have extra tasks to do too like FOA, reductions and disposals not just shelf stacking.

I didn't know that we can challenge if they try to let us go? Myself and my colleagues get on really well so I'd think we'd have each others backs. They themselves were saying it was unfair on me especially because I work 6 hour shifts and the manager was saying that in 6 hours she'd be able to work the whole department by herself (load of fu**ing bs that is). If she thinks one person can stack 4 aisles of raw meat, ready meals, cheese, cooked meat, yoghurts, milk and juice as well as other stuff by themselves in 6 hours while also having to do reductions, disposals and FOA then why do they have 4 people on at the same time?
Reply 7
Thanks for the advice that's definitely helpful. If I used them as a reference wouldn't they just tell my interviewer that they let me go though?
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
You may not know this, but the company is in a lot of chaos because they've just abolished all team leaders and abolished a third of all managers in the big stores. There are a lot of issues all over the company about pay as that system has changed too and they've just got rid of most of the premiums and stuff and it's lumped on the managers. This is all totally linked to the fact that you get a whopping £9.20 an hour. I worked for the company till not that long ago and before the minimum wage pay rises I earned £2-3 an hour less. Although it's sleight of hand. The company boosted it and are going to freeze it for two years! Fresh is also one of the hardest departments to work on.

They should't have four rookies doing FOA. Your manager is a complete moron! It's not that you can't do it, it's just daft for how much emphasis is placed on it by the store manager/regional manager and someone completely new and unsupervised. Reason manager will be annoyed is in the morning meeting/4pm rumble they'll get a telling off from the store manager. The regional manager may even pick up on it (unlikely).

The training for FOA is on the portal, but it isn't very well written. You simply shouldn't be doing that.


I do actually know about them removing HR from in store and cutting lots of management roles. I didn't realise just how bad this made things though. I find FOA easy but like I said I was given no training I was taught it by another colleague who is also a new starter and since we didn't have training we didn't know that 10pm was the cut off. If we had received training we would known that it had to be done by 10pm and it wouldn't have happened but they shift the blame on to us. I couldn't even look at the OurSainsburys portal until 4 days ago so I couldn't read the training guides! Despite nagging it took them 3 months to get me access to OurSainsburys.
Reply 9
That's reassuring. I'm just really annoyed at the way they've thrown us in the deep end. If you don't train your employees then what do they expect especially when all 4 of us are new starters. I've managed to clear my uni workload these last couple of weeks so I'll ask for overtime next week and I'll show them that I deserve the job. If they still want to blame me after that then whatever there's not much more I can do.
Out of curiosity. Could I possibly get a verbal/written warning for the FOA mistake or would I have to make a more serious mistake? What sort of things do people get warnings for?

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