I wonder why us shopfloor workers weren't asked.

Another thing. Some potential employers want two references. My current employer is one. Struggling with the 2nd. As the all my employers between my first employer (2003/4) after graduating and current one no longer exist. Then the couple of the professional people I used - one has died and the other has moved abroad and no contact. I really don’t want to use a reference from an employer which I left 17 years ago and I’m a different person now.

Due to difficulty of a second reference, this has put a back burner to looking for jobs
 
Thekwango said:
I assume your daughter politely replied along the lines of…..’No madam, the reason your child’s Christmas is ruined is because of your inability to plan and reserve or order in time the item your child wanted. Hopefully this ruined Christmas serves as a bit of a life education both for you and your child’
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I wish I could something similar when customers ask for £1 Easter eggs on Easter Saturday, pumpkins on Halloween, advent calendars on Dec 1 (one year a customer asked for one Dec 15 - a colleague’s birthday), turkeys on Christmas Eve etc
 
cheesefest said:
Another thing. Some potential employers want two references. My current employer is one. Struggling with the 2nd. As the all my employers between my first employer (2003/4) after graduating and current one no longer exist. Then the couple of the professional people I used - one has died and the other has moved abroad and no contact. I really don’t want to use a reference from an employer which I left 17 years ago and I’m a different person now.

Due to difficulty of a second reference, this has put a back burner to looking for jobs
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You are making up excuses for yourself. Do something. Take this very post as your call to arms.
 
martin363 said:
My understanding is that 3500 to 4000 entirely randomly selected people from the UK population is statistically representative of the entire UK (65m approx), but I am not a statistician, I am sure others can correct me. It does depend on an entirely random sample however from the relevant population being assessed.
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I'm not sure where that's pulled from(?), but when there are many many variables involved you're going to need a larger count than a few thousand. You've got potential anomalies in the results from charity workers, temp workers, zero hours, those benefitting from furlough, etc. But not including anomalies is giving skewed results if your intent is getting the full picture nationally. Then they've included:
arknor said:
2100 total
900 managers & 1200 employees
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I guess the table can work for something basic like whether a jaffacake is a cake or a biscuit, as it generally doesn't matter. Another issue arises from people's own definition of a lockdown, and how the question was worded or implied, the length of the lockdown, etc.

Sure i could be wrong, but managers don't make up 29% of the workforce, so the survey is just rubbish anyway.
 
If you wanted to know what managers and underlings thought then ~1000 each is representative, it doesn't need to be representative of the country if that was not the point of the poll.

The only reason I would question it is due to it not being done by a respected company on the BPC.
 
cheesefest said:
Another thing. Some potential employers want two references. My current employer is one. Struggling with the 2nd. As the all my employers between my first employer (2003/4) after graduating and current one no longer exist. Then the couple of the professional people I used - one has died and the other has moved abroad and no contact. I really don’t want to use a reference from an employer which I left 17 years ago and I’m a different person now.

Due to difficulty of a second reference, this has put a back burner to looking for jobs
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Lie. Lie through your teeth, it's what everyone does whether they admit it or not. Get a friend to be a "reference" if you have to, but just get it done. If you're a good employee (which you seem to be given you have many years of continued employment) then it won't matter.

I've hired loads of people and never questioned any references given to me by referees. It's largely a box-ticking exercise done to appease HR, any decent manager worth his salt will have decided on the second interview whether he's hiring you or not and a bit of research will very quickly tell you whether an employee is worth your time and money. Just because someone's been given a good reference doesn't mean they've not become a heroin addict since.

Good breaks in life need to be created, sitting around and waiting for them won't get you anywhere.
 
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cheesefest said:
As mentioned a few times. People who have never worked in retail in the last 20 years, should be called up like jury service and get told where to work between x-y date. Then get told what hours to work. The same exceptions apply like jury service - carer, illness, booked holiday etc. Those who refuse to do the service will be punished.

It will be an eye opener for many. It’s not an easy job. For me 80% of the stresses at work are customers who moan about petty things.
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One of my mates is a longterm civil servant who has never had another job. He's on his 50s and has no idea what it is like on the outside.

He'd definitely benefit from working in a warehouse, delivering the post in the rain, or working on a site in the freezing cold wind.

It would help him put his complaints about his hard life into perspective...
 
ttaskmaster said:
"struggling to adapt to post-lockdown working life"....
It was only a couple years ago, FFS.... Most of them will have been working like that for at least 5 years, probably 20, and quite likely even longer.

So they struggle to adapt to being alone and working from home, all shut away... now they're struggling to adapt to being back and around people?
Man up, shut the **** up, and get back to work... or just pick up your P45 and **** off - There are plenty of others who'll gladly take your job!!
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Pretty much this.
 
cheesefest said:
I’m not making excuses. It’s not my fault that employers I had for 5 years have gone bust.
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I think his point was don't let the request of 2 references put you off applying.

References are pretty meaningless today anyway. Most big companies don't have the time to give out personal references, all a reference from my employer would say is X worked here from start date to finish date, and held the role of Y.
 
StriderX said:
If you wanted to know what managers and underlings thought then ~1000 each is representative, it doesn't need to be representative of the country if that was not the point of the poll.

The only reason I would question it is due to it not being done by a respected company on the BPC.
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I'd probably feel it better to ask 1manager from each store and 3-5 shop workers from the managers store.
but compile the results separately
 
Its called work, its hard at times. Best we put these folk back into the fields for food then they will really complain about hard work.

me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me
 
To me this is a bit of a non-story as it is basically saying to people "do you want some [presumably paid] time off work?" - my guess is the response would have been similar two years ago pre-pandemic.
Would be more interesting if they stipulated two week lockdown where you do not get paid.
 
HangTime said:
To me this is a bit of a non-story as it is basically saying to people "do you want some [presumably paid] time off work?" - my guess is the response would have been similar two years ago pre-pandemic.
Would be more interesting if they stipulated two week lockdown where you do not get paid.
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This was my take.

I’m not really sure what a lockdown at this point would even achieve as the NHS is coping for now.
 
In the context of this article I think it would achieve a bunch of people not having to go to work. 'Lockdown' is just a way of ensuring that retail, leisure facilities etc are closed not just offices.
 
tlrBeta said:
What ridiculous rubbish is this.

"“For a considerable number of people, readjusting to a workplace environment and the nine-to-five has not been easy,”

Go and tell this to the NHS staff on the front line during covid. It's almost like they don't want to work....who would have thought.
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Who really 'wants' to work? The second I can give it up I will.
 
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