Open Until 10pm, But At What Cost To Staff?
Betfred has announced that from October, all shops in the South division will open until 10pm, 7 days a week. The change has been labelled an ‘exciting step forward’, but exciting for whom exactly?
The reality is that it’s anything but an exciting step forward for the majority of staff who will have to work these hours. We already have a significant number of members who work until 10pm in other chains and areas, and the feedback we’ve had is that it can be highly problematic.
“Area I work in is rough at night, it is very scary. When I leave I don’t feel safe at all because I don’t get out of the shop until 10.30pm… I have told my line managers that I don’t feel safe but they don’t care”
The most significant issue with late night working is of course safety, particularly where people have to work alone. The reality is that working late night shifts puts people at higher risk. This is made worse by the fact that we’re still receiving reports that basic staff security features aren’t up to scratch in some shops: missing or broken mag locks on the doors, missing or broken bandit screens, faulty panic buttons, or security response teams that are slow to respond to calls. It’s inexcusable. If the senior management who choose to implement late night opening hours were forced to work in shops on their own, we’re pretty sure the problems would be fixed pretty quickly!
This is part of a much wider overall picture of violence and abuse that betting shop members have to face on a daily basis at work. Senior management can and should do more to address the vulnerability of betting shop staff; where they fail, we intend to hold them to account.
The second issue is the fact that not everyone can work late nights, perhaps because of childcare or transport issues or there may be medical reasons.
A Better Approach
A better approach would be for Betfred to staff longer opening hours on a volunteer basis. offering premium rates of pay for those who do volunteer.
Presumably it’s considered that and discounted the option because it expects staff to swallow the change without extra pay.
Advice
If you’re asked to work hours that you genuinely cannot work, or you have raised concerns about security issues that have been ignored, you should contact the union’s Advice Team as soon as possible on 01234 716005 or email us confidentially at in.confidence@workaffinity.co.uk.