Thank you & Colleague Reward Update

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Published 23 May 2020 in Things that matter to you

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Thank you

We know that you are doing an incredible job, going above and beyond to help our members, customers and fellow colleagues, whilst adapting to this ever-changing and challenging time. We continue to be really grateful for all you’re doing, thank you.

Our customers continue to thank us for all the great customer service received. Here’s a thank you letter from our customer Helen to our Park Parade Food store. The Home Deliveries have supported her mum as an isolated customer who cannot get to a store nearby. Keep up the great work!

Colleague Reward Update

We announced at the end of March that we had put some additional benefits and rewards in place for at least 4 weeks as a thank you to you, our colleagues for supporting the Society, our members and customers during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently, we extended these benefits and rewards until mid-May, noting that we would have to keep them under review.

Recently, Phil mentioned in his Blog that we would continue the 10% bonus on the base rate of pay for hours actually worked for all customer-facing front line colleagues until 31 May, but at that point, the bonus would no longer be applied. So, we will be removing the 10% bonus rate as from 1 June.

The pay review we implemented in April, which was agreed with USDAW, determined that our minimum pay rate for any colleague would be £8.89 from April and then would rise to £9 per hour from October this year. We also agreed as part of that review that the premium rate for overtime would no longer be applied from the 1^st of April. While we have continued the premium rate as part of the additional benefits and rewards mentioned above, we do now need to implement the agreement. So, this is to let you know that the premium overtime rate will no longer be paid as from 1st June.

In common with many other employers, we have needed to furlough a significant number of our colleagues during the pandemic using the Government’s ‘job retention scheme’ arrangements. These cover 80% of pay, which we have topped up to 100% as that was the right thing to do.

We are hoping to bring many of our colleagues who have been furloughed back to work by the end of June. But, if that’s not possible then, from 1 July, we will continue to top-up the pay of colleagues who remain furloughed but to 90% rather than 100% of pay.

We are still assessing the full financial impact of Covid-19 on the Society, and continue to review the longer term impacts that this will mean to us, and the cost control decisions we will need to make. It’s clear that the economic situation is going to be a lot more difficult going forward, and we are beginning to think about the impact this might have on the Society.

The Board has agreed that the Colleague “thank-you vouchers” will be distributed to eligible colleagues in June this year, rather than the normal late November date. Further details on this will be published over the coming days.

Please note the next period of 20% food discount for all colleagues will be from 5 – 7 June. This is in line with pay day, as it always used to be.

I hope that this is clear, but if you do have any queries, please contact your line manager or the HR advice line on hr.advice@midcounties.coop

HR Advice Line

Following a review of the call numbers received into the HR Advice Line, the following changes will be made to this service from Saturday 23^rd May

Advice line opening hours will move to 8am – 6pm, 7 days a week to reflect the significant decrease in call volumes out of core hours
Colleagues will no longer be required to phone the advice line to notify that they need to self-isolate where either themselves or a member of their household are displaying symptoms of the Coronavirus. Instead, they will report their absence in line with normal absence reporting procedures to their line manager. The line manager should request a self-isolation note from the colleague to cover the period of absence. Colleagues can obtain a self-isolation note through the following link here.

To confirm colleagues will still be required to make contact with the HR Advice Line if they are tested for coronavirus and receive a positive test result.

You will be able to find a copy of the society’s FAQ regarding the coronavirus on colleague connect using the following link here.

Mental Health Awareness Week update

This week we have shown our support for Mental Health Awareness Week. We know Mental health problems can affect anyone, at any time, and here at Midcounties we believe that mental health is everyone’s business.

It was really good to see our partners Cal Major, Our Environmental Ambassador and Paul Thompson from Springfield Mind joining in, providing top tips and recording a personal message to our colleagues on how to manage stress more effectively. Also, hearing from Steve Killick from our Walton Street Food store in Oxford, about his personal journey and the work he is doing to support others, it was really inspirational.

Here is Cal's Tip for today:

Tech-free time

Technology and social media move too fast for our frazzled brains to keep up. Having some tech-free time is a great way to help our nervous systems slow back down to the pace they're most able to function at. Whether that's an hour tech-free before bed to enable better sleep, or a whole day away from the computer at the weekend. I find myself much more able to connect to the real world and what matters most to me, including connecting to my loved ones, when the phone and tech are away.

And Paul's:

Smiling happiness...did you know how much your smile affects others?

In a Swedish study, people were shown pictures of several emotions: joy, anger, fear and surprise. When the picture of someone smiling was presented, the researchers asked the subjects to frown. But instead, they found that the facial expressions went directly to IMITATION of what people saw. It took a conscious effort to stop smiling back.

SO TODAY, SMILE!

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Rewards

Watch what happens and how difficult it will be for another not to smile back to you.

A smile will help lift your mood as well as those around you.

Next step

Try. Smile 😊

Don’t forget if you or your colleagues need any additional support you can contact GroceryAid on 08088 021 122

We want to ensure we are doing everything we can to help you at this time, and if you have any further ideas or comments then please, let us know using the comments section below or via your line manager. Thank you again for all YOUR efforts, it is appreciated

John Street

Coronavirus Co-ordinator

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Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 25 May 2020 00:14

Very pleased to hear that the thank you vouchers will be issued in June this year. I used my previous vouchers recently because I cannot afford to buy any food due to being paid as if I have left school without any qualifications in other words as a Level 3 despite being a qualified teacher, therefore, educated to a Level 7. No Furlough means no Food Bank visit for me. At least I will be able to buy some fresh food or even some frozen vegetables in June. Thanks.

John Street (CEGOVSEC) 25 May 2020 17:28

@Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) Sibel, Thanks for your thoughts and feedback. Regards, John

Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 25 May 2020 21:18

John, saying "thank you" ought to mean something, therefore, I would like you to reply to my question below: Since as you put it the reason for the 10% pay rise was in order to “thank” us, in the first place, then why we are not going to be paid from 1 June? Don’t we deserve to be “thanked” by a 10% pay rise after the 1 June? Because we will continue to put our lives at risk after that date as well. My question is valid and you need to provide a logical, justifiable answer.

John Street (CEGOVSEC) 26 May 2020 12:55

Sibel, We announced at the end of March that we had put some additional benefits and rewards in place for at least 4 weeks as a thank you for our colleagues for supporting the Society during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. We extended these until mid-May, noting that we would have to keep them under review. They were never a permanent measure, but were in line and beyond those offered by many other businesses. Given the extended uncertainty the decision has now been made to end them.

Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 24 May 2020 23:48

It is a great shame that USDAW has agreed the premium overtime rate should not apply from April Fools' Day! A lot of colleagues in Food retail and Childcare are regularly asked to work overtime with the difference the first had been paid premium overtime rate whereas the latter did not even recognised worthy of the same premium rate. Now, instead of adding the childcare colleagues we are now going backward by stopping this altogether. Wrong decision! Please be fair and reconsider!

Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 24 May 2020 23:16

Since as you put it the reason for the 10% pay rise was in order to “thank” us, in the first place, then why we are not going to be paid from 1 June? Don’t we deserve to be “thanked” by a 10% pay rise after the 1 June? Because we will continue to put our lives at risk after that date as well. We understand the so-called "long-term sustainability" of the business, but this is a cooperative & we are its value, or if you like, its 'profit' creators. We deserve to be treated better than that.

Ainoa Gonzalez-Martinez (CHILDNURSE) 24 May 2020 22:27

Thanks for keeping us informed John, but I don't understand why the 10% benefit will not apply from June 1 to people who continue to work, while people who are in furloughed keep 100% until July 1, that it is not fair and we do not have the same benefits. I appreciate the 20% food discount and "thank-you vouchers", but we already had those benefits before Covid-19.

John Street (CEGOVSEC) 25 May 2020 17:27

@Ainoa Gonzalez-Martinez (CHILDNURSE) Ainoa, Thanks for your comments. As you will be aware from 1st June our Childcare business is reopening and the first phase of our Travel branch restart commences. We are bringing more colleagues back from furlough to facilitate this and we anticipate that this will continue. We have reviewed the benefits and feel that we have achieved a fair balance for those now returning to work and those who must remain furloughed due to shielding. Regards, John

Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 25 May 2020 00:00

Ainoa, I agree with you that the 10% pay rise should not be stopped before the end of the pandemic simply because any date put for reconsideration is meaningless when we still will be fighting it until we figure out what to do and stop the pandemic. I also agree that the 20% food concessions and thank you vouchers were not a part of the pandemic response from the society. It is also a shame the Society did not deem worthy of keeping food concessions for colleagues at all times. We really should!

Sibel Taylor (CHILDNURSE) 24 May 2020 23:33

Ainoa, the government extended the Furlough Scheme until the end of October. John says colleagues who have to remain on Furlough will get 90% of their usual wages from 1 July, which means sometime after that date it will be only 80% - what the government pays. We must not forget that these colleagues will have health reasons, risks to be on Furlough still. Considering their wages never were as much as others that voluntarily took 20% pay-cut we have to feel for our less fortunate colleagues.