Retail Assistant, not web e-commerce designer
Discussion
Once again I turn to the PH masses for advice. I'll leave out the nature of the business as it's not important.
The part-time assistant (4 days a week) in the small, independent high street shop my partner works in (just the two of them as staff) was recently hired on minimum wage and initially their time was split 80/20 between the shop and learning how to carry out repairs at workshop, independent from the main business, run by a separate entity but connected to the shop due to the repairs the shop would send him.
While spending a day a week at the workshop, the workshop owner asked them if they could spruce up the workshop's website for a little extra money (honestly, it was peanuts). She put something together that was basic but nice using Wordpress as she's never made claims to being au fait with web design but knew enough of the basics to cobble something presentable together. All that was needed were a few pages and some photos, nothing more.
The workshop owner has now decided to open up a shop in the same high street, in direct competition in effect, even though they will still be doing the repairs for the original shop. The shop owner isn't best pleased but they've thrashed out some agreement on prices etc. so they don't wipe each other out on a race to the bottom.
A few years ago he paid a 'professional' a few thousand to build a website for him but as is his want, he went for the cheapest option and got a sub-standard product that doesn't work properly and looks terrible. Now there is direct competition he suddenly wants a new website complete with e-commerce... but for his other shop in a nearby town. The shop assistant mentioned earlier has nothing to do with this other branch.
As he knows she's done a site for his supplier-now-competitor, he has said to her (almost verbatim); 'I'm paying for your time therefore you'll do whatever business related activities I ask you in the time I'm paying you for'. In his eyes, this includes building - from scratch - an entire site with e-commerce.
She isn't happy about this as it's not in her job description (or rather wouldn't be if he'd given her one by now) and her skills don't extend that far. She'd have to build everything to do with the site while also managing to run the shop, serve, restock, book in jobs etc. It would take ages and the manager has given no guide or goals to achieve in terms of the build, so knowing how he is she could build something and he'd rock up and say,'That's not want I had in mind'. He has NO artistic vision - hence the shop looking dated and him in complete denial about it.
She would be doing all the above while receiving minimum wage. We build sites at work so I know full well the work involved and the time it takes. I think he's being hugely exploitative, as does my partner and the assistant is upset and anxious about being given a task that she feels compelled to agree to against her better judgement.
We've tried to help by telling her how to phrase a rebuttal and state her position but she's young and relatively new to the job, so still very much on the back foot regarding her confidence and ability to say no.
Any thoughts?
Before it gets mentioned; no, I'm not offering our web design services to him. I did in the past and even at mates rates they were rejected for being more than he wanted to pay hence why he ended up with utter rubbish.
The part-time assistant (4 days a week) in the small, independent high street shop my partner works in (just the two of them as staff) was recently hired on minimum wage and initially their time was split 80/20 between the shop and learning how to carry out repairs at workshop, independent from the main business, run by a separate entity but connected to the shop due to the repairs the shop would send him.
While spending a day a week at the workshop, the workshop owner asked them if they could spruce up the workshop's website for a little extra money (honestly, it was peanuts). She put something together that was basic but nice using Wordpress as she's never made claims to being au fait with web design but knew enough of the basics to cobble something presentable together. All that was needed were a few pages and some photos, nothing more.
The workshop owner has now decided to open up a shop in the same high street, in direct competition in effect, even though they will still be doing the repairs for the original shop. The shop owner isn't best pleased but they've thrashed out some agreement on prices etc. so they don't wipe each other out on a race to the bottom.
A few years ago he paid a 'professional' a few thousand to build a website for him but as is his want, he went for the cheapest option and got a sub-standard product that doesn't work properly and looks terrible. Now there is direct competition he suddenly wants a new website complete with e-commerce... but for his other shop in a nearby town. The shop assistant mentioned earlier has nothing to do with this other branch.
As he knows she's done a site for his supplier-now-competitor, he has said to her (almost verbatim); 'I'm paying for your time therefore you'll do whatever business related activities I ask you in the time I'm paying you for'. In his eyes, this includes building - from scratch - an entire site with e-commerce.
She isn't happy about this as it's not in her job description (or rather wouldn't be if he'd given her one by now) and her skills don't extend that far. She'd have to build everything to do with the site while also managing to run the shop, serve, restock, book in jobs etc. It would take ages and the manager has given no guide or goals to achieve in terms of the build, so knowing how he is she could build something and he'd rock up and say,'That's not want I had in mind'. He has NO artistic vision - hence the shop looking dated and him in complete denial about it.
She would be doing all the above while receiving minimum wage. We build sites at work so I know full well the work involved and the time it takes. I think he's being hugely exploitative, as does my partner and the assistant is upset and anxious about being given a task that she feels compelled to agree to against her better judgement.
We've tried to help by telling her how to phrase a rebuttal and state her position but she's young and relatively new to the job, so still very much on the back foot regarding her confidence and ability to say no.
Any thoughts?
Before it gets mentioned; no, I'm not offering our web design services to him. I did in the past and even at mates rates they were rejected for being more than he wanted to pay hence why he ended up with utter rubbish.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 10th August 12:17
I thought the standard PH response was that the assistant should seize the opportunity to develop the website, put it on their CV and leave to get a better job for a web design company? Fitting it all in around his/her other duties is character building.
More seriously - the owner sounds like a bit of a nob. They'd be better off leaving for something else unless its their dream industry or something. When we're young we sometimes feel we should stick at something for a while because chopping in a job after a few months looks bad or out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, or just fear of change. As we get older we realise that it really doesn't matter, especially at that level.
Perhaps they should try to get a job at the competitor
More seriously - the owner sounds like a bit of a nob. They'd be better off leaving for something else unless its their dream industry or something. When we're young we sometimes feel we should stick at something for a while because chopping in a job after a few months looks bad or out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, or just fear of change. As we get older we realise that it really doesn't matter, especially at that level.
Perhaps they should try to get a job at the competitor
DanL said:
Does the assistant know how to do this? If not, surely the answer is to say no? If they do, well… Decision time I suppose, but if you can be a web designer, why are you a minimum wage retail assistant?
This is the point; she's not. She managed to smarten up an existing few pages in Wordpress and on the basis of that her manager wants her to build a full site with e-commerce. It's way beyond her ability and he expects her to do this while simultaneously running a shop.I saw her today and she's feeling a bit better about saying 'No' and sticking to it when he next raises the question.
DrBrule said:
DanL said:
Does the assistant know how to do this? If not, surely the answer is to say no? If they do, well… Decision time I suppose, but if you can be a web designer, why are you a minimum wage retail assistant?
This is the point; she's not. She managed to smarten up an existing few pages in Wordpress and on the basis of that her manager wants her to build a full site with e-commerce. It's way beyond her ability and he expects her to do this while simultaneously running a shop.I saw her today and she's feeling a bit better about saying 'No' and sticking to it when he next raises the question.
If the owner behaves unreasonably when they learn the limit of their shop assistant’s skills, it’s time to go work for Tesco or someone while telling them to go f
k themselves. I would be inclined to give it a go..... use Shopify and use a template site..... I would give her all the help as well to get her going!!
Then.... once it's built and earning money, lock him out of the admin pages and then leave.
When he comes crawling i'd then charge him £60 an hour to update it when he wants new products put on!!
Then.... once it's built and earning money, lock him out of the admin pages and then leave.
When he comes crawling i'd then charge him £60 an hour to update it when he wants new products put on!!
super7 said:
I would be inclined to give it a go..... use Shopify and use a template site..... I would give her all the help as well to get her going!!
Then.... once it's built and earning money, lock him out of the admin pages and then leave.
When he comes crawling i'd then charge him £60 an hour to update it when he wants new products put on!!
£60/hour? Why the discounted rate? Then.... once it's built and earning money, lock him out of the admin pages and then leave.
When he comes crawling i'd then charge him £60 an hour to update it when he wants new products put on!!
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