Can you take your break at the end of your shift?

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Apr 23, 2021
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This has obviously been asked before, but I am looking at a very recent perspective. I work flex and often times it's much easier for me and others to take it at the end of the shift due to the circumstances of covering order-pickups and other projects. Is this something you can technically get in trouble for even if it is coordinated amongst your team?
 
At the least, this would be frowned upon at my store. The thinking is that a break in the middle of your shift does what a break is supposed to do - let you come back from it somewhat refreshed after a snack or just having a few minutes off your feet, scrolling through FB or whatever.
Even in the midst of 4th quarter SFS orders being off the chart, breaks were covered and not expected to be skipped. Still hear TMs over the walkie saying they're taking a break and TM__ is covering for them.
 
People do this at my store but I hate it. I think you should take it before your last half hour. My team will wait until 4 if they are off at 430. Then come back and be like "I only have 15 min which isn't enough time to pick a batch" and then leave. And 4-430 is crunch time some days so we need all bodies that last half hour.
 
If team lead gives the ok then I guess it’s ok but, why would you want to? My well being comes before the needs of Target no way I would ever wait till the end of my shift for a break.
 
Lots of people from the front end, at my store do it. My closing tl says it is not allowed. Nor is taking a 15 next to your 30. I've never done it. I will either take my break or I won't.
 
It's more efficient to just take your break at the scheduled time, if your store does that, we have had and still have the problem where everyone takes a 15 or 31 around the same time and all of a sudden there's only 1 or two people picking when theres 6 people scheduled and they have to pull other people to help when it would be completely fine. If whoever oversees fulfillment is fine with it then its whatever, but it makes other tms lives harder and people have to get pulled and get behind on what they are supposed to be doing which can in turn hurt fulfillment.
 
ASANTS - This is standard at my store and we all like it. That being said, we have a new SD who just started this week so we'll see if there are any changes. Six months ago one of the new ETLs made a bit of a fuss about this and it changed for about 3 weeks before going back. I'm in Fulfillment and pick a lot of SFS batches. That chunk of time after my meal break and before I clock out is ~3 hrs and I kind of get in the "zone" while picking and can be fairly productive. Also, it's kind of nice to sit and decompress for 15 minutes at the end of my shift. Hope this doesn't go away.
 
A lot of Flex TMs do it and sometimes Guest Service team when closing while SETL and closing team lead is doing CO and final walk. I have no problem with it as long as they are up at the TMSC by 1030 so we can arm the building and go.
 
Sometimes it just works out that way but you shouldn't plan it that way. A flex batch goes sideways and you end up digging through a pallet of crap and you don't want to stop and clean up the mess to just come back and make it again. Flex can also add taking a smaller batch with a lot of time left on it when you have short time left on your shift and you don't want to leave a paused cart for someone to pick up.
 
Sometimes it just works out that way but you shouldn't plan it that way. A flex batch goes sideways and you end up digging through a pallet of crap and you don't want to stop and clean up the mess to just come back and make it again. Flex can also add taking a smaller batch with a lot of time left on it when you have short time left on your shift and you don't want to leave a paused cart for someone to pick up.
This. I tell my team this - but I also track who takes breaks when - so when someone is making a habit of this we can have a quiet word and it doesn't become a "thing".
 
A lot of Flex TMs do it and sometimes Guest Service team when closing while SETL and closing team lead is doing CO and final walk. I have no problem with it as long as they are up at the TMSC by 1030 so we can arm the building and go.

why would GSTMs even be in the building at this point? When I’m closing, it’s just me and the Closing TL and sometimes TSS. Everyone else is long gone.
 
We have a closing GSTM every night. They're usually scheduled until 10:30 in order to get the desk cleaned up, salvage on a flat, any remaining reshop sorted into carts & pushed to the back, etc.
 
We have a closing GSTM every night. They're usually scheduled until 10:30 in order to get the desk cleaned up, salvage on a flat, any remaining reshop sorted into carts & pushed to the back, etc.
My store tends to do this too, especially since front end tends to be thinner at night. It's been many nights where there's so much going on at Guest Services that it's easier to take a break around 9:30 or later when it's quieted down some. Getting more stuff done earlier also reduces some of the stress of not leaving on time too (at least that's my motivation for late breaks)
 
why would GSTMs even be in the building at this point? When I’m closing, it’s just me and the Closing TL and sometimes TSS. Everyone else is long gone.
We have closing guest services person every night. A closing SETL is very rare.
 
Taking your last break at the end of your shift was standard procedure for our backroom. As long as the work got done and there was someone in the back to do location checks no one cared, and the team members liked to go on break and then go home. Our first STL gave us a lot of leeway and that enabled us to keep our metrics green. (Our first STL was a great guy, our ETL-HR was awesome, too, as was our backroom ETL. Those were the days...) 😁
Back in the day, we needed our entire team pulling cafs at times and taking breaks after the cafs were completed or at the end of shifts allowed us to have our entire team working when we needed them. The team was happy with the system which worked well for everyone. I don’t know if this was allowed for the front end, but it was ok for the sales floor team. New managers came in and tried to stop it, but were not entirely successful.
 
You can't at my store. I prefer taking it in the middle of my shift anyway, but a 15 is a 15 and I don't really have a problem if people do it as long as they don't lose any productivity.
 
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