How strict is your store in terms of working past schedule?

[Hope4Future]

This is something that I've been curious about since my store's previous ETL-HR retired and a new ETL-HR joined the store. I've noticed that she has been much more strict with team members regarding working past schedule. She'll say on the walkie "So and so, you're working past schedule, please come punch out" or something along those lines. Predictably, she is the same way with team members approaching compliance as well (although this is understandable due to how serious compliance is).

Let's say that a team member has a long shift, say from 12:00 PM until 7:00 PM and they already took a meal so they aren't in danger of hitting compliance but they are checking someone out at a register or helping a guest on the floor but it's about 7:10 PM. Would your store's ETL-HR or HR let you know on the walkie to come punch out or would they be understanding that you're busy and will punch out after helping the guest? In addition, the team member wouldn't be scheduled close to 40 hours so they wouldn't be on the overtime report.

Finally, I've noticed that the GM TL and other HR team members also call out on the walkie when someone is working past schedule so I have a feeling that the new ETL-HR has instructed other leadership team members to monitor for team members working past schedule.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

A Control person trying keep hours under alotted projections.

 

[Hope4Future]

I figured that she was perhaps trying to keep payroll under or as close to the projected total like you said Hardlinesmaster. It definitely seems like team members at my store don't like her controlling behavior.

 

[happygoth]

My store has done this sporadically and I can only assume it's when hours are tight. They still call out for lunches but haven't said anything about working past scheduled time in quite a while.

 

[redeye58]

Ditto here.
Some weeks payroll is flexible enough to extend coverage & finish projects
Other weeks payroll is so tight that even call-outs aren't replaced.

 

[DBZ]

The only ones I hear them call out to make sure they have clocked out already are the minors. Most of the time we have some flexibility. Sometimes, we aren't replacing call-outs.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

It depends on time of year or if there's a huge truck that day

 

[StyleStar]

Depends on payroll, if we are overspent leadership micromanages work past schedule.

 

[Ultimate Floater]

To be safe, I always ask if I can stay past my scheduled time if I need to finish up something. Last week they asked if I wanted to leave early because they needed to cut hours. It seems to be up and down depending on the week so I always talk to the TL’s to gauge the situation.

 

[Hope4Future]

All of your responses make sense, I guess it depends on if payroll is tight or there is a huge truck and product needs to be pushed onto the floor. It still happens but I feel like the new ETL-HR was much more belligerent about working past schedule when she first started in June but now that it's the holiday season, there are more hours to work with so she isn't calling out on the walkie as much.

 

[seasonaldude]

It depends on the work center. Inbounds/GM/Style/Tech/Beauty they are fairly stirct about working past schedule without permission, with an exception for tech handling a phone guest. They'll let cashiers stay a few minutes late to wrap up a transaction. Service advocates are often late without issue as they have to have a proper handoff. Fulfillment is the big exception. Clocking out late is almost always acceptable to complete a batch, clean up, talk to the TMs coming in about issues of the day and where to find shit, etc.

Of course, all of the above is always somewhat flexible depending on payroll.

 

[qmosqueen]

Hours are tight to pay for your $200 bonus my hours are cut 15 this week and 10 next week. Wow shame Target just shame on you.

 

[Times Up]

Hours are tight to pay for your $200 bonus my hours are cut 15 this week and 10 next week. Wow shame Target just shame on you.

Other than being end of month, hours shouldn't be tight heading in to Q4.

 

[Times Up]

They'd have fun with me then. I always punched in 5 minutes early and stroked out the end of my shift to grab at least 5 minutes afterwards. Being front end, that's easy to do!

 

[Noiinteam]

We have a ton of hours right now. They are asking certain people to work to 40 hours. I told my SD I would but not to expect it every week, lol. My SD is always remarking that I can work 40. I just laugh and say it's not gonna happen, only when she's desperate.

 

[GRC]

My department doesn't have a problem with it, I often times will stay 5-15 minutes late if needed to finish what I'm working on. Unless it's longer than that I generally don't even say anything about it to a leader as they don't mind, and are usually glad I stayed. Only on a handful of occasions when hours have been low have I been told to make sure I leave on time.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

So many variables, many of which have been pointed out. One I haven't seen mentioned is if there are several call-offs for one day. If there are and especially if the truck is large, usually anyone who can stay is welcome to do so.
I always touch base with my TL if it's going to be more than just a few minutes to finish something up. She almost always says it's fine to take 20-30 minutes and leave my area in good shape. If hours are really tight and I anticipate I might not be able to do everything I'd normally do, I arrange my work so the more critical stuff gets done right and leave less critical stuff for someone else.