Communication
The Co-op employs a large number of paid staff and volunteers who work part time or just a few hours a week. The vast majority of volunteers work 2 hours a week in administration roles from home. Team members must communicate effectively with others to ensure our essential processes can be completed.
Employees will be added to or invited to join the Staff WhatsApp chat and they should review messages on the chat before or at the start of each shift.
Team members must read the weekly manager update on the staff area notice board at the beginning of each shift.
As part of your employment, all retail team members will be subscribed to the weekly member newsletter which should be reviewed before or at the start of the shift following its publication. The newsletter is published every Thursday morning.
During their shift, all senior retail team members are expected to review the Slack message board and email inbox on the shop computer regularly and to respond promptly to messages from suppliers and volunteers working from home.
At the Co-op, we believe in a healthy balance between work and personal life. Once your shift is over, you have a right to disconnect and you’re not expected to reply to work texts, emails, or calls, or do anything work-related unless previously agreed or genuinely urgent, for example if another team member has called in sick.
Due to the large cohort of volunteers working the hours that fit with the rest of their lives, there are no designated working hours outside of our retail shop operations. Therefore messages may be sent to volunteer team members at any reasonable time, but there is no expectation that those messages will receive an immediate response.