A MEMBER of staff at Salisbury’s Tesco Extra says workers were left feeling “unappreciated” after some did not receive Christmas gifts from the company as a thank you for their work over the last year.

The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that in 2020 gift bags were given out to staff at the Southampton Road store but claims that on this occasion a budget for a ‘Christmas bonus’ for the staff was given to charity instead.

“You’ve got to help charity, don’t get me wrong but they donate to charity every month. They didn’t tell anyone they were doing this,” they said.

The staff member felt staff should have received a gift as well as money being donated to charity. “They should donate to charity as well as that,” the worker added.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to is angry about it,” the employee said.

“There’s just a real lack of morale because of it. It makes you feel unappreciated.”

The staff member says that some staff received a chocolate selection box but those not working before Christmas ended up going without.

They say that staff at other Tesco stores including Amesbury were given a gift bag of goodies and a £5 gift voucher each while staff at another store received £5 worth of gifts and a £1 scratch card.

The £2 selection box felt like a “slap in the face”, they said.

“Many members of staff were disgruntled and felt completely unappreciated when it emerged that we weren’t getting anything, and a few days before Christmas, some members of staff received a chocolate selection box as a ‘bonus’ but at that point, a lot of staff had already finished for Christmas,” the staff member said.

“The staff have worked so hard throughout the pandemic, and deserve something little once a year to say thank you. It really makes the difference. We were the only store to sacrifice our gifts and it is disheartening.”

On Christmas Eve the store delivered 50 food hampers to families in need for Christmas with everything needed for starters, mains and desserts for a festive meal on Christmas Day.

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We really value the efforts of all the colleagues at Salisbury Extra who have worked so hard over the past year, and this week the store is giving out New Year goody bags to thank them for their work in 2021.

“In 2020 we were unable to do many of the fun Christmas activities that we usually run in store due to the Covid restrictions in place at the time, and so gave colleagues a Christmas goody bag.

“This past Christmas the store was able to run more of the activities that normally take place, and after widely canvassing colleagues, there was also overwhelming support for giving a small part of the budget to support hampers for vulnerable families in the local community.”

 

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