JS JOURNAL January 1975

Management development and leadership top the bill at Brighton

Deputy managers take the lead

'YOU ARE ALL POTENTIAL M A N A G E R S and the future success and strength of JS depends largely on you.' Weighty words for an after-dinner speech but spoken by chairman John Sainsbury they aptly set the scene for the company's first ever deputy managers' conference.

Early-risers, and what deputy isn't, enjoy Sunday's sunshine and a splendid view of the West Pier. Below: mad dogs and Englishmen...

Shaking the rain from their coats 175 deputy managers checked in at the Hotel Metropole, Brighton on Saturday afternoon, January 18. A few hours later, after a turkey dinner, they listened while Mr JD outlined the theme of the conference to come. Development.

'This means the develop­ment of you as successful deputy managers and future supermarket managers.' The chairman went on to talk about the four areas of change relevant to the con­ference. Firstly he spoke of the increasing size of the company; secondly the grow­ing size of JS supermarkets and the widening range of goods they sell; thirdly of the technical changes; and fourthly the change in the social and political climate.

Praise Referring back to his first

point Mr JD said: 'The present rate of new branch openings and the retirement pattern of existing managers means that we will need new supermarket managers at the rate of one every two weeks.'

Heartening news for the young audience, average age

32, whose slightly longer haircuts indicated the inroads of the new generation.

Speaking about the social, political and economic stresses and strains he said: 'This has been a traumatic year and inflation, shortages and industrial unrest have made every part of the life of the country more difficult and unpleasant.'

On the brighter side he pointed out that it was in a sense fortunate to be work­ing in an industry which was one of the essential activities of an organised society.

He praised the way in which branch staff handled the recent sugar shortage and expressed concern at '. . . the horrifying pressures staff were under in situations such as this'.

Finally he reminded the deputies of the JS objective: 'We are not just growing for growth's sake, we need to grow and expand in order to fulfil a bigger and more important objective. That objective is to do a better job than any of our com­petitors ; do a better job, not only by giving better value to our customers and a better service to them, but providing our staff and all who work in

• ,

JS with greater rewards and greater opportunity. And that reward is not just a material one; it is a reward in the sense of satisfaction of a job well done and a sense of achievement in that respect'.

Sunshine and two surfers greeted the delegates on Sun­day before they tackled the first of the workshops. Leadership was the subject under the microscope.

First director Peter Snow set the teaser: 'Managers -are they born or can they be created?'

With plenty of food for thought the deputies left to thrash the subject out in small group discussions.

Workshop two, with Mr Snow again in the chair, covered the practicalities of

the job. Checkouts, reception and storage areas, training, safety and responsibilities when in charge of a branch. The agenda read like a deputy's job description.

Monday dawned very wet and grey. But while waves lashed the seafront and a small hurricane roared out­side, gales of laughter could be heard coming from the conference hall at the Metropole.

The cause of the merri­ment was the session headed 'delivering the goods' with director Gurth Hoyer Millar as the speaker.

Mr Hoyer Millar had the deputies rolling in the aisles with his slick presentation. 'Just remember' he told them 'that the JS and contractors'

fleet drives a distance equiva­lent to 3^ times round the world every day - that's why lorries are sometimes late.'

Director Joe Barnes got down to some of the funda­mentals of the grocery industry with his talk on 'buying the goods'; provid­ing plenty of material for the open forum that followed.

After some sticky questions had been asked, and answered, it was presentation time. Five deputies, discussion leaders of Sunday's workshop two, took to the platform to present most professionally the findings of their group's think-in.

Afterwards Mr JD con­gratulated the discussion leaders (Richard Hughes, Hemel Hempstead, Raymond Clark, Portsmouth, Keith Goodswen, Swiss Cottage, Fred Barrett, Beeston, and Ken Barden, Lewisham) and presented a joint prize to the first two, Richard Hughes and Raymond Clark.

Lunch on Monday closed the conference. And 175 deputies started for home. All set for next year's managers' conference?

Board changes — page 8

Soon it's to be JS bach! NEW TERRITORY will be opening up for JS - in Wales.

Work will be starting in the summer on a new 2,000 square metre (21,520 square feet) supermarket and freezer centre development with a 3-storey car park on top at Cwmbran, a new town in South Wales some five miles north of Newport.

Cwmbran was chosen for the first JS venture in Wales because it is a growing town with a youthful population with a high percentage of car owners (the JS car park will hold up to 550 cars).

The population of the town, currently 43,000, is expected to rise to 55,000 by 1981. In addition some 200,000 people live within six miles of the site, giving it tremendous potential.

The supermarket, with its freezer centre, will have all its facilities on one level. Group architect will be Alan Smith from the architects' department, assisted by Alfons Pajak.

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Successful smilers collect their prizes JANUARY 9 WAS A RED LETTER D A Y for 10 JS ladies. They were the winners of the branch smiler competitions, and after a celebration lunch at Dulwich management training centre in south east London, they were presented with their cheque prizes.

'I would have liked to say London for the lunch, were plied with sherry and wine, steak, apple tart and cream. The atmosphere was easy and informal.

Beryl Chamberlain, chief clerk at Bristol, composed a poem on the spur of the moment. It began 'Ladies have a way of making smiles it seems, Perhaps they know the best, just what this gesture means . . .' and received a round of applause from everyone at the table.

"ladies and gentlemen" or even "ladies and gentleman",' said director Peter Snow as he made the presentations 'but no men won!'

But it was not an all women event. Round the lunch table sat directors Roy Griffiths and Mr Snow, departmental director Len Lewis, publicity manager Jim Woods and public relations manager Peter Ireson.

The five winners of the main courtesy competition won £100 each (the competi­tion involved the choosing of six out of 12 important things that branch staff should do for the customer, and putting them in order of priority). The five authors of the winning smiler slogans each won £25.

'The success of the cam­paign was extraordinary' said Mr Snow 'and a lot of differ­ent talents emerged. In the end there was tremendous enthusiasm which you ladies represent.'

Message Mr Snow also thanked the

complete branch operations division for the way it participated, and also those who helped in the running of the campaign.

Talking about slogans he said 'Reading through some of the slogans was absolutely killing, there were some very funny ones!

'The ones we chose just hit something that was simple, had a touch of humour, and portrayed a message.'

The ladies, many of whom had made long journeys to

Run of good luck For Portsmouth cashier,

Ann Rayner, the £100 prize was part of a run of good luck. 'I passed my driving test in the same week, and won a gold watch in a raffle. I'm going to put the money toward a car' she said.

Bromley part-time display assistant Joan Smallcalder, whose winning slogan was 'Never be snappy, just smile and be happy', has decided to put her money into pre­mium bonds and see if she can't add two or three noughts onto the end of £25.

A garden fence, a painting, a fridge and a holiday in Scotland were other solutions on how to spend the lolly.

T think this is the first time I've ever won anything' explained Maisie Dibbell the £100 winner from Churchill Square, Brighton. 'I really went into the competition answers quite thoroughly.'

Said one winner: 'This lunch will be something to remember, it is not often you get to meet and chat with directors.'

Harry — the cool man of the green

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HARRY REEVES plays bowls every day. Indeed bowls could be said to have changed his life.

'I used to be tensed-up and never able to relax' says Harry, who is canteen mana­ger at Buntingford depot. 'Playing bowls is the most relaxing thing a person can do, frustrations just dis­appear.'

After 13 years of keeping his cool on the green Harry has a string of successes behind him. He also has an impressive collection of nearly 100 club badges.

'When you play a new club you exchange badges' he explains.

His latest success is to be elected junior deputy presi­dent of the East Hertfordshire Bowling Association. This is the first step to becoming president in 1977. Already he is booking up hotels and greens for his presidential bowling tour. 'The game is so popular unless you book up two years in advance you'd never get a tour organised' says Harry.

At a very youthful 58,

Harry doesn't fit the popular picture of bowls being the game of old men in their dotage. 'That myth was ex­ploded years ago' says Harry.

'Before the last war, it's true it was a rich man's game. The clubs were very ex­clusive and only retired pro­fessional people had the time or money. Now anyone can play. My "lead" bowler is a lad of 16 and I would pick him any time.'

Throw the jack Bowls is played in fours,

triples, pairs or singles. The object is to deliver (throw) your woods (bowls) as close to the jack (a small white ball) as possible. The jack is thrown by a player called a lead, who throws it to a distance that he likes to bowl to. There is, of course, a lot more to the game than that but it takes an expert like Harry to set you right on the subtleties.

You play with up to four woods and their weight and size is important. 'Put your index fingers and your

Harry Reeves proudly shows off his collection of bowling club badges. On his lapel, his badge of office as the next president of the area association.

thumbs together in an arch' says Harry, 'and that's the size of wood you want.'

Now devoted to the game, Harry took it up almost by chance. 'A fellow I worked with at Haverhill, where I

was chef/manager, persuaded me to come along to the club in the town; I went and never looked back.'

His ambition: 'I would dearly love to play for the County.'

Above: cheques in hand and feeling rich are from left to right; Catherine White, Corby; Joan Smallcalder, Bromley; Beryl Chamberlain, Bristol; Pauline Ward, Gloucester; Ann Rayner, Portsmouth; Carmel Hickman, Wolverhampton; Jill Linger, Waltham Cross; Maisie Dibbell, Churchill Square, Brighton; Julie Eckett, Kentish Town, and Edna Groombridge, Ipswich.

Left: Smiles all round at the celebration lunch.

£500 refund for shoddy weekend BUTLINS has refunded £500 to the SSA as compensation for the upset caused by the dirty chalets occupied by a number of SSA members who spent a weekend at the Barry Island camp last October.

Barry Island was one of three Butlins camps taken over by the SSA for end-of-summer holiday weekends.

Over 6,000 people went on the weekends, but some of those who stayed at Barry Island complained that their chalets had not been cleaned. (See the November issue of the JS Journal page two.)

SSA secretary Alan Kettley said: 'We complained to Butlins and a meeting was arranged with some of their senior executives who apolo­gised and offered to reduce the charge by £500. This works out at about £1 a chalet.

'To try and refund indivi­duals, we thought, would be extremely difficult. So, as the Barry Island weekend was subsidised from the Midland area fund, the money has been paid back to this fund, and the committee will use it to subsidise another big area function.'

Handicapped kids get their cake and eat it CHARLTON'S CHEF, Eric Sieloff, baked a massive cake. It weighed 33 pounds, and contained eight pounds of currants, six pounds of sul­tanas, a pint of sherry, cherries, mixed peel and a drop of brandy.

The cake, baked in Novem­ber, was presented to the Trueloves Home for seriously h a n d i c a p p e d c h i l d r e n , Ingatestone, Essex, on Jan­uary 18, to coincide with a children's party.

To raise the money for the ingredients of the big cake,

Mr Sieloff raffled a smaller cake at the depot. Its winner, storekeeper Patrick Foley, donated this cake to the home for the matron and sisters.

Boys at Trueloves got more than a cake on January 18, for Charlton depot also pre­sented them with a 26-inch colour television set.

Over the year Charlton staff had collected £670 for the home, £250 of which was spent on the television. Part of the remainder paid for the party itself.

Page 2

Drive-in petrol service Fifty-foot giant takes to the JS Road goes for throughput JS'S FIRST PETROL STATION opened quietly at lunchtime on Friday, Jan­uary 10. Why lunchtime?

"That's when it was ready' says John Pinnick, head of textiles and hardware and the man overseeing this new venture.

The petrol station is self-service and part of the com­pany's new Coldhams Lane, Cambridge, shopping centre, which opened on December 3 . It was hoped to start selling petrol when the supermarket andjreezer centre opened but manufacturers' delays made this impossible.

Fixing a special pump fell behind schedule because the Scottish company who sup­plied it closed down com­pletely for a week over hogmanay. Some hangover!

There are six space-age pumps (see JS Journal Christ­mas issue page five) dis­pensing four-star petrol; and at 68p a gallon it's a JS

super-super-save. The average price of four-

star in the area is 73p, although one competitor about half-a-mile away, saw JS coming and is currently selling at 69p.

Unlike most self-service stations, at Coldhams Lane customers drive to a kiosk and pay on their way out without getting out of the car.

No mad rush For a while JS staff will be

on hand to explain how it all works and keep the traffic flowing.

'Very satisfactory is the best way to describe trade' says Mr Pinnick. 'We opened so quietly there was no mad rush of people. Now they know we're open and our price, they will be back. The name of the game is gallonage and customer throughput. After that the profit will look after itself.'

Jennifer's job is to keep them sweet TELFORD is to make JS history. It will be the first branch to have its own customer relations officer.

Jennifer Bull has joined JS to take up this new position, and her job will include answering customer queries and handling complaints from a desk situated in the store.

Her job, which does not officially start until January 28, will allow plenty of scope for personal initiative - one of the elements that attracted Miss Bull when she saw the advertisement for it in 'Home Economies'.

This will not be her first

contact with JS, for she won the Sainsbury Home Econ­omics Award when she was a student at Birmingham Col­lege of Food and Domestic Arts.

Before she joined JS she worked for a Leicester food manufacturer and for Imper­ial Foods at Leamington Spa.

At the moment she is completing an intensive JS training course, which has included visits to head office departments, in particular the buying departments, and also the depots.

She finishes at Sutton Cold-field branch before taking up her job at Telford.

Jennifer Bull

M Y SOU JUST L0UWG6S R p i i o D 1 H 6 H0US£"AU.O«ffC K M SUB6 M Y HUSWVuO IS HHWNC AM AFFAIR. I F<XAK> ANOTH6R SR£Y HAIR T H I S AAOfiMINS AMP MY _ CHRISTMAS SAKE WAS,. soaer iw -me MIPW£

Juggernauts have finally come to JS. Four gigantic 50 feet-long lorries like this one, seen at Basingstoke depot, are now taking part in an experiment carrying out shuttle trips between the main JS depots and an overspill depot at Sunbury, Middlesex.

The units are made up of a

JS tractor, uprated, and a 40 feet trailer, four of which have been hired for the experi­ment.

The main purpose of the huge lorries is productivity. Their sheer size gives them a much bigger capacity - they will take some 24 pallet boards weighing up to 20 tons, com­

pared with a maximum of 14 boards with ordinary JS vehicles. The trailer has an­other benefit, canvas sides, which roll aside to allow the lorry to be loaded or unloaded from both sides simul­taneously.

The canvas sides act as protection from the weather

and save a lot of time normally taken up with sheeting and unsheeting loads, giving a much quicker turn round time.

Branches cannot expect to see these new giants of the road. For the most part they are far too large to get into branch loading bays and are at present tied up on depot work.

Sponsored marathon—and the rest of the news in brief SWIMMING, tandem riding and shaking hands were all novel ways of raising money at the end of last year.

The SSA fund was low at Woolwich, so cashier Nora Tully and display assistant Carol Seal decided that a sponsored tandem ride might be just the answer.

So on a bicycle made for two they set off for Southend.

They didn't quite make it, for after 20 miles of furious pedalling they decided it was time to be homeward bound. But before the trek back they stopped at a police station for written proof of how far they had ridden.

The £35 that was collected meant a free Christmas dinner for all the branch staff.

Staff at Lewisham con­tributed £8-20 to the British Heart Foundation after a sponsored swim by 10-year-old Tracey Hammond.

Tracey wrote to several shops including the JS branch. 'I hope to swim five lengths of the pool at Crystal Palace' her letter ran 'do you think you could sponsor me for a few pence? Please help me to help others.'

Tracey made her five lengths, and overall collected £163-76 for the Foundation from her 400 sponsors.

If you are going to make an attempt on the world

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Evening Standard

handshaking record, where better than outside a busy JS store. That's what members of the West Wickham Rotaract club thought.

West Wickham branch was the scene of their marathon handshake and although they did not reach the target number of handshakes, they made a healthy collection for charity.

Chauffeur tragedy 'WE KEEP EXPECTING him to walk in.' The tragic death on Christmas eve of Alan Jowett, director Roy Griffiths' chauffeur, was so unexpected his colleagues say they still cannot believe he is dead.

Alan Jowett, who was only 43, died after a cerebral haemorrhage late on Decem­ber 24. His wife found him in the garage of their home at Welling, Kent. He had been putting the finish­ing touches to a model train set for his nine-year-old son, ready for Christmas morning.

He had lunch with some of the other chauffeurs as usual. Before he finished work for the day he had a Christmas drink with Mr and Mrs Griffiths at their home, joking and saying how fit and well he felt.

Mr Jowett joined JS as a chauffeur in 1968. He was d i r e c t o r A r t h u r T r a s k ' s chauffeur until Mr Trask retired last year.

All the chauffeurs who were not on call went to the funeral on January 8. Mr and Mrs Griffiths and Mr and Mrs Trask were also there.

STACKS of neatly wrapped presents that clustered round the Christmas tree in the Stamford House canteen now have owners. The presents, nearly 300 of them, were from Blackfriars staff.

The Southern Railway Home received 120 parcels, and the Mission of Hope in South Croydon 47. The rest were distributed to the NSPCC and the three homes in Godalming: Woodcroft, Woodlands and Ivybank.

• • • THE SAVE-A-LIFE FUND for a kidney machine is going great guns. It is over the three quarter mark in only seven months.

Said Eva Jay 'We thought it would take two years to collect the £2,000 needed for the machine, but it looks as if we will reach our target much sooner'.

• • • FREEZING David Richards, tradesman at Dudley, was taken to hospital to thaw out after an unplanned stay in the store's freezer room.

He was moving some frozen foods about the freezer, when he slipped and fell, knocking himself out - cold. For 20 minutes he lay in a tempera­ture of minus 10 degrees, until help arrived.

He was rushed off to hospital suffering from hypo­thermia and shock. But he recovered smartly, and was not detained.

• • • LATE IN 1974 Miss Telford Centre was born. There was a keen fight for this new title among 50 beauties from shops and other units in Telford Town Centre.

JS Telford branch clerk,

Elaine Davis, was pipped at the post; she came runner up to the winner Tina Brown of Glarrys. Carol Holt, also a JS clerk, appeared in the finals.

The contest was the Telford Development Corporation's idea. It was felt that a Miss Telford Centre would be a useful representative at com­ing events.

Six shop managers, in­cluding JS branch manager George Evans, chose the 16 finalists. This was done in two heats as no manager was allowed to judge his own staff.

The finals took place with a commercial director of the Corporation, a headmaster of a local school and the reigning Miss Shropshire as judges.

• • • GLOWING PRAISE from one satisfied customer was published in the local news­paper. 'Thanks Sainsbury girl. You did a lot to convince me of the innate honesty of the British people.'

The customer had lost £1 in the Woolwich branch.

'Optimist that I am, I called at the store an hour later to inquire if anyone had handed a pound in. Someone had . . . . one of the cashiers.'

D • • ONE TOO MANY noughts and a misplaced comma doubled JS's workforce in the last issue of the JS Journal.

This piece of peopleflation was on page three in the story about JS's share option scheme. The number of people eligible (anyone who has been with the company five or more years), should have read 5,700 and not 57,000 as printed.

Page 3

What would your comment be if the pay packets and salary cheques failed to appear? Unprintable?

Pay day is once a week or every four weeks depending which pay system you are on. And woe betide whoever is responsible if that magic slip of paper or wad of notes does not arrive promptly.

The JS pay system is something that affects us all - but how does it work? Who oils the wheels so the pay will arrive on time?

Workers9

payfime Above: computer mystique. Discussing the heart of the Streatham pay system are from left to right, assistant salaries supervisor Audrey McGraw, deputy computer manager John Cleverley, computer manager Paddy Griffin, and salaries supervisor Eileen Norton.

Below: the pace hots up. The salaries team at Streatham gets ready to meet the pay deadline. From left to right, Win Goadby, Bernie Napier, supervisor Eileen Norton, Hilda Clarke, Maureen Bertram and Audrey McGraw.

Two JS COMPUTERS - elec­tronic wizards for the majority of us who think of a computer as flashing dots and yards of paper - tackle the complicated arithmetic of paying 28,000 or so JS people some £3 million every finan­cial period.

One at Blackfriars deals with the weekly wages and another at Streatham handles the four-weekly salaries.

Both computer rooms look a bit like AD 2001 laun­derettes with ultra-modern 'washing machines' which churn out piles and piles of paper - the all important pay slips. At the same time the computers prepare lists of staff paid through banks, and payroll summaries for those paid in cash.

In a nutshell That is the pay system in a

nutshell - but it isn't so cut and dried. Where does the information come from? Who deals with it? And how does it get into the computer?

Enter here a band of people who are largely for­gotten until pay day comes around. The wages and salaries clerks, the people behind the pay scenes.

Their job is to co-ordinate all the information about pay, overtime, short-time, sickness, holidays, national insurance and tax, and docu­ment it so it can be put onto tape for the computers.

This information comes from clock cards, time-sheets, and the administration, per­sonnel, and various other departments.

The computers each have what is known as a master pay file. This carries all the

basic information about everyone, full or part-time, paid by the computer. It includes the payroll number - we each have one - the basic salary, national insur­ance and tax.

If the computers run on this alone you would get the same wages or salaries every time.

So how are the variations introduced? How does the computer know that Joe Bloggs was sick for four days then worked overtime the next?

The payroll number is the key to it all. Additional information such as over­time, short-time, sickness and holiday, is fed into the com­puter. And providing the payroll number on this matches that on the master file, the extra details pass into the computer.

Should the payroll number not tally, then says salaries supervisor Eileen Norton: 'The computer spews it out along with added information and back it goes to the clerks for correction'.

If the computers broke down all would not be lost. JS has been known to buy 'time' on the London Trans­port computer under such difficult circumstances.

No delay The wages and salaries

clerks have a mass of paper­work to do; filling up all sorts of documents for the computer, checking facts and answering questions.

But one thing they can never be is late with their work. No-one is going to take very kindly to having their pay packet delayed. The

weekly wage ticular have very tight scl every day ha which must otherwise it whole proces

Basingstok supervisor, says: 'Once failed and o 12 hours late To us this problem.

'Immediati clerks volun in at 6.00 a morning to log. It's the holidays, we' work to do ii the goodwil staff, and w good team h

Both wag clerks are r people for tl and problem it comes Kingston are manager, Di 'People coll© to discover tl money inc someone, so to notify son

In the bra Wages for

branch clerk responsible the clockcai that sicknes the area offic time is signe She then fills onto a pay sheet which area office.

At the ai translated in the comput document ii permanent i master pay when some< rise or leave

Variable

Page 4

Left: Blackfriars. Money galore. Stan Pitt, centre, and his two veteran helpers tackle the pay packets. Front: Bert Heard, ex-transport office, and back, ex-branch manager Bill Guest.

Right: payout at Basingstoke depot. Len Such and Giorgio Codognotto receive their money from warehouse super­visor Dennis Rushman.

Below: packing up ackers for mass circulation at Basing­stoke depot are, from front to back, Anne Potter, depot cashier Hilda Douglas and Jenny Spiller.

At Kingston a willing team pays the wages and sorts out queries. They are Angela Pank, Sandy Atwill, Pat Harding, Helen Moritz, Audrey Winters, Rose Cooper, Pat Targett (section head), Derek Appleford (area admin manager), Jenny Greenwood, Pam Vogado, Dorothy Ives and Dot Holland. Brenda Marsella is missing from the picture.

overtime, short-time etc, is put on something called a 'mark sense' document which looks rather like a large crossword puzzle.

The documents are ferried to Blackfriars by minicab, put onto tape, and fed into the computer which takes about four hours to run. The end product - pay slips - is sent to the branches where the wages clerk makes up the packets from the takings. Copies are sent to the area offices for reference.

At the depot The job of the depot wages

clerk is rather like that of the branch and area clerks rolled into one. Information is taken from clock cards, time-sheets and other documents. The productivity department works out the bonuses.

Wages are made up from cash taken from the depot's

bank account. Says Basingstoke's Albert

Bartlett: 'We recognise we are a service department for the rest of the depot. The only thing we do ask is that if anyone has a query about their wages they should go to their management first'.

At Blackfriars, cashier Stan Pitt handles the weekly wages for 250 central office staff. He once controlled a payroll of over 1000 when the Black­friars factory was operating. And it was during that time he was involved in an armed hold-up!

Today two pensioners, ex-JS staff, make up the Black­friars pay packets. Cashiers at Streatham and Clapham make up wages there.

Salary saga Salaries are centralised at

Streatham where the com­puter for the processing of

four-weekly salaries is based. Five clerks, headed by super­visor Eileen Norton, handle the salaries of over 5,200 staff and 1,777 pensioners. This figure includes directors who are also paid four-weekly.

Documents stream into the office mainly from personnel and administration depart­ments all over JS. Sometimes the information comes in a massive rush at the last moment. 'You never know when something diabolical is sitting in the post' says Eileen.

It is the job of the salaries office to make all the infor­mation into palatable form for the Streatham computer. Anything it rejects is re­turned for re-checking.

On pay day, once every four weeks, the phones begin to ring. And salaries staff settle down for a day or two sorting out queries from

worried members of JS who think there is some error in their salary.

'If there is something wrong with your salary slip, check it with the manager of your department or the sal­aries office' explains chief accountant Frank Netscher. 'If it is a query about whether a day off has been approved for payment take it directly to your manager. Queries about change of tax code should be raised with the salaries department'.

In the case of people who are not normally resident in one particular JS location, for example engineers, pay slips are sent directly to their home address.

But the job of the wages and salaries clerks does not end there - in fact that's just the 'skeleton'. There are periodic upheavals which have to be tackled such as changes at the beginning of both the tax and financial year. 'It's a mammoth exer­cise to sign off the previous tax year, and start the new' says Eileen.

Deductions Then there was the problem

of threshold payments; the problem of people joining and leaving the firm; special payments; board and lodg­ings deducted from the salary; hire purchase arrears;

Ministry enquiries; and changes in tax and insurance rates when people's personal circumstances change - a lot of work for what is on the face of it a simple job - pay­ing people.

In the opinion of the manager of the remuneration and benefits department, Derek Williams: 'There is a tendency for pay clerks to feel a trifle isolated from people.

'We remember people's names by events that have happened in the past' says Eileen Norton - 'like the chap that was continually rejected by the computer'.

But without the wages and salaries staff JS would grind to an unceremonious halt!

Page 5

Bumps, grinds and grins at Walthamstow hop

Above: A new dance craze hit Walthamstow's Hoe Street branch on January 4 and is now spreading to most parts of Britain. Called 'the Bump', it's apparently like 'hands, knees and boompsidaisy', without the hands and the knees. Demon­strating it at the branch's new year dance are Paul Honour, son of chief cook Helen Honour, and his sister Lin. The evening was organised by management trainee Paul Langdale.

Right: Two members of this group certainly know how to face a camera; from the left are Richard Bricknel (Hoe St), his girlfriend Madge, Mike Leszczynski (Chingford) and Stephen Jones (E Ham).

Conservation job for energy watchdog

Steve Cody MBE

GET SWITCHED ON to switching off and save energy.

It's now against the law to use electricity during day­light hours for advertising; and heating in shops, offices, factories and public buildings must not be over 68°F.

As the Government's con­trols on a national level gather momentum, so JS is working out its own energy conservation programme. Norman Johnson is the man with the task of being both watchdog and innovator; looking for ways JS can use electricity, and so on, more efficiently.

Formerly manager of

branch engineering, Mr Johnson is eminently qualified for his job as JS's first energy conservation manager. JS engineers have long been working on more economical ways of doing things; instal­ling gadgets that turn things on and off automatically, without relying on the dodgy human memory.

'There's no magic wand' says Mr Johnson 'that will cut down on the amount of electricity, oil and gas we use. It's a question of little by little. Remembering to switch off the lights when everyone's at lunch. Turning off equipment when it's not

in use. 'Not that the company will

save much money, no matter how many economies are introduced. Economies will never keep pace with rising costs' comments Mr John­son.

Still who would like a bill for close-on £2 million dropping on the mat this year. This is what JS's elec­tricity bill is expected to be during 1975.

In 1973/4 the average elec­tricity bill at a medium-sized JS store was about £10,000. This year it's expected to be about £15,000.

A lot of money. But what's more important, it's a lot of energy we can't afford to use wastefully.

APPEARING in the New Year's Honours list was JS's Steve Cody who has been awarded the MBE.

Mr Cody, a great JS character with an 'explosive way of getting things done' started work with JS at the age of 16 as a learner butcher. Early in 1974 he retired as JS distribution manager based at Blackfriars, a position that he held with distinction.

During the war he was a major in the Indian army, serving in the Far East.

Returning to JS he started up the depot ladder, with an appointment in 1951 to run the then only depot, in Union Street. He was manager of Basingstoke depot in 1967-9 and of Charlton in 1970.

Mandy is top of the depot menu

t MANDY WATTS is a dishy 19-year-old who works in the staff restaurant at Buntingford depot and without doubt one of the nicest things on the menu; it's no surprise therefore that she is the depot's choice for the finals of the Miss JS com­petition in February.

The city smoke is definitely not for Mandy. Born in Buntingford, she now lives, with her husband Paul, only a stone's throw away in the village of Reed.

'I like visiting big towns' says Mandy, 'but I couldn't live in one, it's too much of a mad rush.' Not that her pace of life is slow, her pastimes include plenty of sport and grass track car racing.

Mandy joined JS less than two months ago but it was more like a family gathering than starting a new job; Mandy's mother, brother and eldest sister all work at the depot!

Distribution director says goodbye GURTH HOYER MILLAR visited all the JS depots for the last time as distribution chief, before taking up his new board job looking after JS's property and develop­ment programme, and hand­ing over to Len Payne, JS's newest main board director.

Mutual respect and a great number of friendships have grown up during Mr Hoyer Millar's 10 years on the depot side of the business. Consequently his last visit was something of an occasion.

It was sherry all round at Hoddesdon depot when Mr Hoyer Millar said his good­byes, on December 18. En­gineering manager Charles Phillips presented him with a set of crystal champagne glasses, on behalf of the management top ten.

Tongue in cheek, Charlton depot, on December 4, chose the Charlton Conservative Club as the setting to present an executive brief-case to Mr Hoyer Millar, a liberal candidate in the last election!

Watch this space was the request at Buntingford depot on December 19. At an informal buffet lunch depot manager Owen Thomas handed over an empty picture frame with the words: 'Con­trary to the normal situation at Buntingford we have not met our programme in this respect.'

Artist Martin Cowan, who is d i s t r i b u t i o n s y s t e m s manager, distribution, was unable to finish a watercolour of Mr Hoyer Millar's home in time. Depot work had kept him too busy!

Page 6

^JOURHAl

Letters: The Chairman's thanks From Mr John Sainsbury, chairman. I should like to take advan­tage of the columns of the JS Journal to express my thanks to all staff for the splendid spirit of enthusiasm with which the 'Smiler' campaign was supported. There is no doubt it captured everybody's imagination and was a talking point throughout the business.

One could say with some truth that we haven't had much to smile about in the last three months and I fully realise that with today's problems and difficulties -rising prices, shortages, gen­eral frustration and gloom, it's not always easy to raise a smile, but it's under just these circumstances that a smile means - and helps - most.

I would also like to offer my special thanks to all those who took part in the com­petitions and organised special events, all of which made the campaign so much more worth­while and interesting.

Finally my congratulations to the winners and to those people at this end who thought up all the ideas.

With best wishes for 1975.

Grading blues From Tony Gayfer, engineers Clapham. A proportion of JS staff are against the twin ideas of job descriptions and a graded salary structure, in principle. I am not among them, but I have nevertheless been vigor­ously critical of the JS system since its inception, and equally of the way in which it has been implemented. It is perhaps unreasonable to ex­pect incisive analysis in depth from the JSJ, but surely the December article need not

Appointments John Ellen has been appoin­

ted head of security for the company. He joined JS on December 16. As head of security Mr Ellen will be responsible to director Roy Griffiths and a member of senior management.

His main duties are to advise on security at company level and also the operational aspects of security in the head offices.

Bob Cooper has been appointed financial analyst in the financial appraisal section at Stamford House. He replaces Derek Pretty who was recently appointed special assistant to director Joe Barnes.

Mr Cooper joins JS from SpillersLtd.

Long Service We congratulate the follow­ing employees on receiving long service awards: 40 years: C H T Sanders (Basingstoke) Miss G E Potter (Greenford) LH James (Blackfriars) 25 years: Miss G V Hibbard (Black-

have been quite so trite and superficial.

Graded salary structures and job descriptions have been in widespread use in many countries since 1945, and there is ample reading on these topics. Yet even after several years the JS system lacks significant features that appear to be commonplace elsewhere, such as joint worker/management mem­bers on the grading com­mittee, or properly defined means of grading respon­sibility. Such virtues as do exist are watered down in application. No wonder 45 per cent of head office staff expressed positive dissatis­faction with the system in the last opinion survey.

I was not involved in the preparation of my first job description, and when I got my copy it read like a 'back of envelope' draft. It was incomplete, there was no logic in the order of duties, and different words and phrases were used for the same roles, tasks and respon­sibilities.

Since those early days I have helped others to draft their own job descriptions with considerable help from individuals, but little from the system. The H pages of notes are about as meaningful as the instructions on a road tax application form, and not much more helpful.

A fair proportion of staff seem to be paid over the top of their bracket, presumably because their managers feel (and who's to blame them?) that although a better grade is merited, the system can't be beaten.

The job description/graded salary structure is the inter­face between the company and the individual at all

friars) A D Holley (Hitchin) H R Leonard (Blackfriars) D A Cope (Basingstoke) R Langley (Charlton) R W Stripp (Bromley) W J Flin (Clapham)

Retirements Harry Brackenborough re­

tired on January 3 after 16 years with JS. He worked in the driver report centre at Charlton depot; although he trained as a baker and con­fectioner, and for 17 years had his own business.

Indeed he joined JS as a confectioner and worked in the canteen bakery at Black­friars until it closed. He then did a spell in traffic control before moving to Charlton.

A keen sportsman, he plays tennis regularly,and says he is convinced exercise has kept him fit. It must be true; he has never had a day off for sickness in 16 years.

Arthur Gilbert, manager at 858 Woking branch, retires on January 25 after 45 years with the company. He started his long career at South-bourne. From there he

levels; it determines what is done and how it is rewarded. 'What is done' determines how effective each of us can be in the organisation; 'how it is rewarded' plays a large part in also determining how effective we are prepared to be. As such it is of paramount importance to both company and staff. In the interests of both the JD/GSS system should be treated as seriously as productivity, hygiene, safety or fire precautions.

At present the interest and concern at top level, and the training and guidance which are (rightly) undertaken in those activities are in scant evidence in this aspect. Com­plaints and proposals for change all too often receive the clich6 reply 'if you don't like it you are quite free to go whenever you wish', rather than being seen as problems which affect the company adversely even more than they do the individual. The tone of your article, that 'all is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds', is not in my opinion a step in the right direction.

Derek Williams, manager, remuneration and benefits department replies: There is, as Mr Gayfer says, ample reading on graded salary stryctures, since the concept goes back much further than 1945.

The company's salary structure is based on inten­sive research and exam­ination and the system finally selected was the one best geared to the needs of JS. It matches the recommend­ations of one of the best works on salary structures available (the report of the National Board for Prices

worked at a number of branches, with a break during the war years as a flying officer in the RAF.

In 1951 he was made-up to manager at 130 Ealing; he also managed 51 Ealing and West Byfleet.

A 'rather large' garden will be seeing a lot more of him in retirement he says.

Ewart 'Nick' Nickels retires on January 25 after 25 years with JS. He started at the Stockwell branch and then moved to Oxford, where he gained his red tradesman button.

The war saw him in the RAF and he served in India and Burma. After the war he worked at a number of branches including the old Victoria service shop. He ends his career as senior skilled tradesman in pro­visions at the new Victoria branch, the last of the original Victoria staff.

Swimming and gardening are among the things he likes doing in his spare time.

Miss Helen Emerson retired on January 4 after 13 years with JS. She spent the greater part of her career as chief

and Incomes (no 132) pro­duced in October 1969) and is a system on which we regularly take advice from the leading UK consultants.

The number of grades, width of salary brackets, and overlap between grades follows almost precisely the recommendations of the re­port based on a careful assessment of over 5,300 different company practices.

Mr Gayfer infers that the company does not treat job grading and salary structures as seriously as it should and complains of the lack of training and guidance. He should know that the subject features regularly on junior and middle management training courses and on courses organised for JCC representatives. The remuner­ation and benefits depart­ment staff are always avail­able for consultation and furthermore the company has followed a careful pro­gramme of information to all staff and is now well ahead of most others in this area in that it publishes full infor­mation on the salary struc­ture, including the salary scales.

Finally, Mr Gayfer com­plains about 'a fair propor­tion of staff' being paid over the top of their grade. Again I wonder what he considers is a fair proportion of staff and what he is basing his comment on. The facts are that when the structure was first introduced 9.8 per cent of staff were, because of age, service etc, being paid over the top of their grade; today the figure is less than seven per cent - and that after movement of the grade maxima has been restricted, by Government policies, in two successive years.

clerk at Woodford, until it closed late last year, when she was transferred to 426 Ilford.

Miss Emerson is not com­pletely severing her ties with the company, she intends to return to Ilford to work part-time a couple of days a week. But not until she's had a nice long holiday!

Albert Quinney retired on January 17 after 26 years with the company. He was a storeman in the central stores at Charlton depot. A Londoner, he started his career with JS as a ware­houseman at Blackfriars. He moved to Charlton in 1970.

Thomas 'Tom' Sawyer re­tired on January 18 after 14 years with JS. He started as a porter and was soon made a chief warehouseman. Tom was a senior store serviceman at the New Maiden branch at the time of his retirement.

Life, so they say, begins at 40 so with 25 years of 'living' behind him it's perhaps not surprising that he tells us his nickname is 'Tom the ram'. To keep in trim he swims and is a keen gardener. He's also a bingo fan.

Voucher bonus? From Mrs Bennet, part-time cashier, North Cheam I should like to record my thanks for the Christmas bonus Sainsbury's gave us. Could I ask in future years that staff are given Sainsbury vouchers, so that they could spend it in the store; as most of us lost more than half our money in income tax.

Frank Netscher, chief accoun­tant replies: The company's Christmas gift is taxable. It is an addition to an employee's remuneration for the week or period in question (just like overtime) and the tax payable is calculated in either case on precisely the same basis.

If JS gift tokens were given instead of the cash payment, the employee would still have to pay tax on an equivalent amount.

The tax man has clamped down on the practice of many years ago when turkeys were given as 'Christmas boxes.'

Phone frustration From RB Hill, office manager David Solomon's letter con­cerning telephone calls raises a serious problem which has a direct impact on our public relations and I am therefore surprised that you did not think it worthy of a more sensible answer.

We certainly suffer from congestion which causes frustration to callers trying to reach us and to our own staff ringing out.

As you say, a new exchange with increased capacity is on order for late 1976, and until then, we must do all we

Walter 'Wally' Shorter re­tired on January 11 after 48 years with the company. He started at the Hastings branch and was a poulterer by trade. In 1934 he went to work as a 'relief at Bexhill. Forty years later he was still there!

Bexhill is only partially self-service and Wally looked after the poultry, until the introduction of frozen birds. When he retired he was senior serviceman at the branch.

Bertie Colwell retired on December 29 after a long illness. He had been with the company for 43 years and was a senior/leading butcher.

During his long career he worked at Balham, Morden, Sutton, Kensington, Putney and finally Wimbledon.

After a long spell in hospital Bertie will be taking things easy.

FOUR POPULAR LADIES with over 45 years' service between them retired from Feltham branch on January 4. They were housekeeper Catherine Curran (14 years), and display assistants Dorothy Challice (13 years), Nellie

can to help ourselves in easing the load on the equipment and the operators.

Your suggestion to route calls through depots hits us in one of our busiest areas and would increase con­gestion on our tie lines which are already working to capacity.

Instead of that, I would rather offer readers the following brief suggestions which will be of positive help in reducing exchange congestion :-• Keep your calls short and

to the point. • Ask your callers to make

maximum use of any direct exchange lines you have in your departments.

• For Head Office, avoid external calls at the peak traffic time, which is at mid-morning.

• Before calling head office, use your branch directory to make sure of the exten­sion number you want.

• Please do not hold on for calls - ring back. This will reduce congestion if we all doi t .

• Finally, if you have any ideas or suggestions for helping to stem the tide for the next eighteen months or so, please drop me a line - it could help us all. I hope that staff will

consider that these are more practical alternatives than your 'wheeze'.

Letters are welcome and should be addressed to the editor. Don't forget you can dictate one by using the Journal's phone-in service on Blackfriars extension 2363.

Langheim (10 years) and Jessie Vigurs (8 years). The following employees have also retired. Length of service is shown in brackets. Mrs B Reid (9 years) F Parker (9 years) Mrs D Croft (8 years) Mrs A Locke (8 years) Mrs E Wickham (8 years) Mrs V Cassidy (7 years) Mrs F Bennett (6 years) Mrs D Britton (5 years) H Moore (3 years)

JOURNAL is published every four weeks for employees of J Sainsbury Limited Stamford House Stamford Street London SE1 9LL Telephone: 01-928 3355 ext2804 Editor: Richard Gaunt Assistant editors: Diane Hill Phyllis Rowlands Designed by Sue Lamble in the JS Design Studio Printed in England by Alabaster Passmore and Sons Ltd, Maidstone

People

Page 7

New system beats the backdoor jams

A BACKDOOR EXPERI­MENT designed to reduce stock loss by tightening-up on security and document­ation procedures has been introduced at Feltham branch.

The branch is typical of many, with a high volume of trade and a goods receiving area layout which is not particularly good. With up to 140 deliveries arriving every week, the problem of unloading and checking is a mammoth one but it must be done properly.

Cinderella Stressed Len Lewis, depart­

mental director in the branch operations division: 'Man­agement attitudes to back­door organisation must change. In the past it has been something of a Cinderella as far as organisation is con­cerned. Everyone must realise how crucial to profitability the efficient operation of the backdoor is and give the problem as much attention as all the other departments within the shop.

What has been done at Feltham amounts to a big 'tidy-up'. The unloading bay has been cleared of all per­

manently stored goods, and the buffer area and produce room reorganised.

The space saved in this way has provided room for marked out lanes where goods can be meticulously checked. Each type of goods has its own checking lane, and as each lane is separate, access is easy. Once goods have been checked, they are whisked upstairs to the ware­house in the lift, or placed in designated lanes in the buffer area to go into the shop.

JS deliveries are normally easy to deal with and are checked first and put away, leaving time for checking non-JS deliveries after the lorry has left. Direct de­liveries from suppliers are checked in the usual way, in the presence of the driver.

Under the new system documentation has been made easier. The existing back door logs have been replaced by a single simplified version.

In a corner of the loading bay a special desk has been provided, divided into sec­tions for each type of delivery, with clear instructions how that delivery should be dealt with above the section.

Use of the desk will help to keep the various types of

goods receiving documents in order and aid checking and surveillance - the whole receiving area is clearly visible from the desk.

Organisational changes have also been introduced at Feltham to coincide with the new look in the receiving area - a member of manage­ment will now always be present at the receiving bay and will be responsible for the correct documentation.

Attitude Eddie Ricketts, manager of

branch trading, who worked out the scheme with Chris Baker and Evan Tidman of the branch productivity ser­vices department at Clapham said: 'I wanted to ensure that the system we put in was practical from the point of view of my own experience of van checking as a junior manager. If the new system is followed by all managements and the correct att i tude adopted to the back way problem, then the increases in efficiency must have a beneficial effect on all other parts of the store.'

Raymond Sims, manager at Feltham commented: 'The good thing about the scheme is now the whole of the management team is involved in the backdoor operation and that everybody has become very security minded as a result. We were a bit sceptical of the change at first but now we are convinced that it is much better.'

Plans are in hand to extend the experiment to other branches in the future.

Right: warehouse manager Sid Hutchings takes in a consignment of cream watched by deputy manager Jim Birch. Behind them note the clear warehouse with its marked out checking lanes.

Left: Jim Birch, deputy mana­ger of Feltham, at the new goods receiving desk.

Roy Griffiths becomes deputy chairman and 'Robbie' Roberts joins the board A NEW JOB for personnel director Roy Griffiths, the creation of another board director and two new depart­mental directors was an­nounced on Monday, January 20.

Mr Griffiths will become a deputy chairman, providing assistance to chairman Mr J D in co-ordinating and directing the company's operational and admini­strative activities, chairing certain board sub-committees and deputising for him in various inter-divisional and inter-departmental liaison activities.

Mr C Roberts is to join the board as joint mar­keting director, working alongside director Joe Barnes. This appointment will allow Mr Barnes more time to take on responsibilities relating to marketing which the chair­man no longer has time to

undertake. The new departmental

directors are: Mr E J Russell who suc­

ceeds Mr Roberts as depart­mental director of the grocery division.

Mr R A Clark, who becomes a departmental director in the personnel division.

Stays the same In the statement issued to

the company on Monday, the chairman stressed that the responsibilities and re­porting relationships of other departmental directors will in no way be affected. In particular there will not be any change in the role of Mr Simon, the deputy chairman, who will continue to act as chairman in the absence of Mr JD.

The company development programme remains under

the direction of Gurth Hoyer Millar. The responsibilities of any other board members, other than those announced, remain unchanged.

Roy Griffiths (above) was on the board of Monsanto Chemicals until 1968, when

he joined JS. He was appoin­ted to the JS board as personnel director a year later, in 1969. He became chairman of Sainsbury/ Spillers Limited in 1974 and is currently chairman of the management committee of the Institute of Grocery Dis­tribution (IGD).

Mr Griffiths, who is 48, was an open scholar at Keble College, Oxford where he read law. He qualified as a solicitor in 1952.

E 'Jack' Russell joined JS as a stock clerk in 1933 at the age of 16. He was PA to the chief grocery buyer in 1946. By 1953 he had become a junior buyer and in 1965 a senior buyer in the grocery department.

Mr Russell was appointed deputy head of the grocery division in 1974. He is a master member of the IGD.

C 'Robbie' Roberts (above) was 25 when he joined JS in 1958. In 1962 he was manager of the statistical department and two years later, head of

the sales office. He became senior buyer in

grocery and non-foods in 1968 and was appointed de­partmental director of the grocery division in 1973.

He has a BSc in economics.

Angus Clark, after graduating from Cambridge, where he gained a BA, joined Meredith & Drew, biscuit manufac­turers. In 1966 he left, as man­ager of a factory in Halifax, to join JS's depot division. He managed the warehousing at Basingstoke and Buntingford depot and in 1969 took over as depot manager at Basing­stoke.

Mr Clark, who is 40, moved to Blackfriars late in 1973 to become depot division distribution man­ager. In December 1974 it was announced that he would be appointed senior personnel manager - employee relations.

Page 8

What would your comment be if the pay packets and salary cheques failed to appear? Unprintable?

Pay day is once a week or every four weeks depending which pay system you are on. And woe betide whoever is responsible if that magic slip of paper or wad of notes does not arrive promptly.

The JS pay system is something that affects us all - but how does it work? Who oils the wheels so the pay will arrive on time?

Workers* paufime

Above: computer mystique. Discussing the heart of the Streatham pay system are from left to right, assistant salaries supervisor Audrey McGraw, deputy computer manager John Cleverley, computer manager Paddy Griffin, and salaries supervisor Eileen Norton.

Below: the pace hots up. Thi salaries team at Streatham gets ready to meet the pay deadlin>. From left to right, Win Goadby, Bernie Napier, supervisor Eileen Norton, Hilda Clarke, Maureen Bertram and Audre- McGraw.

Two JS COMPUTERS - elec­tronic wizards for the majority of us who think of a computer as flashing dots and yards of paper - tackle the complicated arithmetic of paying 28,000 or so JS people some £3 million every finan­cial period.

One at Blackfriars deals with the weekly wages and another at Streatham handles the four-weekly salaries.

Both computer rooms look a bit like AD 2001 laun­derettes with ultra-modern 'washing machines' which churn out piles and piles of paper - the all important pay slips. At the same time the computers prepare lists of staff paid through banks, and payroll summaries for those paid in cash.

In a nutshell That is the pay system in a

nutshell - but it isn't so cut and dried. Where does the information come from? Who deals with it? And how does it get into the computer?

Enter here a band of people who are largely for­gotten until pay day comes around. The wages and salaries clerks, the people behind the pay scenes.

Their job is to co-ordinate all the information about pay, overtime, short-time, sickness, holidays, national insurance and tax, and docu­ment it so it can be put onto tape for the computers.

This information comes from clock cards, time-sheets, and the administration, per­sonnel, and various other departments.

The computers each have what is known as a master pay file. This carries all the

basic information about everyone, full or part-time, paid by the computer. It includes the payroll number - we each have one - the basic salary, national insur­ance and tax.

If the computers run on this alone you would get the same wages or salaries every time.

So how are the variations introduced? How does the computer know that Joe Bloggs was sick for four days then worked overtime the next?

The payroll number is the key to it all. Additional information such as over­time, short-time, sickness and holiday, is fed into the com­puter. And providing the payroll number on this matches that on the master file, the extra details pass into the computer.

Should the payroll number not tally, then says salaries supervisor Eileen Norton: 'The computer spews it out along with added information and back it goes to the clerks for correction'.

If the computers broke down all would not be lost. JS has been known to buy 'time' on the London Trans­port computer under such difficult circumstances.

No delay The wages and salaries

clerks have a mass of paper­work to do; filling up all sorts of documents for the computer, checking facts and answering questions.

But one thing they can never be is late with their work. No-one is going to take very kindly to having their pay packet delayed. The

weekly wages clerks in par­ticular have to work to a very tight schedule; for them every day has its allotted task which must be completed otherwise it will hold up the whole process.

Basingstoke depot wages supervisor, Albert Bartlett, says: 'Once the computer failed and our work arrived 12 hours late on Wednesday. To us this meant a real problem.

'Immediately the wages clerks volunteered to come in at 6.00 am the following morning to clear the back­log. It's the same at bank holidays, we've got five days' work to do in four. You need the goodwill of the wages staff, and we've got a very good team here.'

Both wages and salaries clerks are reliant on other people for their information, and problems can arise when it comes in late. Says Kingston area administration manager, Derek Appleford: 'People collect their pay only to discover there's no holiday money included, because someone, somewhere forgot to notify somebody else'.

In the branch Wages form only part of a

branch clerk's job. But she is responsible for seeing that the clockcards are checked, that sickness is reported to the area office, and that over­time is signed by a manager. She then fills this information onto a payroll preparation sheet which is sent to the area office.

At the area office this is translated into documents for the computer. A punching document is used for any permanent alteration to the master pay file, for example when someone gets a pay rise or leaves the firm.

Variable information:

At Kingston a willing team pays the wages and sorts out queries. They are Angela Pank, Sandy Atwill, Pat Harding, Helen Moritz, Audrey Winters, Rose Cooper, Pat Targett (section head), Derek Appleford (area admin manager), Jenny Greenwood, Pam Vogado, Dorothy Ives and Dot Holland. Brenda Marsella is missing from the picture.

overtime, short-time etc, is put on something called a 'mark sense' document which looks rather like a large crossword puzzle.

The documents are ferried to Blackfriars by minicab, put onto tape, and fed into the computer which takes about four hours to run. The end product - pay slips - is sent to the branches where the wages clerk makes up the packets from the takings. Copies are sent to the area offices for reference.

At the depot The job of the depot wages

clerk is rather like that of the branch and area clerks rolled into one. Information is taken from clock cards, time-sheets and other documents. The productivity department works out the bonuses.

Wages are made up from cash taken from the depot's

bank account. Says Basingstoke's Albert

Bartlett: 'We recognise we are a service department for the rest of the depot. The only thing we do ask is that if anyone has a query about their wages they should go to their management first'.

At Blackfriars, cashier Stan Pitt handles the weekly wages for 250 central office staff. He once controlled a payroll of over 1000 when the Black­friars factory was operating. And it was during that time he was involved in an armed hold-up!

Today two pensioners, ex-JS staff, make up the Black-friars pay packets. Cashiers at Streatham and Ciapham make up wages there.

Salary saga Salaries are centralised at

Streatham where the com­puter for the processing of

four-weekly salaries is based. Five clerks, headed by super­visor Eileen Norton, haindle the salaries of over 5i,200 staff and 1,77? pensiomers. This figure includes directors who are also paid ffour-weekly.

Documents stream into the office mainly from personnel and administration deroart-ments all over JS. Sometiimes the information comes iin a massive rush at the last moment. 'You never k:now when something diabolical is sitting in the post' says Eileen.

It is the job of the salaries office to make all the infor­mation into palatable fform for the Streatham compiuter. Anything it rejects is re­turned for re-checking.

On pay day, once e;very four weeks, the phones b>egin to ring. And salaries : staff settle down for a day or two sorting out queries ffrom

Left: Blackfriars. Money galore. Stan Pitt, centre, and his two veteran helpers tackle the pay packets. Front: Bert Heard, ex-transport office, and back, ex-branch manager Bill Guest.

Right: payout at Basingstoke depot. Len Such and Giorgio Codognotto receive their money from warehouse super­visor Dennis Rushman.

Below: packing up ackers for mass circulation at Basing­stoke depot are, from front to back, Anne Potter, depot cashier Hilda Douglas and Jenny Spiller.

worried members of JS who think there is some error in their salary.

Tf there is something wrong with your salary slip, check it with the manager of your department or the sal­aries office' explains chief accountant Frank Netscher. Tf it is a query about whether a day off has been approved for payment take it directly to your manager. Queries about change of tax code should be raised with the salaries department'.

In the case of people who are not normally resident in one particular JS location, for example engineers, pay slips are sent directly to their home address.

But the job of the wages and salaries clerks does not end there - in fact that's just the 'skeleton'. There are periodic upheavals which have to be tackled such as changes at the beginning of both the tax and financial year. 'It's a mammoth exer­cise to sign off the previous tax year, and start the new' says Eileen.

Deductions Then there was the problem

of threshold payments; the problem of people joining and leaving the firm; special payments; board and lodg­ings deducted from the salary; hire purchase arrears;

Ministry enquiries; and changes in tax and insurance rates when people's personal circumstances change - a lot of work for what is on the face of it a simple job - pay­ing people.

In the opinion of the manager of the remuneration and benefits department, Derek Williams: 'There is a tendency for pay clerks to feel a trifle isolated from people.

'We remember people's names by events that have happened in the past' says Eileen Norton - 'like the chap that was continually rejected by the computer'.

But without the wages and salaries staff JS would grind to an unceremonious halt!

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