What to do when you notice a lot of wrongdoings
I am obviously going to keep this anonymous but I have to share my experience working at Coles over the last two years. As time has gone on I have come to realize just how badly my team members and myself have been treated.
So yes I am part of Coles services. It started off with me never being told to do my learning modules at work during work time. I was always asked to do it asap at home on my off days. This happened to me before I even did my first shift so I thought it was normal and only recently was told I was supposed to do it when I was on the clock. Getting leave is near impossible. I have given 6+ weeks notice to have a weekend off and it’s never given to me without me virtually having to get on my knees and beg to have time off. In two years I’ve not had a single sick day and have had two weekends off (both times being extremely difficult to get this time off)
Both my parents died and asking time off for the FUNERAL resulted in a big conversation. The day my dad died I was on shift and was asked to stay and carry on working until the person who was going to replace me could come in. I was asked if I could do morning clean the day of my dad’s funeral. A female family member of mine had to have a hysterectomy done and I gave 4 weeks notice as I was the only one able pick and drop them off and was refused this time off. Instead was told to come in after dropping them off. Now you’re probably wondering why I stood for all of this? Well if you refuse to come in then your hours get cut the next week. I once refused to come in after giving several weeks notice and my hours went from 24 to 10 the following week. Contracts are thrown at us without any room for negotiation otherwise we are told “then your hours will drop”. We have been told no one can work more than 12 hours on a casual rate.
Not to mention (I’m sure this happens everywhere) but myself in particular am given too many tasks for one person in a short shift. I have been given a shift where I had to do trolley wrap up (over 700 trolleys for a big store) and then do night clean all in the same night which is always given to separate people but I believe is given to me when they need to save money. For 6 months I was given trolley collection shifts as I am a driver and I was always on my own but when there is any other driver there is always an additional person or even two people to stack for the driver. My back is f*#ked from doing all this physical work myself.
When someone doesn’t show up for their shift I am sometimes asked to find the replacement when I am not the team leader nor am I given a team leaders wage. There is no care for any of the team members, no care for our well being but when it’s time for mysay then we all get chocolates and a pat on the back. It’s a joke. If it wasn’t for our department I would say Coles is a great place to work but the unprofessionalism I have experienced and the way others have been treated it’s nothing short of disgusting. I wish I was stronger to spend time with my family at my parents funerals instead of working about whether or not I would get shifts for prioritizing my own mourning or physical well-being
Posted Sep 17, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC