\n<\/p>\n
An autistic man who was let go as an unpaid shelf stacker at a Waitrose supermarket despite volunteering there for years has been offered a job at Asda.<\/p>\n
Tom Boyd, 28, had worked in the Cheadle Hulme Waitrose store since 2021 with a support worker, as his mother, Frances Boyd, said the role gave her son \u201ca sense of purpose and belonging\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post last Friday, she wrote that her \u201cautistic son has been treated so unfairly, and we feel deeply let down\u201d by Waitrose. She said the supermarket declined to give him a paid job despite him offering more than 600 hours to the store \u201cpurely because he wanted to belong, contribute, and make a difference\u201d, and that he was a well-liked member of the team by his co-workers.<\/p>\n
Boyd added that they had only asked for a few hours of paid work \u201cnot as charity, but as recognition for all the time, effort, and heart\u201d Tom had given to the store, and that she and her family were \u201cshocked by how dismissive and cold\u201d the management\u2019s response was, and that Tom was asked not to return.<\/p>\n
The post also claimed that Waitrose had not made any reasonable adjustments for Tom, who has limited communication skills, despite it being mandated by the Equality Act 2010, and that he received \u201cno apology, no thanks, and no recognition for his commitment. Just silence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post led to an outpouring of support for Tom, with Boyd telling the BBC on Thursday that she had been \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by people\u2019s responses and that her son had been offered a job by another supermarket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some great news \u2013 Asda have offered him two five-hour paid shifts a week,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming and they are flexible to say if at any time he is struggling they are fine. How amazing that a company could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as support, Boyd\u2019s Facebook post also led to intense criticism being directed towards Waitrose for its handling of the situation, with some customers claiming on social media that they would no longer visit the store.<\/p>\n
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, decried the company\u2019s \u201ctruly terrible\u201d treatment of Tom in a post on X.<\/p>\n
After the backlash, Waitrose offered Boyd his job back in a paid capacity, but it is understood this offer was declined.<\/p>\n
Burnham also pledged to support Boyd and others like him, saying that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority \u201cwould encourage all employers, including Waitrose, to sign up to our brand new Bee Neuroinclusive code of practice\u201d, a guide for how companies should support neurodivergent employees. He offered Boyd\u2019s mother the chance to be an ambassador for campaign, which she accepted.<\/p>\n
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Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Speaking on Wednesday, a Waitrose spokesperson said the company was \u201cwell experienced in making reasonable adjustments to help people succeed at work\u201d, adding: \u201cWe are sorry to hear of Tom\u2019s story and whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we are investigating as a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Asda said the company \u201chas a supported internship programme and partnership with DFN Project Search \u2013 a national charity for young people with autism or a learning disability \u2013 through which we have welcomed over 30 talented new colleagues into roles across our stores\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen the positive impact this has for the individuals who join and for our colleagues and customers too. So when we heard about Tom and his desire to find meaningful work, we knew he\u2019d be a fantastic fit and we are delighted to offer him a role at his local store,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An autistic man who was let go as an unpaid shelf stacker at a Waitrose supermarket despite volunteering there for years has been offered a job at Asda. Tom Boyd, 28, had worked in the Cheadle Hulme Waitrose store since 2021 with a support worker, as his mother, Frances Boyd, said the role gave her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[17863,5814,15651,3171,1541,9116,10195,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-30468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-asda","9":"tag-autism","10":"tag-autistic","11":"tag-hires","12":"tag-man","13":"tag-volunteering","14":"tag-waitrose","15":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}