PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

Read the mini case study below and identify which aspects are likely to have breached the trainees psychological contract. Use the contents of the lectures to inform your answers. References are required

Some years ago a multi-site retailer decided to grow their own managers by setting up their own graduate training scheme. They recruited a cohort of keen people who were to have two years of training before being given the job of department manager. Most of these trainees were graduates, though some had been working for the company on the shop floor before applying. Some of the successful applicants had applied for several similar training schemes and were therefore aware of the training that other employers were offering their graduate trainees. As is usual with graduate trainees they had placements in a number of stores as part of their training as well as some training days which took place centrally. They also had an induction which lasted two days prior to going out to their first placement.

Stores traded from 8am and 8pm but, unlike shop floor staff who worked for a set number of hours, the trainees had no set starting and finishing time. As there were only a few managers on duty at any one time in an average store the trainees were expected to do the openings and closings in addition to working on the shop floor. The time that should have been set aside for study was often denied to them as they were required to help out on the shop floor. After two years not one single trainee was left they had all moved to other jobs mostly outside the company.