An autistic man who was told he had to stop stacking shelves at the Waitrose supermarket where he had volunteered for four years has now been offered a job by a rival chain.
Frances Boyd said she was “overwhelmed” by how people had responded to her talking about her 28-year-old son’s experiences at Waitrose’s store in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester.
Tom Boyd had been working unpaid there since 2021, accompanied by a support worker. When Frances asked in July if her son could be offered “just a few paid hours”, Waitrose head office told her Tom’s work experience placement had to end.
Frances said: “We’ve had some great news – Asda have offered him two five-hour paid shifts a week.”
‘Raising awareness’
She added: “It’s 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.”
Tom received the backing of Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham, who posted on X that Tom had received “truly terrible” treatment and promised to “support him to find another placement that works”.
He said Greater Manchester Combined Authority “would encourage all employers, including Waitrose, to sign up to our brand new Bee Neuroinclusive Code of Practice”.
Speaking with Frances, who broke the news of Tom’s job offer on Radio Manchester, Burnham said: “Good on you for raising awareness because we need a huge awareness campaign here.”
She accepted his on-air offer to be an advocate for the campaign.
Speaking on Wednesday, a Waitrose & Partners spokesman said it worked with a number of charities to provide work experience and was “well experienced in making reasonable adjustments to help people succeed at work”.
“We are sorry to hear of Tom’s story and whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we are investigating as a priority.”
Frances said her son, who has limited communication skills, started at the Waitrose store as part of his skills development for the workplace further education course, and volunteered two mornings a week.
She said he was “so proud of his work”, which involved putting stock out and tidying the shelves, and was praised for his work ethic by managers.
“He gave over 600 hours of his time purely because he wanted to belong, contribute, and make a difference,” she said.
Frances praised and thanked staff at the store for supporting him and said the decision to end his association had been taken by Waitrose head office.
She added: “They included him and were absolutely brilliant.
“I think he was just under the radar – all was running smoothly until it went to head office.”