Undercover at Sports Direct

[Jimmy Floyd]

I found this article very interesting and revealing:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/09/sports-direct-warehouse-work-conditions

Anyone ever worked in such a hateful place?

[Giggles]

Must be why it's such good value. Wasn't there a thing like this about Amazon before too?

[Davgooner]

A lot of warehouse environments are the same. To cover these temps you usually have a few numpties promoted above their station who see it as a chance to act the cunt with little consequence.

I did some picking work while I was at college and that's certainly the way it was.

[Ian]

Must be why it's such good value. Wasn't there a thing like this about Amazon before too?

Yep, they're meant to be an absolute horror to work for.

[Henry]

Well, that's what you get when labour laws are the way they are. in a civilised society this report would lead to prosecutions.

[Kikó]

Our new allies, the Chinese are outraged by the working conditions and have never seen such mistreatment.

[Jimmy Floyd]

We should be aspiring to the Chinese work ethic if you ask me.

[Foe]

A friend worked there through uni and had told me about this shit. It's not just in the warehouse, the shops use the same search policy.

He said one of his co-workers was so fucked off about the constant searching and lack of trust that he actively looked for ways to rob them of football tops etc. Counter intuitive.

[Yevrah]

It's obviously a rubbish job to have, but their rules and regs look pretty similar to any other retail/warehouse role.

[Henry]

It's obviously a rubbish job to have, but their rules and regs look pretty similar to any other retail/warehouse role.

Being forced to do things outside of the time that you are paid is unreasonable.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I worked in a warehouse once and it was nothing like as bad. It was just here's your ticket, off you go and when you run out of tickets you can go and stack those boxes over there. Suppose it gets worse the bigger the company though.

[Yevrah]

Being forced to do things outside of the time that you are paid is unreasonable.

Course it is, but that happens in many many roles/positions.

[Byron]

Being forced to do things outside of the time that you are paid is unreasonable.

Ha. I probably clock in an extra hour a day on average, unpaid. It's as Yevrah says, it's a nice concept that people get paid only for the time they work but there are very few jobs where that concept actually exists.

[Magic]

He's employing thousands of people instead of machines. Can't win.

[Boom-Boom]

I worked in a large warehouse during school / college and it sounds very similar. I think they've just described your bog standard warehouse job - I thought it was fine. It was much more enjoyable than my 2 months in Tesco's.

The work is not the problem, it's the pay that's the issue. I can't imagine how shit it must be to do a job like that for £6.40 p/h as an adult.

[Lee]

I spent a few yeas doing warehouse work and never came across such treatment. I'd have walked rather than put up with that shit. Being called over the tannoy for not working quickly enough? Being strip searched on the way out? Fuck off.

The bastards running the show ought to be locked up.

[Pepe]

We should be aspiring to the Chinese work ethic if you ask me.

The fuck should we. :sick:


Course it is, but that happens in many many roles/positions.

It does but that does not mean it should.

[Danny]

My mate used to work in one of their shops when we were in college. He was on the football team and we all got issued with bags which had a compartment for boots in the bottom. They never checked it :drool:

He made some good money and we all got cheap boots.

Something like this:

http://www.prodirectsoccer.com/productimages/V3_1_Main/94141.jpg

[Henry]

Ha. I probably clock in an extra hour a day on average, unpaid. It's as Yevrah says, it's a nice concept that people get paid only for the time they work but there are very few jobs where that concept actually exists.

I'm not sure what your job is, but I check emails in the evening and sometimes stay late (there's give and take) but there's a difference between doing it in a decent professional position and in a casual/ minimum wage one. It should be against the law.

[hfswjyr]

No wonder they check things so thoroughly now.

edit* at danny.

[Mr. Malik]

The fuck, it's a sporting goods warehouse not a diamond mine. Such strict security measures are uncalled for and can't be justified.

[ItalAussie]

Ha. I probably clock in an extra hour a day on average, unpaid. It's as Yevrah says, it's a nice concept that people get paid only for the time they work but there are very few jobs where that concept actually exists.

Yep. Grading into the early morning is always a blast.

Academia is a weird one though, because you either switch your brain off totally, or it's always ticking away behind the scenes. Can't bill for thinking. I imagine a similar thing is true in any design or management-type jobs.

[Kikó]

Can't bill for thinking has got my Brent spider senses tingling.

[Yevrah]

I'm not sure what your job is, but I check emails in the evening and sometimes stay late (there's give and take) but there's a difference between doing it in a decent professional position and in a casual/ minimum wage one. It should be against the law.

Why is there a difference?

[Henry]

Why is there a difference?

I'm not an employment solicitor but I think there is actually a distinction between being salaried and being waged by the hour. Plus the fact that in these cases it's regular and you're being coerced, whereas if I do it, it's with some type of agreement.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Because you're being paid by the hour for one and the month for the other. In my contract it certainly says I have to fulfil any extra hours/days that the company requires without extra pay, although that may be Korean enhanced.

[Yevrah]

Appreciate the difference between hourly paid jobs and salaried ones (for want of a better term), but I've always thought that people in salaried positions (in low end unskilled jobs) got a worse end of the deal as the contract still states the amount of hours you're expected to do and you go well over that. Ok, it's got the caveat Jim mentions, but should that really be allowed too?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I reckon flexitime is a pretty sound concept. 'Business leaders' hate it, but then they tend to argue against literally any improvement in the employee's terms, so yeah.

[Shindig]

Flexitime is all over our place but I'd actually hate to keep on top of it.

[Toby]

Flexitime is great but it can only really work in an environment where you trust people to get on with things and judge them on results of their work. It'd be a pain in the arse if you actually wanted to make sure people were doing their allocated hours.

[Shindig]

Yeah, for the most part our lot aren't slackers and fiddlers. Many of them see this as the last job they'll do. As a result, they get militant when their T&Cs are challenged.