From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
- Dec. 16, 2015 -
Supply Chain News: Is Working in a DC like Toiling in the Gulag?
Undercover Report by UK Paper Finds DC Job is Tough, Demeaning - Is that Just the Way it Is?
SCDigest Editorial Staff
SCDigest has done a number of stories about tough working conditions in distribution centers over the past few years.
That includes an article about sweltering conditions in an Amazon.com fulfillment center near Allentown, PA that caused dozens of workers to require medical attention; another featuring a first-hand account of the less than pleasant life an Amazon FC worker enjoys from a reporter from Mother Jones magazine that got a job at one such facility; one piece on an episode of the TV show "Undercover Boss" that found challenging conditions for workers at an Oriental Trading Co. DC, including one man who was unloading trucks in roasting temperatures; and a group of workers at a 3PL run by Schneider Logistics for Walmart in California who claimed they were regularly denied rightful pay and labored under abusive conditions, etc.
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| Extreme pressure on productivity, the searching employees for purloined items - those types of practices seem to be becoming almost universal, in retail/eCommerce distribution at least. |
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What Do You Say?
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Now comes another, as the UK's The Guardian newspaper this week unveiled a scathing report on working conditions in a DC in that country operated by Sports Direct, a success retailer there. That included having two writers get jobs in the facility for undercover reporting purposes.
You can get the gist of the piece when The Guardian notes early on that the 800,000 square foot facility is locally known as "the gulag."
Most workers at the DC make the UK's minimum wage, about $10.00 per hour in US currency. The operation has a sizable percentage of immigrant workers from Eastern Europe - indeed, signs in the building are written in English and Polish. Many are temporary or seasonal employees. The company employs some 2000 DC associates in peak season.
Among the aspects of the job that the paper finds abusive are that workers seen by supervisors not working as hard as they should be are reprimanded over the load speaker system. "Please speed up with your order as soon as possible," The Guardian says the system "barks" to many throughout the day.
The article says that there is also a daily end of shift search, "part of Sports Direct's zero tolerance of theft," that involves workers lining up before being ordered to strip to the final layer above the waist and empty their pockets. They are then asked to roll up their trouser legs to reveal the brands of their socks and expose the band of their underwear. Occasionally workers are hauled into a side room for a more detailed search.
The interest in apparel brands comes because most branded clothing is not allowed to be worn by workers in the DC - apparently even for their underwear. All told, workers are given a list of 802 sports and clothing brands they are prohibited from wearing, strangely including Sports Direct's own brands. Under constant surveillance from cameras, if a worker is spotted wearing unauthorized clothing he or she is immediately pulled aside by security guards, The Guardian says.
The daily end of day searches require most workers to spend about 15 minutes in unpaid time before they can leave the building after their shift has ended. (This is an issue that has been battled out in US courts, with retailers mostly winning on the now pay for timre for searches practice.)
Interestingly, the Guardian report criticizes Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley for under-investing in technology in the DC.
Ashley "believes productivity gains promised by the new technology are non-existent unless you know what products your warehouse will be handling years in advance," The Guardian reports. "Instead, he focuses on building a retail machine whose cogs almost entirely consist of people: cheap people, typically from Eastern Europe, who understand little, if any, English."
One relatively new worker to the DC, who had previous experience in a more automated UK warehouse, tells the paper that he was astonished at the scene: "It is all paper-based. There are no computers or anything."
But it turns out that invisible to the workers is some sophisticated technology to optimize store replenishment based on near-real time understanding of what items are selling in which stores.
"But is hard to see how this key system could possibly work without lots of cheap labor doing menial jobs," as The Guardian sees it.
Workers can expect to walk about 20 miles per day on the job, the company tells new employees (we assume that gets them their healthy 10,000 steps per day and then some).
(Distribution/Materials Handling Story Continues Below
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Every employee's performance is published outside the staff cafeteria - showing what percentage of their target they have achieved next to their name. The best performing employees are listed in the "premier league," in keeping with the company's sports theme. Others we assume are relegated to the minors.
