Too Many Companies Are Terrible Workplaces

BuzzFeed reveals uncomfortable truths about Asos and Blue Apron.

In the past five days, BuzzFeed has given us not one, but TWO workplace exposés:

These Asos Warehouse Workers Are Paying The True Price Of Your Order

The Not-So-Wholesome Reality Behind The Making Of Your Meal Kit

You can guess, even before you read the pieces, where these stories are going: workers being asked to labor at top speed for long hours; targets that are difficult to meet, whether you’re picking and packing clothing that needs to arrive within two business days or portioning out 34,000 meals; shifts that can be cancelled or added at a moment’s notice; stress, low wages, and lack of opportunity for advancement.

All of that appears to be the case, and more:

In addition, workers told us they had been docked 15 minutes’ pay for clocking in one minute late, or even on the hour. This was despite there being sometimes long queues for workers to enter and exit the warehouse because of security checks as staff pass through the turnstiles, they claimed.

BuzzFeed News calculated that, based on 15 minutes being deducted on Asos’s standard hourly wage of £7.45 per hour, workers could be paid less than the minimum wage for that hour, at £5.59 for 59 minutes’ work.

And:

In the 38 months since Blue Apron’s facility opened, the Richmond Police Department has received calls from there twice because of weapons, three times for bomb threats, and seven times because of assault. Police captains have met twice with Blue Apron to discuss the frequency of calls to the police. At least four arrests have been made due to violence on the premises, or threats of it. Employees have reported being punched in the face,choked, groped, pushed, pulled, and even bitten by each other on the job, according to police reports. Employees recalled bomb scares, brandished kitchen knives, and talk of guns.

All told, interviews with 14 former employees describe a chaotic, stressful environment where employees work long days for wages starting at $12 an hour bagging cilantro or assembling boxes in a warehouse kept at a temperature below 40 degrees.

I always end up finishing these articles and thinking “what can we do?” followed by “what are we supposed to do, not wear clothes or eat food?” and then by “and why are so many companies terrible? Why do I always have to consider and inevitably compromise my own value system when someone else has created a stressful/unsafe/potentially exploitative workplace? Why can’t these companies just do better???”

But yeah, now we have two more companies to add to the “terrible” list.

Thanks, BuzzFeed.