ASOS CEO refutes claims of warehouse employee mistreatment
ASOS CEO Nick Beighton has refuted claims of staff mistreatment at its Barnsley warehouse saying the etailer took the welfare of its staff "very seriously".
The business had been the subject of a three-month investigation by Buzzfeed in which it was claimed staff were "treated like machines" and subject to "overbearing" security measures at the facility which manages the orders for the young fashion etailer. The facility is managed on behalf of ASOS by logistics firm XPO.
Beighton issued a statement entitled "Our People" in which he said he was "disappointed that inaccurate and misleading" things had been said about how it manages the facility.
"We want every single person who works with ASOS directly, or for one of our partners, to have a great experience and feel respected and valued. Where we’ve been able, we have tried to set the record straight, but some misrepresentation continues," Beighton said.
He went on to list in detail the practices in place at the facility, the location for which was chosen in 2011 because it was an area of high unemployment and, claims Beighton, it wanted to "make a difference to the area". He said that of the 4,000 employees at the facility 80% are from the local area and 81% are permanent, full-time employees (ASOS does not and never has used zero-hours contracts, Beighton stressed).
He added that while ASOS outsourced the running of its facility to XPO "we know that we can never outsource the responsibility for our people".
The facility operates and Employee Forum with representatives elected by workers and, claims the leader of the forum, the GMB union (which has done much to spread the word of alleged malpractice) has failed to secure sufficient membership at the business to unionise it.
“I’ve worked at Barnsley for five and half years and it means a lot to me that I’ve been elected to represent my colleagues. This campaign by the GMB to spread false information has been going on for years and we are all tired of it. We are part of a team where proper training is given, new incentives are being brought in regularly, and the building we are working in has gone from strength to strength," said Terry Green the elected leader of the forum.
Brighton went on in his statement to outline in detail practices around contracts and wages, security, working conditions and engagement with the local community. It can be read in full here.
