The Smell of Bullshit, part 83: Ask Lush Anything.

Last year we applied for a grant of £7,000 from LUSH UK to help us with our work at The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice and to help us create the first purpose-built animal hospice, and to give end of life care to terminally ill abandoned companion animals and rescued farmed animals.

We were declined, but we accepted that, given that they receive many applications for funding each year.

However, a couple of weeks after it declined our application, Lush chose to screen Crannog, a documentary about our work, at its film festival. We were pleased and thankful for their interest, but neither we nor the director received any payment or publicity from Lush UK for them using our film, nor did we expect or want to, but Lush Film Festival benefited from showing our work.

We enquired and were asked to reapply in light of these circumstances as they said it seemed like we should get their financial support. We have just had an email to say we’ve been declined again.

It seems that the work of a tiny charity run by two volunteers is valuable enough for a multi-national multi-million pound company to use and profit from, but not valuable enough for it to support us financially and help us do the work they clearly think is good enough for them to capitalise on.

Ahve spent years raising the money we need to make aw this happen, and Adam has spent years designing and building it, and this grant would have been enough to complete this project we have spent every day for the last three years working on, every bit of it from our souls. We’re knackered, and this would have been the piece that made it aw come the gither.

Ahm actually greetin ahm so disappointed.

I don’t have their permission to post it here; I hope they don’t mind. You can get more information about them here.

Lush Film Festival? They get more pretentious every day. And benefiting from someone else’s hard work without giving them any credit or payment? How surprising.

The Smell of Bullshit, part 78: That Pesky Public

Posted on 09/08/2018 by southsidesocialist

In part 77, we talked about Lush’s campaign related to the undercover police officers nicknamed “spy cops,” and how upset many of the public were. A little while ago, I received this email from a Lush staff member.

Hello,

I am currently a sales assistant working in a UK store. I’ve been following The Smell of Bullshit ever since I started to find my own store’s management getting steadily worse. This morning I received the following e-mail forwarded from the management, entitled “Campaign Solutions”:

Hey everyone,

In what seems like a life time ago, I took the chance to catch up with Mark at the summer meeting about the Spy Cops campaign and shared some of my thoughts about what happened. I think we all know that the way the public (or at least a selective few members of the public) acted in a way which put our teams in a very uncomfortable position. Whilst it would be amazing if those people could learn from their actions and change the way they behaved to our teams now that the campaign has passed, it seems unlikely. Instead I asked Mark what we can be doing as a company to better prepare our stores, our teams, and ourselves to be able deal, in full or partially, with the fallout that ensued.

So this is what I am emailing for as Mark has asked me to put together a list of what we think we need. It might be that you feel that we can’t prepare ourselves and we just have to show resilience and bounce back from the negativity. Or you may think that there is a lot more; resources, training, etc etc. Whatever your opinion, I would be grateful if you could share the following Google Form with your teams so that we can see a big picture of what the staff on the front line think.

[Link redacted]

The form is anonymous so staff should be as honest and solutions focused as they want to be.

Once I have a good variety of answers, I will pass this back onto Mark an the campaigns team.

Thanks in advance everyone and if you have any questions, then let me know.

You’ll notice, of course, that there’s no suggestion that the badly-thought out campaign and deliberately inflammatory advertising is at all to blame. No doubt as sales assistants we’re supposed to be responsible for trying to explain the campaign in full to irate customers. I’m sure all the customers Lush has managed to upset will be entirely fine with taking all the blame for Mark’s self-righteousness. And as a staff member just trying to do an honest day’s work, I not thrilled with the prospect of having to just suck it up the next time Mark makes my day that much more difficult while he has everyone else clear up his mess.

This e-mail annoyed me enough to feel that Lush customers ought to see it. I’m fine with it being posted on your blog, if you want to do so, though with the usual riders of anonymity from my side. Much as I don’t like to be here, I do still need this job.

Thank you for time and the effort put into the blog,

I’m sure there were some members of the public who were abusive to the staff, because there are always dickheads somewhere. But that entire email to staff is as lacking in self-awareness as a tablecloth. It makes colossal bell-end Piers “Morgan” Moron (the colossal bell-end) look insightful.

The Smell of Bullshit, part 75: Whistleblowing in the Wind

Posted on 17/12/2017 by southsidesocialist

An email from a Lush employee (edited to remove some identifying details).

I’ve been working at Lush for two months, as a Christmas temp and I had no intention of applying for a permanent position afterwards anyway. I shouldn’t be made to feel too nervous in the workplace right? I’m here to get the job done, and I bloody well do as I’ve used Lush loyally since I was about 10.

They didn’t hire as many Christmas temps as they wanted for Christmas (hired just over half of the number they wanted) and our manager has disappeared – no one seems to know if she’s sick or what but she’s on the rota.

Anyway so they get two assistant manager-y type people from head office sent to help us with the Christmas period. One of them is just *pure* evil. Beyond awful. She makes everyone feel extremely tense and uncertain about their work (even supervisors and permanent staff!) she totally isolates the temps, and a number of random incidents that I will list later.

Anyway, I know for a fact that several people now (including me) have called the Whistleblowing Hotline about her and her actions – me and at least 6 others so far. And what has Lush done? Absolutely nothing. So naturally, I wrote my notice in on Sunday. I’m very fortunate in that I have another job offer if I do leave Lush but so many of my colleagues don’t have that option and need the money!

When I started at the branch it was pure bliss and I couldn’t see a single thing wrong. Apparently our candy shop report from October was 2 stars – I read through it and honestly thought what bollocks it was. I’ve been visiting that store as a customer for years and couldn’t disagree more with what the report said.

Anywaaaaaaaayyyyyyy, back to this nightmare manager. She’s extremely rude and I know she was a manager at a Lush store in Europe – and her apparent claim for being so brash and purely awful is ‘well that’s how they did it there’. No. Don’t drag a nationality down because you’re a horrible person. She’s trying to change the whole shop and she’s succeeded because everyone now hates working.

Now for the list of things she’s done:

• Told a senior member of staff to ‘get a grip and come to work’ when she was struggling with mental health.
• Told a permanent member of staff who is pregnant to stop standing with her hands holding her stomach as it’s not ‘open’ enough.
• Told the temps that they’re ‘not as much use’ as other permanent members of staff whose actual abilities in the store are no greater than ours.
• Unprofessionally ‘bitched’ about another temporary (not a Christmas temp, a summer temp who was kept on) member of staff who asked her a question on the shop floor when it was quiet.
• Tells the new temps that the shop is doing x,y and z wrong when we know absolutely no better (we’ve been there two months!)
• Often rubs the backs and waists of members of staff on shop floor in a rather inappropriate and frankly (for me, anyway) uncomfortable manner.
• Constantly interrupted our absolutely lovely assistant manager at the Christmas Meeting when she wasn’t even partly presenting (she was sat with the rest of us)

And as I said, Lush head office or whoever manages the whistleblowing hotline has clearly done nothing. Absolutely nothing has suggested there will be any change. Can’t wait to leave.

OK, let’s break this down.

Depending on the length and severity of a mental illness, it could be classified as a disability under equalities legislation and therefore the person who is ill would entitled to protection under that legislation such as reasonable adjustments. Even if this person’s illness doesn’t warrant being classified as a disability, telling someone to “get a grip and come to work” is at best unhelpful and could be construed as bullying and harassment. I recommend that anyone in that position joins a union and gets help.

Pregnancy is absolutely a protected issue, and rather than telling a standing pregnant woman to change her posture, perhaps the manager could provide her with something to sit on. I would advise this worker to join a union and get help to ensure that all the relevant health & safety assessments have been done, and to ensure she’s not being discriminated against in relation to her pregnancy.

Telling staff they’re not much use, complaining about them when they ask a question, and criticising them for doing things wrong when they haven’t been told how to do them right is bullying, and it’s also a really stupid management technique.

Unwanted physical contact, depending on the context, could be bullying, assault, sexual harassment etc. I would suggest the workers who don’t like it explain how they feel to the manager in question and ask her to stop. If she continues, log every incident, and make formal complaints. Of course, raising it with the union is important too – join!

Interrupting someone – could just be clueless bad manners, could be bullying. See above.

Running a whistleblowing hotline and then not bothering to deal with the issues raised is just a waste of everybody’s time and money.

A quick request – given the huge numbers of people coming forward to disclose sexual harassment and abuse in many other industries and workplaces, it would be naive to think it doesn’t go on in manufacturing and retail. If you have examples, please do let me know – email to the usual address. #MeToo

The Smell of Bullshit, part 74: Consistency (Constantincy?), Thy Name is Not Lush

Posted on 02/04/2017 by southsidesocialist

A couple of emails have come into the blog over the past few days (emails to southside socialist at hotmail dot co dot uk) which suggest that the problems within Lush previously raised by employees here haven’t been resolved. This is one of them, with identifying details omitted.

You absolutely have permission to post this, with any identifying details left out or omitted. I’m doing this to warn other people and so wouldn’t want to have it come back to bite me.

Thank you for your kindness, it’s been difficult as I did really love the job itself. The company set up is very very flawed with major problems everywhere. Overall it was a toxic environment and that’s my silver lining for having left.

I’ve read your blog for the entirety of my career at Lush, I used it as a warning for me to get out when things got bad. I found I didn’t listen, however I should have.

I was recently dismissed, without any form of disciplinary warning (verbal or written). Their excuse for this was that my service only stood at 1 year 8 months, and the minimum for a proper disciplinary was 2 years.

The reasons they gave me were poor attitude, reluctance to work and unprofessional attitude on social media. I found these reasons to be ironic and somewhat insufficient as I had been sent to work to London with them twice through my consistent hard work both in store, and on their social media accounts as their social media representative. I also found it ironic that one of the reasons was unprofessional attitude on social media due to the fact that the company who praises themselves on allowing staff to be who they want to be, and hiring people solely based on performance, and not of personal background. The other two reasons were based upon two weeks of developmental feedback. I don’t think it’s fair that my whole career with them was whittled down by a bad fortnight.

I had also disclosed to my manager that I was having mental health problems, and was seeking help from the NHS a week before my dismissal meeting took place.

I was given a four weeks paid notice period, and asked to leave immediately. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, and questioned everything I’d done wrong (one of my pieces of feedback was that ‘I looked like i didn’t want to be there’). I felt more so embarrassed because a manager of mine had recently been demoted for having 7 counts of bullying raised against them. This manager had a chance to appeal the decision, and was still given a job, just not one as high up as they had before.

This highlights how utterly inconsistent Lush is as an employer. They’re supposedly great to work for, and I just think that people need to learn that all that glitters is not gold with Lush. I’ve moved on now, but please do keep me anonymous. I just wanted to tell my story as a warning to other young folk getting excited about a career with Lush. Lush doesn’t give a fuck about what you want. If you’re not management, they just view you as a drunk student working part-time. That’s all you’ll be to them, I assure you.

It’s too late for this person’s career with Lush, but my advice to anyone, in any job, is make sure you have joined an appropriate union, and at the first sign of anything worrying, get their support. That’s what they’re for.

A couple of other emails have come in from someone else. We’re in the process of discussing what they would like published, and they are providing me with certain documents as evidence of their story. It’s another of the sort of story that makes me want to tear my hair out. So watch this space.

The Smell of Bullshit, part 73: Fire Hazards and Sexual Harassment – What a Place to Work!

Posted on 28/08/2016 by southsidesocialist

Another email from an ex-employee of Lush, who worked at a shop in south-east England. I’m not going to reproduce it here whole because I don’t want the woman identified, and also, some of what she says could well entice the trolls who think women are asking for it. There is some discussion of sexual harassment in this post.

I’ve just discovered some of your blog posts regarding Lush, and so much of it rang true to me that I would like to share my experience with you. I applied to be a Seasonal Sales Assistant in 2014, and managed to get an interview. This was my first ever job interview so I was incredibly nervous. My interview was around five minutes long and predominantly consisted of product knowledge questions, I then did a two hour work trial where I was put on the shop floor with absolutely no prior experience or training, to speak with customers. It was terrifying. I was a young and naïve Lush obsessive at the time, but I had NO IDEA how to sell these products. I was given no guidance whatsoever and only given help when I had to ask a more experienced colleague on behalf of a customer.

This is poor. If you want your staff to do a good job, you have to train them.

I somehow managed to be accepted for the role, and due to my rose tinted glasses and the seemingly nice manager, I was really excited. I then worked at Lush from October-December and it was absolutely dreadful. I revised the Lush website for HOURS in my spare time so that I could do an adequate job as I was given no formal training, and I was never praised for working as hard as I did. We had a trainee manager at that time who was best friends with the manager and they would always bitch about other colleagues and sometimes even customers while on the shop floor, they would really intimidate their less favourite ones (which included me) and make them feel stupid in front of everyone.

Some people will argue that seasonal (Christmas) staff shouldn’t expect training because they’re there to do a short-term job at the busiest part of the year. But surely it being the busiest part of the year is why they need to be trained? Bitching about colleagues is part of working life, we all do it and it’s a natural form of stress relief, but doing it on the shop floor is unprofessional and should be unacceptable. Intimidating colleagues and making them feel stupid in front of others is bullying, but having read other comments from other employees about Lush’s behaviour at management meetings, it seems to be a top-down problem.

They highly encourage things like tattoos to make you look more “unique”. This brings me onto a guy I work with. He was covered in tattoos and got hand and neck tattoos while he worked for Lus. When I started he showed a massive interest to me. A girl I work with said he’s like that with anybody new only unless they’re gay. He was around 22 years old and wouldn’t stop pestering me. I wasn’t really attracted to him but I agreed to go in a date with him one evening after he obtained my number from management and kept pestering.

Repeatedly pestering a colleague for a date after they’ve said no is sexual harassment, and the managers of this shop should have protected her from this. Giving this guy her personal number is so far over the line, they obviously can’t even see the line. The line is a dot to them.

… he’d told most other colleagues and they then informed me he has a girlfriend. I felt dreadful. I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him and for him to not approach or speak to me unless it’s to do with work and he decided to totally ignore me. He would touch my ass and get way too close to me on the shop floor if no other colleagues were there and I absolutely hated it. I was frozen out of Lush, while he got a supervisor position. I never let it affect my professionalism and I did more work and put in more effort than most of my colleagues combined, yet I was not kept on after December and the other girls were. (Tattoo guy also set his sights on the sixteen year old after I left.)

So he continued to harass her and nothing was done. And then he started in on somebody else. He sounds pretty predatory, to be honest, and employers should be protecting their staff from sexual harassment and predatory colleagues.

When I started working there they needed my birth certificate, which I provided. It’s the one I’ve always had and has always been accepted for important documents. They said I need to get a long one, otherwise I can’t work there. I had to pay £12 for this and I read that it’s not even necessary. My trainee manager then asked me in front of all my colleagues why my dad wasn’t on it and is that legal. She had no clue and I was so uncomfortable.

We’ve talked before about how ridiculous it is that a company of Lush’s size doesn’t have a proper HR department. Managers should know what paperwork they need and what formats are acceptable, and they should also know not to ask personal questions about possibly sensitive information in public!

I was in college while I worked for Lush and told them specifically that I couldn’t work specific hours as I have college, would need to change before going to work AND travel there, yet they constantly rota’d me in for half an hour after my last lesson ended, which wasn’t even enough time to get there. They make you fill out so much paperwork and ask incredibly invasive questions if you have a day off, you don’t get paid extra for Boxing Day and you are treated like shit the whole time.

This all sounds so very familiar.

Rotas changed constantly and it was a horrible, dank working environment. Once there was a problem with the sewage yet we were still forced to work and put up with the smell of piss and shit in any room that wasn’t the shop floor (fortunately the smell of Lush products covered it). There were no fire alarms in the building and I was told on my first day that if you see fire, shout about it as there’s no alarms. Safe, right? Fire exits were constantly blocked by boxes of Lush products and I got a migraine every day from the smell of the products. I now have a job at a budget supermarket, the pay is nearly double, you’re encouraged to progress, you’re treated well and it isn’t cliquey like Lush. I needed a reference for my new job from Lush and my emails were ignored three times despite the fact management check the emails around ten times a day, I then got a response from the trainee manager who is now manager just confirming the dates I worked there, that is it. Lush is a dreadful place to work, and I no longer use their products as they aren’t as ethical as they like to claim. I would highly advise for anybody to avoid Lush like the plague.

Lots of this is bad but nobody’s going to die from inconvenient rotas or unhelpful managers. But no fire alarms and blocked fire escapes is incredibly hazardous. There is lots of guidance available and the goverment guidance for England and Wales is available here . Employers, owners and managers can be fined and/or sent to prison if they don’t follow fire safety regulations. And one of those regulations includes having a fire safety risk assessment and safety plan.

Fire safety and evacuation plans

Your plan must show how you have:

a clear passageway to all escape routes

clearly marked escape routes that are as short and direct as possible

enough exits and routes for all people to escape

emergency doors that open easily

emergency lighting where needed

training for all employees to know and use the escape routes

a safe meeting point for staff

If you are working in a building where the fire escapes are blocked and/or locked, and you are comfortable reporting it to your manager, report it as soon as you can. If it’s a recurrent problem, or the manager does nothing about it, report it to your union and/or your workplace health & safety rep. If you’re not in a union, join one, and remember you can always report dangerous work environments to the Health and Safety Executive or to your local council. If you’re worried about your job, report it anonymously – you can even do it online. No matter how much you like or need your job, it’s not worth dying in a fire for.

The Smell of Bullshit, part 72: So.Much.Fail.

Posted on 12/08/2016 by southsidesocialist

A couple of emails from two ex-employees of everybody’s favourite ethical employer, Lush. The people have asked me to only use excerpts rather than the whole emails, so I’m picking out the worst bits, some of which are a) despicable, b) unlawful and c) cruel. Some of these issues could have been dealt with by a union, or a decent HR department, or a competent, well-trained manager who understands employment law and has a soul.

I worked for Lush for just under 4 years and have just left a big store because quite simply I’d given up caring. After a full year of abuse, bullying, shitty management, cliques and back stabbing and favouritism, I’d had enough. The management are more interested in filling their pockets than the welfare of their staff; having seen over half the staff have breakdowns in front of me (and with that MASSIVE staff turnover) I’m sure you can appreciate, one fellow human to another that watching that amount of suffering and fear was just too much.

Staff members were too afraid to call in sick despite having serious health issues, because they’d lose their jobs. People were fired for less, without following proper procedure (i.e. 3 verbal warnings, 3 written, disciplinarys, etc) and to top it all fired in front of other members of staff and not in private. One of my friends had 3 members of her family die within 6 weeks of each other at home in eastern Europe, she went to the first 2 funerals and got harassed by phonecalls asking why she wasn’t in for her shifts despite being given bereavement leave. When her third family member died she was unable to go home, but a senior member of management told her she was too miserable to be on the shop floor and had to smile more, she wasn’t allowed to be back of house doing quiet jobs as that ”wasn’t what shes paid for”.

I also had a similar experience when my father died. I got phone calls asking where I was, why I wasn’t in and even when I kept hanging up they’d ring back, eventually I stopped answering. Don’t get me wrong, there were two members of management who were amazing, but when I came back to work eventually, I got blamed for so many things going wrong whilst I was away that had nothing to do with me.

In the last 3 months, the management team have grown from about 9/10 to around 36 and still couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery. When the shop originally opened up and I transferred, it was promised that rotas would be given 4 weeks in advance. Never happened, a year on they’ve only got as far as 2 weeks and that only happened a YEAR after the store opened, after investing in a huge program to do the rotas FOR YOU and it still, doesn’t happen. Working week at Lush runs from Monday to Sunday, you would receive the next weeks rota on a Thursday (if you were lucky) giving you 3 days notice. You had no social life, no opportunity let alone trying to get into a sleeping pattern. I regularly had to work back to back lates-earlys with less than 5 hours sleep, until I finally stated that if they continued to put me on that rota I would just show up as and when I pleased. It wasn’t even CLOSE to legal – and I’ll just add, that unless you went to the rota team, this did not change, lots of staff are still having to deal with this, they will not make the changes for everyone, just individuals. Not to also mention, the law states you can work a maximum of 6 days in a row then must have at least 24 hours off. Nope, my record was 11 days, I know of a lot of people doing 14/15.

Stock takes are a big issue; they used to run until 10pm but then got changed until 12am finish time. For those unfamiliar with London transport, the tubes do not run through all the night yet, they stop. All over ground trains stop at around 12:30/1am. Buses DO run night services but reduced routes, through dangerous parts of London. I live an hour from my shop (if its a good day and the Tubes behave). Finishing at midnight means I am stranded in London overnight. I can not get to a overground trainline fast enough to catch the last train home and I will not take my life in my hands by taking a bus (which also means my journey time goes up to 2 hours 45 mins). And all members of staff should be rota’d to do every 3rd stocktake – never happens, favouritism strikes again, many MOS find they are rota’d to do 5/6 in a row and then have to fight tooth and nail to get one off. Anyway I’m off on a tangent, staying this late for work qualifies, as I understand it, for Unsociable Hours Pay. Nope. Not a whisper. Not to mention ALL stocktakes are on a Sunday, did I say that before? SO already, the Tubes/Trains/Buses are at a way reduced down service, not to mention works and maintenance. The manager’s answer? ”Get an UBER home” … yeh. I have no words. You already pay us shit money, so lets spend it on a taxi home from London at midnight at top tariff rates.

Paperwork? HA, nope. never got done. I originally signed a 20h contract and after about 8 weeks I asked to increase to 35h, which was agreed. Never signed that contract, never saw a copy of that contract, never got confirmation from payroll and the way overtime works with Lush, if you work over your contract your overtime actually contributes towards earning more holiday. Never saw that either. Still waiting for my pension information which I signed on for when the Workplace Pension started off over 18 months ago.

I had surgery last year and was recommended by my surgeon for 4 weeks off. According to Lush I could have 1 week off with Stat. Sick Pay and another week off if I used my Holiday. That was it. I had 2 out of 4 weeks off, and believe me I paid for it! I had to hide in toilets because I was in so much pain, but if I complained I got sent home and had to fill in a return to work which then was used against me – if you register as having more than 3 sicknesses in 3 months/10% absences you face a disciplinary. So either way I lose. But the flip side being, I know of Management who got drunk at work and then called in sick the next day- hangover much???? Or shift swapping to go see their boyfriends when we were down to 1 manager at a busy Christmas shift. Totally responsible, made everyone on that shop floor feel amazing.

So much awfulness in these emails.

For the record, if a medical professional tells you you need time off work, get a sick line (or fit for work thing as they call them now) from the doctor and hand it in, and DO NOT go back to work until the doctor has agreed you’re ready. If you get any shit from your employer, contact your union.

Critics of this blog try to say that Lush is a good employer because they’ve never seen anything like this happen, and these must be “rogue” shops. How many “rogue” shops and/or managers does it take before a widespread problem is recognised?

The Smell of Bullshit, part 71: Mica Morals Missing

Posted on 29/07/2016 by southsidesocialist

Two years ago, this blog reported on a Guardian investigation into the use of child labour to produce mica for cosmetics companies. The Grauniad reported that Lush had committed themselves to removing all mica from their products as they were unable to guarantee it was produced without child labour.

Two years on, how are they getting on with that pledge?

Surprise surprise! The Guardian says “the company has been unable to eradicate the mineral from its supply chain.” Lush say they haven’t knowingly bought any materials containing natural mica since 2014, but they also say “as a direct ingredient it would be easy to identify, but unfortunately mica remains as part of a complex mix of materials that are used to make colour pigments and lustres.” The article also says that Lush say they don’t have the local knowledge or purchasing power to stay and make a difference, but given that several other companies are working in the area to get children to school instead of mines, you’d think they could join in. Several companies, according to the article, have committed to only buying mica from legal and fenced mines, where child labour is less likely to be involved, as well as ending relationships with mines where audits showed child labour was used. But they all acknowledge it’s impossible to be 100% sure child labour was not involved. But, here’s the thing.

Which is more moral? Continuing to produce products even though you’re not 100% sure they didn’t involve child labour? Or discontinuing the products until you can be sure you have a child labour-free option?

poll=0]

They’re happy to crow about their ethics though.

BIG thank you to the reader who let me know about the articles.