Urban Outfitters parent company asks employees to work for free

[GMDino]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/style/Urban-Outfitters-parent-company-asks-employees-work-for-free.html

Quote:If you work at Urban Outfitters, your bosses want you to work for free. To keep up with the increased seasonal demand, the parent company of Urban Outfitters, URBN, which also owns Free People and Anthropologie, sent an employee-only email calling for volunteers.

URBN, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, asked its salaried employees to engage in “a team-building activity,” picking, packing and preparing packages for shipment.

Part of the email reads:

“URBN is seeking weekend volunteers to help out at our fulfillment center in Gap, PA. October will be the busiest month yet for the center, and we need additional helping hands to ensure the timely shipment of orders. As a volunteer, you will work side by side with your GFC colleagues to help pick, pack and ship orders for our wholesale and direct customers.”

For a full breakdown of what’s going on, URBN continued:

The Details:

Who: Home Office URBN salaried employees

Where: URBN’s Fulfilment Center - 766 Brackbill Road, Gap, Pennsylvania 17527

What You’ll Be Doing: Pick, pack and prepare packages for shipment (please wear sneakers and comfortable clothing)

When: October 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31 Lunch will be provided

Two shifts each day: 9:00 AM – 3:00PM or 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM

(you can volunteer for one or multiple days)

Transportation: If needed, URBN will provide transportation to and from GFC (details provided after sign up)

For all you eager beavers out there itching to help URBN package and prep, their sign-up form isn’t accepting entries at this time.

A request for comment from URBN was not immediately returned.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/style/Urban-Outfitters-parent-company-asks-employees-work-for-free.html#bif5etfsYI119jMW.99

[Au165]

The hiring process can be long, I wonder if there was an unexpected surge that basically made it impossible to hire temporary help to fulfill the orders.

Side note: Who would be dumb enough to actually do this....

[GMDino]

(10-08-2015, 11:39 AM)Au165 Wrote: The hiring process can be long, I wonder if there was an unexpected surge that basically made it impossible to hire temporary help to fulfill the orders.

Side note: Who would be dumb enough to actually do this....

People afraid of being fired for not doing it?


But seriously...why even make the offer?  Offer OT.  

[Au165]

(10-08-2015, 11:44 AM)GMDino Wrote: People afraid of being fired for not doing it?


But seriously...why even make the offer?  Offer OT.  

They could use intimidation to make them do it, but when those people quit what kind of employees do you think will replace them? The whole "People should be happy just to have a job" phase is over. There are a lot of jobs out there in the business world and companies wanting to use intimidation tactics for cheap labor will not do well in retaining or hiring replacements.

[GMDino]

(10-08-2015, 11:54 AM)Au165 Wrote: They could use intimidation to make them do it, but when those people quit what kind of employees do you think will replace them? The whole "People should be happy just to have a job" phase is over. There are a lot of jobs out there in the business world and companies wanting to use intimidation tactics for cheap labor will not do well in retaining or hiring replacements.

You would think so...but I see it every day.

People are just parts that can be replaced apparently...with no regard to whether they were good parts or not.

[Au165]

(10-08-2015, 12:03 PM)GMDino Wrote: You would think so...but I see it every day.

People are just parts that can be replaced apparently...with no regard to whether they were good parts or not.

If you are salaried you can be told to do anything at anytime. I have to go to a show soon where I'll be working through my weekend and back at work the following week. It's part of the territory. The nice thing though is if I would like I could go get another job easily, I choose to stay though because I like it here.

If companies want to replace good employee with one who they can simply take advantage of they will eventually fail. Urban outfitters has already come under fire for their "on call" system, so they are slowly becoming a workers nightmare. The worst part about this for them is someone higher up should have seen this PR nightmare coming and said "Hey maybe this isn't a good idea".

[*Nately120*]

(10-08-2015, 11:39 AM)Au165 Wrote: Side note: Who would be dumb enough to actually do this....

A gap in your resume will make it even harder to find a job in this market.  The gap stops you from getting jobs which make the gap bigger, and so on and so forth.  Eventually, I can see you going to an employer and saying "I'll work here for free just so I can get something on my resume."  I'm sure stranger things have happened, but this is just a guess at why someone MIGHT do something like this.

[StLucieBengal]

Maybe they care about the success of the company/store so they can have a job?

Everyone talks about management and workers being partners. What's wrong with asking workers to chip in? Or is management the only one who is supposed to take the hit?

[*Nately120*]

(10-08-2015, 03:39 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Maybe they care about the success of the company/store so they can have a job?

Everyone talks about management and workers being partners.   What's wrong with asking workers to chip in?   Or is management the only one who is supposed to take the hit?

Is this how we get around those high-priced minimum wage salaries?  We say "You can work for free OR you can risk us just having to pack up shop and move somewhere people want jobs badly enough TO work for free now and then.  Your call!"

Honestly, I don't know what these people make but I can't imagine this chain of stores is going to have to close its doors if it has to pay its employees to keep up with demand.

[*michaelsean*]

"We have so many orders that we need extra help to fill them, but we don't have the money to pay you." That's a tough sell.

[*Nately120*]

(10-08-2015, 04:23 PM)michaelsean Wrote: "We have so many orders that we need extra help to fill them, but we don't have the money to pay you."  That's a tough sell.

Yea no kidding.  We're so successful that we need to stop paying you to fill these orders!  If you care about this company's success you should help out!  Also, then we can get SO successful that you'll have to work for free even more!!!!

[StLucieBengal]

(10-08-2015, 03:41 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Is this how we get around those high-priced minimum wage salaries?  We say "You can work for free OR you can risk us just having to pack up shop and move somewhere people want jobs badly enough TO work for free now and then.  Your call!"

Honestly, I don't know what these people make but I can't imagine this chain of stores is going to have to close its doors if it has to pay its employees to keep up with demand.

Lol I agree with you but..... The point of the thread is to make us feel sorry for these poor employees and grrr this corporation.

I don't feel sorry for anyone who works an optional job. And I dont mind the give and take between workers and management. Like others have mentioned.... This is a hard sell...

[Bmoreblitz]

Perhaps they're looking to identify top performers or those with a good attitude. "Sure, you don't have to volunteer... but we'll notice if you don't."


Perhaps they're looking to identify top performers or those with a good attitude. "Sure, you don't have to volunteer... but we'll notice if you don't."

[Benton]

[crispy]

It says they asked salaried employees. The time you can volunteer is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm which is roughly the same time salaried employees usually work. If they volunteer they are probably still getting paid their salary. Essentially still getting paid to work, just not do their normal work. Also said increased seasonal demand. I know when we have a surge in demand at work, us salaried employees do things we typically don't do to get through the increased demand without bringing people in just to let them go a couple months later. Seems like a lot of whining to me.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-08-2015, 10:13 PM)crispy Wrote: It says they asked salaried employees.  The time you can volunteer is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm which is roughly the same time salaried employees usually work.  If they volunteer they are probably still getting paid their salary.  Essentially still getting paid to work, just not do their normal work.  Also said increased seasonal demand.  I know when we have a surge in demand at work, us salaried employees do things we typically don't do to get through the increased demand without bringing people in just to let them go a couple months later.  Seems like a lot of whining to me.

My sister works for urban and when you volunteer for this you don't get paid more but you get the time off further down the line.  They do this all the time if they have a prototype or a store opening.  In essence you work longer hours for one week and then the same amount less another.

[JustWinBaby]

(10-08-2015, 11:13 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: My sister works for urban and when you volunteer for this you don't get paid more but you get the time off further down the line.  They do this all the time if they have a prototype or a store opening.  In essence you work longer hours for one week and then the same amount less another.

Which also helps give the corporate/salary people actual store & operations experience, or refreshes that experience.  Basically, they're making their training/education costs free....well, not really "free" if they're giving comp time, but they're still getting productive value out of that training time.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-08-2015, 11:36 PM)JustWinBaby Wrote: Which also helps give the corporate/salary people actual store & operations experience, or refreshes that experience.  Basically, they're making their training/education costs free....well, not really "free" if they're giving comp time, but they're still getting productive value out of that training time.

Pretty much, yeah.  A lot of those events also allow people from all over the country to meet, work together and exchange skills.  

[JustWinBaby]

(10-08-2015, 11:38 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Pretty much, yeah.  A lot of those events also allow people from all over the country to meet, work together and exchange skills.  

So you basically just took a giant dump all over the OP's agenda in this thread.

[SunsetBengal]

Puh leeeze, these are salaried workers that we are talking about, not hourly. According to this article, hourly employees even volunteered to help, but were denied. Sounds like much ado about nothing, to me.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/inside-the-ticker/urban-outfitters-asks-salaried-workers-to-volunteer-for-a-weekend-shift/ar-AAffWfH?ocid=spartanntp

[quoteThe picking, packing and preparing that’s required are jobs that normally pay wages. But this sort of request is a common occurrence in the industry when there’s a new fulfillment center, according to a spokesperson.][/quote]