Mike Ashley is to investigate his own treatment of his employees at Sports Direct’s giant warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. More precisely, the sports retailer’s board “has agreed that Mike Ashley shall personally oversee a review of all agency worker terms and conditions to ensure the company does not just meet its legal obligations, but also provides a good environment for the entire workforce”.
Something is better than nothing, it might be argued, but the boss reviewing the boss’s handiwork is not how large companies normally respond when confronted with stinging criticism from a broad range of concerned outsiders – in this case, several MPs, the Institute of Directors, trade unions and some of the company’s own City shareholders.
In 2012, when Barclays was accused of playing fast and loose after the Libor-rigging scandal, the bank appointed Sir Anthony Salz – a respected outside lawyer – to review internal business practices and paid for him to use a fact-finding secretariat. A detailed 244-page report with 34 recommendations followed. Earlier this year, Thomas Cook commissioned Justin King, the former chief executive of Sainsbury’s, to review its health, safety, welfare and crisis management practices after an inquest into the deaths of two children on one of the tour operator’s holidays in Corfu. King’s findings were published in October.
Sports Direct’s board, by contrast, seems to have decided there aren’t substantive questions to address. The criticisms are “unfounded”, says Friday’s statement. Various parties “have chosen to ignore the facts provided” and have given an “unfair portrayal” of the company’s employment practices, it adds. There is no commitment to publish Ashley’s review.
Nor does Friday’s statement, despite its impressive length, address the primary finding of the Guardian’s undercover reporting from Shirebrook: evidence that thousands of temporary staff were receiving hourly rates of pay effectively below the minimum wage. The company defends, understandably, the use of searches at Shirebrook (“Sadly, all companies have to be cognisant of theft from warehouse operations”) but skips over the allegation that workers were not paid while they waited for searches – a process that can add 75 minutes to the working week, according to the Guardian’s investigation. Instead, Sports Direct says it aims to reduce “any inconvenience to staff as much as possible”.
Nor does the company fully explain its claim that “Sports Direct does not penalise its staff for being ill”. One of the offences listed in the now famous “six strikes and you’re out” terms of employment for agency workers at Shirebrook is a “period of reported sickness”.
The operation of the strike system will be reviewed and the company says it is “considering implementing appropriate additional variations” as part of its overall review of terms and conditions for agency workers. That, conceivably, could herald real change. It is also easy to believe that some zero-hours workers in Sports Direct’s shops have been given permanent posts and then promoted through the organisation; at a large and expanding company it would be surprising if it were not so.
But the Shirebrook warehouse is where the concerns are concentrated. Ashley founded Sports Direct, he owns 55% of the shares, he is the executive deputy chairman and, as the company puts it, he is “invaluable to the group”. To clear the air properly, and to address the City’s worry that nobody on the board is prepared to tell Ashley when he’s overstepped the mark, an independent review is required.
