LIDL Working Conditions Belgium

Ex Employee, middle management

+ Low level store employees are not able to secure a full-time contract. They have become assistant manager or store manager to apply for a full time job (regardless of years active in the company).

+ A medium sized Lidl has about 10-15 employees. In good circumstances (10% sick) and another 30% inactive (taking their day off, paid absence, etc). That leave 6 - 9 poorly trained people responsible for:

- Refilling stock (Can be up to 20 pallets a day) delivered over the course of the day

- Registering customer groceries (for well over 1000 customers)

- Placing 6 different orders on 4 different scheduled times (assistant manager - store manager)

- Customer questions (that's why the customer experience isn't superb)

- Baking pastries using industrialized ovens

- The safety of themselves and the customers

- Respecting food standard regulations

- Waste management (From throwing away expired food to separating colored plastic from clear plastic)

- Financial responsibility (assistant manager - store manager)

- Coaching and on the job training (assistant manager - store manager)

- Making sure every promotional poster, leaflet, etc is placed according to upper management's instructions

- Creating work schedules (Store manager)

- Discounting (almost expired) items using a system LIDL created (takes us about 1 hour if done correctly)

- One person is responsible for making sure fruit and vegetables are of the highest quality (15 minute tour / every hour)

- Cleaning tasks (daily, weekly, monthly) according to upper management's instructions

- This is about 60% of the workload

+ Training of low level store employees is done in three days. In the majority of cases, there is no further on the job training.

+ Workload is based on internal studies where every single detail is timed. Lidl does not give insight to this data to it's employees. I have participated on this studies, generally enforced routines and procedures are skipped and/or not timed correctly. LIDL management's strategy is to increase tasks to a level they are unrealistic and employees are bound to fail when they try to complete them all. This gives middle - upper management an excuse to sanction (in writing) and later sack employees.

+ Lidl DOES NOT want employees to stick around, after the heavy workload and stress takes it's toll they want employees to leave the company. There is no system for supporting these people. It's company policy. Arbeit Macht Frei.

+ Lidl doesn't like to fire people and will do anything legally (an sometimes beyond the legal border) to bully it's employees.

- Forcing unwanted employees to work in other stores (without regards for the employee owning a car or a bike)

- Threatening employees with written documents (employees have to sign) that point out even the smallest mistake/break of protocol. Sanctions.

- Mocking personal life of employees (mostly done by frustrated middle management)

+ A employee working part time (ex: 24 hrs/wk) are most likely actually working between 30 and 36

- They are NOT ALLOWED to recover this overtime (Up to 65 hours in three months), it's paid.

+ Employees work for free because of the heavy workload. Management knows this but ignores it. Employees either:

- DO not take their break

- Work on their day off

- Work longer then expected

- Start earlier then expected

- Low level store employees will register most of this time. About 30% of Assistant Managers and up will not register and work for free.

+ Audits from Germany's HQ are fooled into thinking everything runs perfect. Middle management will work until 01:00 - 03:00 am to make the store where the audit will take place look "acceptable". This goes as far as making trucks taking all the excess "stock" out of the store and delivering it back when the audit has left.

+ Lidl expects employees to leave when they cannot handle the heavy workload anymore. People (without university degree) will not flow into middle management. A lower level employee can be promoted to store manager, that's where the story ends. Administrative departments are run by inexperienced cheap young people. This is not an accident, it's policy.

+ Employees who become sick are always in one way or another told that their absence made the other members of the team work harder. This is off course also true since the stores are understaffed.

+ If you contract ends in Januari, it will not be renewed. It doesn't matter how good you perform. The drop in sales results in people being sacked.

+ Depression is a major cause of absence.

+ Lidl is constantly auditing the people who register your groceries with an automated system. If this computer detects "strange behavior". It will point this out and this might result in Lidl terminating your contract. That's right, based on a computers decisions.

+ Government inspections would reveal:

- violations of working conditions

- violation of HCCP standards (Feel free to go to the toilet and look around).

- violations of workers safety standards

in 95% of Lidl stores.

Average wages (After taxes and depending on contract).

Lower level employee 1300 EUR/PP

Assistant Manager 1500 EUR/PP

Store manager 2100 EUR/PP

In my next post I will tell you more about my role in this company based on greed, hate and evil. Meetings with upper management, more of LIDL's bully policies and the names of the people responsible. I'm sure LIDL will start a full investigation after this post. This is just a tiny amount of information, measures have been taken to leak everything to several news agencies and government officials in case of my arrest.