High-street brands accused of ‘exploiting’ student employment loopholes over festive period

Retail brands have been accused of ‘exploiting’ young people by hiring them as freelance workers over the holidays.

An investigation by The Observer found that major high-street brands such as Lush, Uniqlo, and Gymshark have been extensively recruiting student freelance workers through the use of gig apps promoted on social media.

Hiring freelance workers to complete shifts in-store means that these employees are not under the same legal protection as other retail workers.

One example used in the investigation was the clothing brand Urban Outfitters. The company advertised freelance work paying above minimum wage, but mandated that workers needed to apply each day for new shifts.

Temper advertises “flexibility, security and lots of opportunities to grow” as selling points of this type of work

Locations where employers have advertised for freelance shifts include London, Edinburgh, and Oxford.

Online platforms such as Temper are used to advertise these individual shifts. Temper advertises “flexibility, security and lots of opportunities to grow” as selling points of this type of work.

Temper lists key promises that highlight the benefits of freelance retail work. One of these promises is: “You always decide for yourself what you are going to do.”

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has cautioned that this type of work can be dangerous.

It’s about firms being able to flex staff up and down – this is clearly passing on risk from the business owner to the individual staff member and we think that’s unacceptable

Tim Sharp, TUC Senior Policy Officer

Tim Sharp, TUC Senior Policy Officer for Employment Rights, raised concerns about this retail trend.

Sharp told The Observer: “It’s about firms being able to flex staff up and down – this is clearly passing on risk from the business owner to the individual staff member and we think that’s unacceptable.”

Hiring freelance retail workers also avoids legislation introduced by the Labour government’s planned Employment Rights Bill.

The Bill would provide a number of new protections for workers, including the abolition of zero-hour contracts. These regulations will not apply to freelance retail workers, however.

Despite controversy, this way of working may be the future for retail brands. Mattress company Emma Sleep has a store where the team is made up of only freelance workers.

In a promotional video reported by The Observer, a store-manager for Emma Sleep said that this style of employment is “definitely the way that hiring […] is going to go in the future”.