Property News · May 3, 2017

A slap in the face with a wet squid: the weird world of workplace punishments


From the cabin staff shut in overhead lockers to the staff forced to peck one another like chickens, humiliating rituals are all in a day’s work for someIt is described, perversely, as a team-building exercise; it is reported that, as a forfeit for missing their weekly sales targets, staff at Central Claims Group – a call centre – in Bury are made to lie down on the floor while a good-sized squid is placed, or dropped, on their faces. It could be worse – it’s not a live squid, so it can’t sucker itself on to your mouth and nose, and it’s raw, so at least you know it hasn’t been overcooked. As an employment policy, it sits somewhere between a ritual humiliation and a stupid waste of everyone’s time.Managers at Central Claims Group are at pains to point out that such forfeits are chosen by staff with the highest sales figures, and that everybody has consented to the punishment beforehand, but it is certainly a questionable workplace practice. Sadly, this is not an isolated exercise. Weird workplace punishments have a long and chequered history.Human cockfight. As part of a class action suit launched last year against the Australian fundraising company Appco, it was alleged that underperforming employees – in this case, chuggers – were obliged to square off on their knees at morning meetings, with their arms tied behind their backs, and peck one another into submission. This was one of a number of alleged regular rituals that ranged from “sluggie races” (squirming across the office carpet on one’s back, like a slug), to having a cigarette shoved up your bum. But hey, it’s for charity. Appco are contesting this. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…A slap in the face with a wet squid: the weird world of workplace punishments

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