BestBuy/ Carphone Warehouse In The UK: Illegal Practices?
Please note for all those seeking employment in the UK with BestBuy/ Carphone Warehouse, that their policy may involve the following.
To let anyone relevant be aware of this.
If any UK residents or those with Retail experience (Retail shouldn't be shit even if a lot of people think it is) can clarify, that would be appreciated.
1a. They proceed to pay below minimum wage at the start. The UK minimum hourly wage is £5.52 for those over 22. This applies to both full-time and part-time workers.
http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/pa...age/index.html
1b. It is reported that they pay £4.50 an hour for part-timers, and in many cases full-timers as well.
1c. The average age of employees at Carphone Warehouse locations in the London area, as a general thing, seems to be between 18 to 30, and ethnicity appears to be generally South Asian/ Middle Eastern/ African (British, West Indies, etc).
2. If commission is being paid, then as long as your total amount received for the month divided by hours worked is more than £5.52, then this is legal.
3. Carphone Warehouse HR staff, managers, and employees verbally have mentioned that it takes about 2 weeks for in-store training, maybe a week for in-house training, then a "test" that needs to be passed, then perhaps a week to get your "login".
4. It is only with this "login" that sales can then be made under your name for the purposes of commission.
5. It appears this commission is only paid 2 months later.
6. It is only with this "login" that your hours can be entered into another system to then be approved by the manager and your payment process.
7a. For new employees, as a new employee and after the 2nd interview where we went to a 3rd session to meet with a HR person at a store to provide Bank Details and other paperwork, we did not sign any employment contract or see an offer letter, it was all verbal. The "test" after 2 weeks was then informed to us very briefly.
7b. I am wondering if this is common in the UK. To start work without any written documentation.
I am concerned in this regard because it is a very big company, just merged with Best Buy, and carries Apple's most popular product and does a large volume of business in the London area and the UK.
In general, I have had periods of successful employment over the past 10 years, in Brisbane, Sydney, San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur.
However as I will be 30 in September, I suspect my knowledge and experience now make me unemployable to some degree. It nonetheless could be a matter of pride, or mental health.
Carphone Warehouse has had several issues in the past which was highlighted in the Media:
This was several years ago. Unfortunately perhaps I was desperate for a London job given how I like other things about this area of England and the chance to be in Europe, perhaps I missed doing some background research, since I have had no other job offers in two months of searching.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3758145.stm
"...UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has been accused of flouting minimum wage laws after an employee complained about his pay packet..."
To let anyone relevant be aware of this.
If any UK residents or those with Retail experience (Retail shouldn't be shit even if a lot of people think it is) can clarify, that would be appreciated.
1a. They proceed to pay below minimum wage at the start. The UK minimum hourly wage is £5.52 for those over 22. This applies to both full-time and part-time workers.
http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/pa...age/index.html
1b. It is reported that they pay £4.50 an hour for part-timers, and in many cases full-timers as well.
1c. The average age of employees at Carphone Warehouse locations in the London area, as a general thing, seems to be between 18 to 30, and ethnicity appears to be generally South Asian/ Middle Eastern/ African (British, West Indies, etc).
2. If commission is being paid, then as long as your total amount received for the month divided by hours worked is more than £5.52, then this is legal.
3. Carphone Warehouse HR staff, managers, and employees verbally have mentioned that it takes about 2 weeks for in-store training, maybe a week for in-house training, then a "test" that needs to be passed, then perhaps a week to get your "login".
4. It is only with this "login" that sales can then be made under your name for the purposes of commission.
5. It appears this commission is only paid 2 months later.
6. It is only with this "login" that your hours can be entered into another system to then be approved by the manager and your payment process.
7a. For new employees, as a new employee and after the 2nd interview where we went to a 3rd session to meet with a HR person at a store to provide Bank Details and other paperwork, we did not sign any employment contract or see an offer letter, it was all verbal. The "test" after 2 weeks was then informed to us very briefly.
7b. I am wondering if this is common in the UK. To start work without any written documentation.
I am concerned in this regard because it is a very big company, just merged with Best Buy, and carries Apple's most popular product and does a large volume of business in the London area and the UK.
In general, I have had periods of successful employment over the past 10 years, in Brisbane, Sydney, San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur.
However as I will be 30 in September, I suspect my knowledge and experience now make me unemployable to some degree. It nonetheless could be a matter of pride, or mental health.
Carphone Warehouse has had several issues in the past which was highlighted in the Media:
This was several years ago. Unfortunately perhaps I was desperate for a London job given how I like other things about this area of England and the chance to be in Europe, perhaps I missed doing some background research, since I have had no other job offers in two months of searching.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3758145.stm
"...UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has been accused of flouting minimum wage laws after an employee complained about his pay packet..."
Comments
I have applied for retail and "office jobs" which I believe are related to my skills and experience, for example with Apple UK, Apple Premium Resellers, and Apple Authorized resellers.
I have a Bachelors Degree with Honours from Australia, major in Biology, minor in Computer Science. I have passed with 93% the Apple Certified Support Professional ACSP, relating to Leopard Client (not Server, not hardware fixing) 10.5.
My level of physical health is good, my level of mental health is classified by a qualified psychiatrist as "bipolar disorder in remission" which allows for full-time and part-time work in my area of interest.
I believe I have encountered a situation of minimal job mobility from Malaysia to the UK. Which may not be surprising at all.
Is there any need for an employer to know your mental state. Even though you're perfectly fine and capable of work, divulging mental issues is always going to be a no-no.
Just lie, there are people in the workplace who will have far worse mental issues than you, that were never detected on interview, and only become apparent several months into starting a job, and they're still there.
Besides, you only worry employers who have an irrational fear of mental issues, mostly because they dont have a clue what they really are, and that they have them themselves, and dont forget that most people in the UK have severe mental issues, but because thats the norm it goes unnoticed.
My personal opinion though, is that by the end of the year, the UK is going to be in recession, so there is no point in being here - especially as a foreigner - As you're perfectly capable of working anywhere in the world - as you have done and proven, i'd go to the countries that are least likely of having an economic nightmare, and you'll have the benefit of a much nicer climate, and wont have to be around a load of racist little-islanders.
By all means come back to the UK in a decade or so when the current catastrophe has passed and do your London experience then.
I did not discuss any mental health issues to them. I know it is a tricky area. I did not see a point informing them. I put it in here as I can anonymously post about it, unlikely that they will tie everything in this forum to my real identity, given how disorganised they currently are.
Yes, there are other areas. I will need financial support from my family though, as our "gamble" (it was a mixture of my own funds (about £1,000) and my parents' funds which we have used to explore living/ holiday/ for me--working in the UK.
Thank you very much MarkUK. I still don't understand why random strangers and friends provide me so much support and assistance, as compared to my family, which are helpful in terms of shelter and providing money, but have no clue how to help me otherwise (not entirely their fault).
I did not discuss any mental health issues to them. I know it is a tricky area. I did not see a point informing them. I put it in here as I can anonymously post about it, unlikely that they will tie everything in this forum to my real identity, given how disorganised they currently are.
Yes, there are other areas. I will need financial support from my family though, as our "gamble" (it was a mixture of my own funds (about £1,000) and my parents' funds which we have used to explore living/ holiday/ for me--working in the UK.
I only thought that because you dont seem to have any reservation about telling us about where your head is at. Maybe that is beneficial to you in an semi-anonymous forum way, but there are times where divulging such information isn't a good idea.
Anyway, you need to consider that there is far more mental issues in the general poulace than you can ever dream of, and its a kind of taboo subject, because everyone has some issues and they like to defend their self-esteem by being in complete denial of them.
Having someone tell them that their head is not always in the best place - can make most people scared and frightened, because they wouldn't understand why someone would divulge something that they themselves are in complete near-subconscious denial of about themselves.
They would unjustly make an impression of you as a bit wierd, and in the real world, wierd = scary, therefore scary is something I dont understand. In an employment situation, someone who is not understandable to an interviewer is liable to be unemployable by that company.
But as you say, if you aren't divulging that then good thinking. Maybe have a think about all the other ways you convey information about yourself though in a subconscious way to the interviewer, like body language, self confidence, mannerisms, etc.
That can go along way too, people do pick up on these things, especially people who have seen hundreds of candidates over the years.
Interviews are bullshit, even if an interview lasts an hour, 90% of that decision was made in the first 5 minutes, the rest is just going through the motions.