Internet divided over Woolies' 'strict' new rule after sign appears in store

"They make it sound like it's for your benefit and in your best interest."

A Woolworths employee has slammed the supermarket giant online for introducing a new rule for staff breaks, calling it a "controlling" move that doesn't benefit staff at all, despite claiming to. 

The disgruntled employee said that last Monday, all staff were issued a notice informing them that they would now need to record their break times and when they clock in and out of their shifts. 

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Image: Reddit

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'Micromanaging bullsh*t'

From July 8th, signs were put up in a store in South Australia, telling workers their meal breaks will now be logged to the second.

The anonymous worker took to Reddit to share the flyer, calling it "micromanaging bullsh*t."

The sign read, "Team members will begin clocking for their scheduled meal breaks. Why the change? The new clocking practice is critical to ensure all team members are taking their entitled meal breaks for their health, well-being, and safety."

"It also enables us to be able to provide increased pay confidence," it added.

But the worker said this messaging was "control" disguised as "giving a f**k."

"What's stopping overworked employees just fudging their breaks?" they questioned before calling the new system "malicious."

"If they cared about overworked employees missing breaks, they [would] have an adequate level of staff on at all times."

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"What a time to be an employee!'

After sharing the flyer, one person wrote: "They make it sound like it's for your benefit and in your best interest."

"What a time to be an employee!" another wrote.

But others defended the move, with one pointing out: "This means that they will have data on people not taking breaks. They can't pretend it's not happening. Could be a really good thing for workers."

"I welcome this. [It] means we will get the full allocated break, not partial breaks, and if it is partial, the timesheet will show it," another employee wrote.

Woolworths responds

A Woolworths spokesperson told Kidspot, "It’s important that we make sure we always do the right thing for our team to ensure they are rostered and paid correctly.

"That’s why we are in the process of introducing a new solution for our team to clock on and clock off for their meal breaks, in addition to at the start and the end of their shift. 

"This solution is critical to ensure there is transparency for our team members, allowing them to have visibility of their meal breaks and confidence that they can take their entitled meal break, knowing that there is coverage for their department. 

"This solution also ensures that our team are paid correctly for the hours that they work and that their leaders are able to confirm that their teams’ meal breaks are being taken, for their health, wellbeing and safety.

"This type of system and rostering practices are very common across all parts of the economy in many other sectors."

Originally published as Internet divided over Woolies' 'strict' new rule after sign appears in store