Aldi staff must scan 1000 items per hour or face the sack, former employees claim

ALDI says its check-outs are 40 per cent quicker than its rivals. Now two former employees say there is a reason why.

Aldi staff can be sacked if they don’t scan 1000 items an hour.

ALDI says its check-outs are 40 per cent quicker than supermarket rivals — but according to former employees, that speed comes at a cost.

If they don’t scan at least 1000 items per hour, they face performance reviews and potentially losing their job.

“[For checkout operators], you have to scan a minimum of 1000 items an hour,” a former Australian manager told news.com.au. “This is why we scan lightning fast. If you underperform they give you a written warning. Get written up for the same things three times in a month and you get fired.”

Aldi’s efficiency keeps costs low for customers, but also puts pressure on the supermarket’s relatively small number of staff, he said.

The former manager — who worked at the German discount chain for five years and now owns his own business — said the pressure was passed on to customers at the checkout, who pack their own bags.

“The unspoken rule is that if someone’s trying to pack their bags, you scan faster to make them hurry up,” he said.

He said other targets included requiring shelf stackers to “load” at least one pallet every 20 minutes. “They cut it down to 15 and even 10 minutes, but they were firing too many people [as a result] so they had to put it back up,” he said.

His claims have been echoed by Andrei Ignatescu, a former deputy manager from Cambridgeshire. “Staff have to meet a target of scanning a minimum of 1000 items per hour,” he told The Dail Mail last week.

“We all got performance reviews and deputy managers would get told if they were not keeping up. If you don’t hit these targets, you are shown your actual speed and have a performance review meeting with managing staff. If this happens three times you can be let go.

“I had to be fast and many customers were not happy about it. I told the managers this but they didn’t listen. They don’t care because they can easily find other staff.”

Aldi has denied the claims. “There are no official targets set for the number of items staff are required to scan per hour or number of pallets loaded,” a spokeswoman told news.com.au. “Our staff are encouraged to review and adjust their scan speed based on how quickly or slowly each customer packs their shopping.

“At Aldi Australia, we pride ourselves on the quality of our employees and provides a working environment that fosters a high level of employee satisfaction. We are also committed to providing a shopping experience that is convenient, fast and enjoyable for our customers.

“Aldi’s check-outs operate with industry-leading efficiency. Each of our registers feature long conveyor belts allowing customers to unload their trolleys in one go, and many of our products carry multiple barcodes to make it easier for our retail assistants to scan each product.

“Aldi employs almost 10,000 people throughout our retail stores, distribution centres and corporate offices. We consistently receive high scores in independent employee satisfaction surveys and were recently named Retailer of the Year and runner-up Employer of the Year in the 2016 Australian Retail Awards.”

The spokeswoman said recent awards, including Roy Morgan Supermarket of the Year in 2016 and winning Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers Awards five times in six years, were “a testament to our commitment to customer satisfaction”.

While the shop assistants union (Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association) has much lower membership among Aldi staff than Coles or Woolworths, news.com.au has been told its members have previously raised issues about the “intensity of work” at the discount supermarket.

Aldi negotiates separate enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) for each small region, usually consisting of a distribution centre and group of stores.

SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said the union was currently “in dispute with Aldi on a number of matters that are currently before the industrial courts”. “In addition, the SDA is engaged with Aldi on an upcoming regional EBA,” Mr Dwyer said.

“We are engaged in these negotiations on behalf of our growing number of Aldi members. If Aldi employees wish to seek more information on their rights and working conditions they can contact their local branch of the SDA.”

In 2015, a former Aldi manager won more than $37,000 in an unfair dismissal case brought before the Fair Work Commission. It came after the Transport Workers’ Union accused Aldi of trying to “reintroduce serfdom” by overturning workplace laws.

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