‘Electrocuted’: Honey Birdette under fire for teaching staff to change light bulbs

Honey Birdette is under fire after a worker leaked a video seemingly instructing retail staff on how to change lightbulbs in the popular store.

Australian lingerie and sex toy label Honey Birdette is under fire after a staff member leaked a video seemingly instructing retail staff on how to change a lightbulb in the brand’s stores.

Last week on Boxing Day an anonymous retail worker under the TikTok handle ‘Still.not.your.honey’ posted the video that has since been viewed more than 700,000 times.

The clip appeared to be a Honey Birdette training video that instructed staff on how to change a light bulb in stores, at times exposing themselves to a naked bulb and electrical wiring from the ceiling.

TikTok user Still.not.your.honey captioned the video: “Not Honey Birdette asking staff to change light fixtures to ‘save money’.”

Thousands of comments slammed Honey Birdette for endangering its staff to cut costs, despite being owned by a massive US company. Halfway through last year, Honey Birdette sold to Playboy for a whopping A$440 million.

The video begins with a woman saying “So what you need to do is just twist the fitting and it will fall out like that,” while demonstrating with a live light bulb.

The video instructed staff on how to to change light bulbs without turning the power off.

An anonymous worker shared the video in outrage.

“These are all rubber and plastic so you cannot get electrocuted but please be careful,” the instructor continues.

She then takes the bulb out and shows it to the camera.

“You’re then going to plug that back in,” she adds.

Still.not.your.honey added the words “with the power still on”.

The video drew heavy criticism from TikTok users with some saying it was a worker’s compensation claim waiting to happen.

In a statement to news.com.au, Honey Birdette chief Julie Hastings said some of her staff had been bullied on social media over content posted to the Tik Tok account.

"After multiple pieces of our content were shared by an account on Tik Tok, we have had staff members receive threatening messages online," she said.

Ms Hastings said Honey Birdette had always co-operated with workplace health and safety authorities whenever concerns were raised.

"If they've ever alerted us that our systems need improving, we've acted immediately to rectify the issue," she said.

"Rather than using social media, if at any time our Honeys have concerns, we welcome them to raise them with us to be handled in an appropriate manner."

The manager can be seen screwing the light bulb back in while electricity courses through it.

Social media users were shocked at the dangerous work conditions.

Since the video last week, the anonymous account has posted a number of other clips about the work culture at Honey Birdette.

They shared the controversial Honey Birdette workplace handbook where staff are referred to as ‘Honeys’ throughout the PDF document.

Staff were told they should wear high heel shoes during peak periods, ideally pointed black or patent stilettos.

Peak time was listed as 11am to close and 6pm to 9pm when trading late — which is essentially the whole day.

Last year, one Honey Birdette worker said they were made to wear stilettos for their entire 12-hour shift.

“When travelling to and from the boutique a black patent ballet flat is recommended,” the company stated in the guide.

Social media users joked that staff must need a medical certificate to get out of wearing heels.

“If you cannot wear heels for health reasons or when performing manual duties other suitable options include black polishable or patent dainty pointed heels (Mary Jane strap is acceptable),” the book stated.

Honey Birdette’s footwear uniform code also drew outrage from online spectators.

The same handbook instructed workers on how to make a good “first impression” to customers, which was also shared on TikTok.

In the book, staff advised workers never to great a customer with “Welcome to Honey Birdette” or “Hi, how are you?”

Instead, the book stated: “With one hand firmly wrapped around a crop and the other reassuringly on their shoulder, we lead our customers into a world of sophisticated seduction.

“So Honey, cast aside the small talk, leave your inhibitions at the door and do step this way.”

The TikTok user also shared a training module they had completed for their ‘Honey in the Making Course’.

Showing the certificate of completion online, the retail worker revealed it was called: “Overcoming Objections – ‘I don’t want to talk about toys and accessories with a stranger’”.

In a sarcastic caption accompanying the video, Still Not Your Honey wrote: “empowering women”.

The anonymous worker also shared extracts from the workplace handbook.

The course coached women on how to talk about sex objects even when they were uncomfortable.

It’s not the first time Honey Birdette has found itself in the centre of an unwanted media storm.

In 2020, news.com.au aired allegations that a “nasty” working culture saw regional managers pressure store managers to increase profits and sales.

This pressure flowed from the top down to casual workers who said they were anxious and constantly “on edge”.

“Almost everyone has had their job threatened and it doesn’t happen in private, it happens in office meetings,” the worker said.

“The area managers and retail managers get screamed at about the sales and they are told that they are lucky to have a job at Honey Birdette and can be easily replaced by someone better.”

Honey Birdette emphatically denied the claims, with a company spokesperson telling news.com.au they were “extremely offensive and demonstrably untrue”.

Do you know more? Are you a Honey Birdette staff member? Contact Alex on [e-mail].