One employee wrote on the Facebook page about "twat customers" leaving folded clothes in a mess, saying that she wanted to "dropkick them to the homeware department".
Another staff member wrote: "The money is shit and the place is a market for pikeys."
A women's department assistant, also posting on the Facebook page, complained about "hefty" shoppers who needed to "lose some f****** weight".
Primark said it has launched an investigation into the Facebook comments.
In January, Waitrose and Tesco also launched investigations following the revelation that some employees had posted abusive comments about customers on various Facebook groups.
During the same month, a London girls' school suspended 29 of its pupils after they posted insulting comments about a teacher on Facebook.
In previous instances staff at other companies including Virgin Atlantic and 118 118 have also criticised customers on the social networking sites.
Comments
Which idiot would really put a work-related comment on their Facebook?
This kinda thing is really getting old. There are obviously lots of new idiots falling into this foolish trap every day. That said there's obviously a lot of disgruntled workers who do need to be listened to by management.
This incident highlights the importance of producing social media guidelines for employees ... the smarter or more concientious ones need to be reminded of the damage that comments on social media sites can do to the company's reputation. It is completely irrational, but people are often guilty of forgetting that these are public forums. The less smart need to be warned that they will be in breach of their contracts if they insult customers in this way.
Primark should also be asking itself whether the Facebook comments are symptomatic of a weak internal communications machine. Are internal, discrete forums available for employees to voice legitimate complaints? Do the comments reflect poor employee moral and if so, why?
i don't really get who it offends, i shop in primark but i know they're not talking about me. Anyone who is offended is admitting that they are fat twats, so i don't really see a problem.
Certainly we're in a new era of communication, where a person's random thoughts can be broadcast to the world with the click of a button. Sure, the medium is more virile, but really is it any different than saying these things face-to-face? Whether word-of-mouse or word-of-mouth -- the underlying problem is still the same. The issue here is NOT the medium, its rooted in companies' employee engagement, internal communications, branding and marketing strategies, not to mention human resources and operations. Its not a problem for the PR people to clean up \(which seems to be happening all to often.) The cure will come when companies change their business practices to foster engaged employees who become brand ambassadors, not brand killers.
The UK seems to condemn certain governments in various countries for prohibiting free speech and blocking sites that promote free speech, are we hipocrits if we allow companies/schools to do the same in the UK?
I agree that the issue is not the medium, but if people are stupid enough to broadcast these views in a public domain then they can expect what comes to them. There is no issue with voicing a concern, but when you are being offensive about your customers, then surely it would be a disciplinary? Also, who highlighted that these comments had been posted? Store management? Other staff members? Or a shopper?
These stories are becoming more common place and more and more brands are tarnishing unnecessarily. Most probably due to senior exec teams yet to understand/realise the power and the importance of the social web. Due to the difficulty in calculating the positive tangible ROI it looks like the negative aspects of this medium may force their attention upon it. I agree with Martin about guidelines...they should form part of the Brand guidleines which most organisations tend to have...don't they?!
I agree with Martin Thomas - how often do companies forget that employees who are motivated to use Facebook et al can potentially be harnessed for their value in telling managers what it is really like on the shop floor.
Maybe it would be easier to have a generic Staff Customer Feedback site for employees. They could rank customers according to key criteria - Weight, general appearance, twat/pikey rating etc That way potential shop-floor staff could be more selective about the type of retailer they join.
I am surprised retailers haven't yet caught onto this potential threat and invested some training into basic "no-no's" for employees on inductions in this digital age...
I do think that there is a failing somewhere in the employer-employee relationship though - these guys are clearly unhappy enough to want to vent this. I personally think a happy employee wouldn't care to do so if they were overall happy with their job.
how about they launch an investigation into how they manage to sell 30 items for a tenner. Thats because they don't care about the odd childs finger being accidently chopped off and sown into their very shiny suits.
Comments
Althea James - 06/07/2009
Which idiot would really put a work-related comment on their Facebook?
John Gallen - 06/07/2009
This kinda thing is really getting old. There are obviously lots of new idiots falling into this foolish trap every day. That said there's obviously a lot of disgruntled workers who do need to be listened to by management.
Martin Thomas - 06/07/2009
This incident highlights the importance of producing social media guidelines for employees ... the smarter or more concientious ones need to be reminded of the damage that comments on social media sites can do to the company's reputation. It is completely irrational, but people are often guilty of forgetting that these are public forums. The less smart need to be warned that they will be in breach of their contracts if they insult customers in this way. Primark should also be asking itself whether the Facebook comments are symptomatic of a weak internal communications machine. Are internal, discrete forums available for employees to voice legitimate complaints? Do the comments reflect poor employee moral and if so, why?
Nicola Lucas - 06/07/2009
i don't really get who it offends, i shop in primark but i know they're not talking about me. Anyone who is offended is admitting that they are fat twats, so i don't really see a problem.
Christina Divigard - 06/07/2009
Certainly we're in a new era of communication, where a person's random thoughts can be broadcast to the world with the click of a button. Sure, the medium is more virile, but really is it any different than saying these things face-to-face? Whether word-of-mouse or word-of-mouth -- the underlying problem is still the same. The issue here is NOT the medium, its rooted in companies' employee engagement, internal communications, branding and marketing strategies, not to mention human resources and operations. Its not a problem for the PR people to clean up \(which seems to be happening all to often.) The cure will come when companies change their business practices to foster engaged employees who become brand ambassadors, not brand killers.
Lady_BD - 06/07/2009
The UK seems to condemn certain governments in various countries for prohibiting free speech and blocking sites that promote free speech, are we hipocrits if we allow companies/schools to do the same in the UK?
Ed Hockey - 06/07/2009
I agree that the issue is not the medium, but if people are stupid enough to broadcast these views in a public domain then they can expect what comes to them. There is no issue with voicing a concern, but when you are being offensive about your customers, then surely it would be a disciplinary? Also, who highlighted that these comments had been posted? Store management? Other staff members? Or a shopper?
Karl Havard - 06/07/2009
These stories are becoming more common place and more and more brands are tarnishing unnecessarily. Most probably due to senior exec teams yet to understand/realise the power and the importance of the social web. Due to the difficulty in calculating the positive tangible ROI it looks like the negative aspects of this medium may force their attention upon it. I agree with Martin about guidelines...they should form part of the Brand guidleines which most organisations tend to have...don't they?!
Steve Paul - 06/07/2009
I agree with Martin Thomas - how often do companies forget that employees who are motivated to use Facebook et al can potentially be harnessed for their value in telling managers what it is really like on the shop floor.
mike mathieson - 06/07/2009
Maybe it would be easier to have a generic Staff Customer Feedback site for employees. They could rank customers according to key criteria - Weight, general appearance, twat/pikey rating etc That way potential shop-floor staff could be more selective about the type of retailer they join.
Louis Sugiyama - 06/07/2009
I am surprised retailers haven't yet caught onto this potential threat and invested some training into basic "no-no's" for employees on inductions in this digital age... I do think that there is a failing somewhere in the employer-employee relationship though - these guys are clearly unhappy enough to want to vent this. I personally think a happy employee wouldn't care to do so if they were overall happy with their job.
Eddie Bongo - 08/07/2009
how about they launch an investigation into how they manage to sell 30 items for a tenner. Thats because they don't care about the odd childs finger being accidently chopped off and sown into their very shiny suits.