Searches at work

[whatevenisthis]

I work in a retail environment. All of a sudden we are being searched daily. Lockers emptied, bags searched, pockets emptied and we have to take our shoes and socks off. Even cars are being searched.

We are surrounded by cameras so it's impossible to steal anything. The things we sell wouldn't fit in our shoes and socks anyway. It's a very stressful environment but this is all legal and above board??

Here's the thing. Nothing has been stolen so why is this allowed? The company I work for does not recognise unions.

The car part is very strange! I work for a large retail store also and the searches are randomly done. You take your shoes off but only roll down your socks.

They dont search your handbag etc unless you have actuallly been caught stealing on the shopfloor and are being removed from the store.

They only search your car on rare occasions and this is only done if during the security search you are found to have your car keys in your pocket as they should be in your locker. They will then search your car as on that shift with your keys to hand you could have snuck out to your car to hide goods.

Your workplace sounds very ott chances are someone is stealing and they haven’t announced it as they are hoping to catch the person in the act. But subjecting you all to that level of searches daily is abit ridiculous.
If they searched my car they would have to wade through the mess before they could even find spare change

I would assume that money is being reported missing and they purposefully haven't told you how or how much or who they suspect.

Which is why they want you to explain money in your car (is it possible to access your vehicle during your working hours - say whilst on a break? Because that will be why they are searching).

I'd also assume it's fairly large amounts - ie, not explicable as just mistakes in making change or people slightly underpaying (as has happened with us when someone paid a Euro instead of a pound coin and not noticed until later).

Our every move is watched, I can deal with that. I can deal with the searches and all the things I have signed up to.

What I can't deal with is the pressure that comes with that. Being marched off the shop floor in front of customers by management to complete these searches. It's intimidating and because it's now daily I feel harassed

They take money from your car?! Fuck right off. I'd be straight down to the police station...the irony of stealing off people you're checking for stealing....

No money has gone missing. No theft has happened. The stock isn't down so I don't know what's going on

Where the hell do you work? Give us a clue

Would you necessarily know, though? Our company is quite small and gossip travels fast but in a larger establishment - if someone is missing things from a bag or purse, would you have been told?

But if you genuinely don't know, then I think you're right to raise it with union. Actually, even if you do know that someone has had money (or other items, it could be someone is systematically stealing from people, and that they suspect items are being sold) taken, this doesn't seem the right way to go about solving the matter. It does sound a bit like bolting the stable door...

Jesus, if they searched my car they’d have a field day! There’s change all over it, not to mention tons of empty packaging and general crap.

Surely cars aren't OK to search unless they actually suspect you of hiding stock in there (we've had tvs walk out into employees cars)

16 years in retail and the most I've had or conducted myself is bags, pockets, shoes and socks opened to look in to show no cash (extreme and only when tills are shorted) and you're not allowed to touch possessions/allowed to touch the person.
A female and male colleague should be present also.

Seems unduly invasive and I'd be calling acas or even Usdaw for some advice.

I'm just going to leave. It's the 16 year old kids that I'm worried about working there.

Sounds like sanctioned bullying to me!

Is there a policy on staff searching?

Bags, pockets etc sounds reasonable. Shoes and socks I would say no. I would be extremely unhappy at that.

Where is the car parked? Taking your money is not on.

Where do you work?

I also think joining usdaw might not be a bad idea.

That sounds totally over the top. I worked for a large supermarket chain as a student and was never searched once despite working on the checkout/customer service desk and because they were trying to encourage me into management training, having higher levels of access especially at weekends.

Interestingly enough when we did lose a large amount of money, it was the boss who ended up being arrested.

If done properly searches can offer staff protection from accusations - in that if your are searched before you leave and found to be clean, then they have no grounds to accuse you after the event. Similarly staff should be trained to handle cash at the till in such a way that it is impossible for them to be accused of palming the cash. An exit search should be an end of it though - sounds like somebodsy who knows f-all about security is panicking...

How do they get away with not recognising unions? Is that legal? Is it not like not recognising the police?

Trade union recognition is a specific “thing”. It mainly just means they don’t recognise them for collective bargaining/consultation purposes. Probably the vast majority of employers don’t recognise a TU for those purposes, nothing wrong with that per se.

When i worked in retail, the searches were very brief and non intrusive- quick glance in your handbag and if you'd bought anything from there you kept the reciept and another staff member initalled it (not sure why!)

I wouldn't like to work under such suspicion. I'm not sure how they think this makes for a good workforce.

I think you are going to find out that something has happened to provoke these searches, and they haven't caught the their/theives yet.

If you leave before it's resolved it could look a bit bad for you, so couldn't you bide your time?

Contact ACAS. Get some legal advice. Go to your GP and talk about the stress it's causing you. This is not acceptable.
(And don't listen to the idiots who parrot that 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear'.)
Your management are demonstrating their contempt and hostility for their workforce. These constant, stressful searches are from a starting point that you are all feral, thieving scum who have to be terrorized into obedience.

There have been several cases of retail firms breaking all sorts of laws regarding searches, docking of wages, public humiliation of staff, etc. So don't feel you are alone and do not believe that it's OK for them to treat you and your colleagues like this.

I'm thinking it sounds like post-emptive panic too.

We have bag searches to check we're not taking...I dunno...cucumbers or something, but the tills are regularly checked, we've got cameras on us tillside, and the managers do cash lifts at the start of every shift so vanishing money would very quickly be attributed.

Nobody minds this, it's for our protection as much as the company!

Same as others, worked for various retailers in the past (Next, HMV, H Samuel) and had to have bag checked at the end of each shift and we had random locker checks... never known cars to be checked though! How they can justify that I don’t know as money in your car could be there from before your shift? Taking your shoes AND socks off also seems a bit excessive... like others have said speak to ACAS

Yoohoo we sign one another's receipts and it's also not allowed to serve yourself. It's to prevent someone picking up a thrown away receipt and helping themselves to the goods listed on it, then pretending that it's their receipt during a check.

We have lockers and pockets searched fairly regularly - I wouldn't be happy about car searches though, that's not on.

This isn’t TK Maxx again is it?