DD shouldn’t be forced to do a fake review for her workplace?

[TeaAndBrie]

DD works as a waitress at a chain food pub whilst at uni.
The place is poorly run and there are constantly getting bad reviews.
DD tells me that everything customers complain about in reviews is justified and correct.
There is a group chat as part of the app where shifts etc are allocated.
A message has been put on to say that all staff must put on a five star review or this will affect their shifts going forward.
she’s now worried she will lose her job if she doesn’t put on a review but also feels it’s unfair that they’re being told to falsify reviews.
aibu to tell her to stand her ground and not put a review on even if it keeps the peace and her still being given shifts?

Do head office know

screenshot the message.
join a union.

Good grief what a time to be alive. That is absolutely outrageous behaviour and makes a total mockery of the whole purpose of reviews

Take a screenshot of the message, then find the HR dept for the chain and make a written complaint.

I would also complain to the line manager, and the overall pub manager (in writing) and note that I'm being asked to do something a) dishonest, b) which is not part of my employment contract, and being threatened with the stability of my job over it.

And yes, if there's a union, involve them.

She should have the details of the area manager. Tell her to send the message on to them, and to ask for clarification on company policy of withholding shifts if staff don’t make fake reviews.

Good idea.
Act innocent.

Fraud is not part of their job description.

It's deceptive practice to deceive customers. Here, businesses are prohibited from creating fake reviews (all NG with other chicanery), which is what they're proposing.

The review process is always rigged.

How would anyone even know who submitted a review,they'd just use anon or a different name, a sudden surge in 5 star reviews always look suspicious especially if there are usually negative reviews.

I would buddy up with colleagues. If NO ONE does it, they can’t ALL be given the worst shifts.

Ridiculous but at least she has the evidence.

Even more ridiculous they'd risk that than using AI for their fake reviews like so many businesses do now.

I take it they've never heard of ChatGPT?

She should just say no, however, she would be happy to engage in staff meetings where they address the issues & try to resolve them. Everyone else probably agrees with her. It sounds like an awful place to work, the person who made this request should be reported & dealt with (please tell me it wasn’t a manager) x

She should look for another job if there's anything around

This. Plus send it from a burner email to trip advisor, Google et al.

She should send a screenshot of the message to all the review websites, from an anonymous email address, so that they know to take down all the 5-star reviews

This happens all the time. They are very easy to spot. Usually a local user who has only posted one review praising some random bar person by name and talking about the great meat and vegetarian options.

Yep, the manager was the one who sent it. Most staff are family members of the owner. DD has been there 2 years and never had a team meeting or performance review.
it is an awful place to work in terms if organisation and management but working the shifts aren’t bad and she gets shifts normally whenever she says she’s free which suits her being at uni. It’s a zero hours contract.
other staff members have already put reviews on and they have made no efforts to hide their name!

Add a 5 star review under her own name.

A few days later add a 2nd review anonymously including a Screenshot of the message.

Yeah, not getting the outrage here. Does your daughter think that working at a restaurant that has crappy reviews is good in the long term or even midterm? So they get bad reviews, then less customers, then less staff is need…then reviews get worse… then even less customers… then even less staff.

Seems to me that good reviews are good for the staff, no?

Astroturfing is illegal in the UK

That's a terrible take.

I agree she shouldn’t, and I would complain to Head office. However if she feels she can’t do that, let her write the review, and then you write an anonymous one uploading a picture of the text 😂

Tell her just to do something vague ("What can I say? What a place!") It's all very well everyone else being so moralistic. They don't have £60k's worth of debt over their head, with zero experience in a very adverse jobs market. Then suggest she should look for another job.

In my experience, very rarely does "do the right thing" play out well for you at work. In fact the opposite.

Either that or she can file it away for "Tell me about a time when you at to make a difficult decision" in interviews and live on baked beans

Thats illegal...tell her to start looking for another job.

Absolutely don’t do this! Friends daughter had exactly same scenario but did write a review & ended us being suspended while they investigated. She got her job back but was obviously very stressful. The manager ended up being sacked - turned out everyone had been asked to do same thing.