To think some charity shop volunteers are exploited and should be paid?

[34degreesburningbees]

There's a young man with autism at my local (chain) charity shop and he works so hard - harder than I ever did when I worked in retail. He sees it as his full time job and they work him like it is one.

He has been there for years. It seems a bit, idk, exploitative.

AIBU?

Working doesn't stop her getting PIP?

Do you mean the landlords?
Legitimate charity shop businesses are owned by wholly owned subsidiaries of the main charity

I am so grateful to our local charity shop for giving my son a regular shift. It's giving him valuable work (And life) experience. He's planning to do it for 6 months minimum then will start looking for a paid Saturday job

back in the early 2000s a lot of charity shops were part of the workfare scheme that was New Labours New Deal

Charity shop worker here. There are more reasons for people volunteering to work for charity shops and in other types of roles than you can possibly imagine. Volunteering is a brilliant way for people who can’t otherwise work (for reason that you will know absolutely nothing about because it’s not your business) to feel valued and make a contribution within a supportive environment. Volunteering is about so much more than money.

I’m so glad he’s benefited from it 😊❤️

This needs to be reported to the Charity Commission, who will take you very seriously indeed.

Big charity generally only pay one small salary to run a shop and you can’t keep a shop open with one person.

They claim they can’t pay others while insisting on the market rate for their mgt positions, natch, so any vol who’s any good is treasured. Or ripped off.

The law doesn’t help - it says you can’t take on a vol to do the work you’d have to pay someone to do. Charity shops would shut overnight if that was enforced.

Vols don’t have any legal rights - sometimes they’re not even insured for stuff like falling down the wobbly stairs at the back.

Imho the sector is dodgy AF and needs a beady eye. It’s huge business now, way too much cash generated to be so rackety.

Most people just want to
do A Good Deed by shopping or giving there, and understandably aren’t interested in being disillusioned. Naturally the charities discourage regulation and safeguarding.

One of our local charities is run rather ‘individually’. They only hire staff with visible LD (watch out for that, also people with addictions) and have been forced to announce they gave away 8 per cent of the takings last year.

The 92 percent is anyone’s guess. What could possibly go wrong when only the CEO and his BF can add up?

Sounds reciprocal rather than exploitative
they’ve got some free labour also they will of had to invest some time training him

he’s go some experience to enable him to get a job

Why shoudn’t charity shop managers receive the market rate?
I volunteer with one of the chains and standards we training safeguarding and health and safety are not lower than other work environments.

Exactly this. My mum
also volunteers in a charity shop.

Head office Mgt get market rate - the poor shop
Managers are horribly underpaid and the vols aren’t.

Hrumph.

He may have tried paid employment before and did not cope. A lot of autistic people are happy to work hard but are not suited to the high stress world of full time employment, volunteering gives them the freedom to take the selves out of stressful situation without risking their job. My brother is autistic and although he worked here and there he couldn't hold anything down for a great length of time, he was not suited to work but he enjoyed volunteering. Just cos he works hard does not mean they are exploiting him, it just means he is a hard worker.

Most charity shops don’t turn over enough money to pay salaries

Unless you’re the CEO of the charity - here are some of their salaries

Oxfam £120k
Age UK £190k
British Heart Foundation £180k
RSPCA £160k

@34degreesburningbees

I volunteer in a charity shop.

The model is built on the vast majority of the staff being unpaid volunteers. Most shops have a paid manager (my shop has a full-time paid manager and part-time deputy manager) but everyone else is a volunteer.

So this man shouldn't be paid. HOWEVER, you are not being unreasonable if you have good grounds to think that they work him too hard. Volunteers are there to work, but I also believe that the work should not be exceptionally taxing.

So the shop may well be exploiting him to a degree if they are demanding too much of him.

I should perhaps also say that, in my experience, the charity I volunteer for is exploitative of its paid shop managers. They are very much underpaid for the amount of work/responsibilities they are given.

@Nowdontmakeamess

They meant that shops don't turn over enough money in order to give salaries to all of the shop staff. The Oxfam shop I volunteer in has two employees - the manager and deputy manager - and the wages for those are low. Oxfam shop managers are under a lot of pressure and their can be such that they end up having to do unpaid overtime to get things done.

@Isabella40 you can work whilst claiming PIP, it’s not means tested.

These salaries may seem a lot but they do reflect the level of responsibility and tbh they could be earning a lot more outside of the charities. They fall into insignificance when compared to CEOs of Footsie 100 companies whose renumeration is well into the millions.

For Some reason I’ve just got a picture of the terminally awful Charity Shop Sue in my head 🤮🤣

Except people aren’t giving money to Footsie companies specifically for the benefit of others.

£190k is a fuck ton of donations from people that is going nowhere near the intended recipient. Think how many poor sods with their £5 a month donations are needed to finance just the salary.

@Nowdontmakeamess thank you so much for that.
I'm a semi retired CEO but I gave two years to our local hospice charity after my father died ( I looked after him,they didn't). Their CEO gets paid £175k with a turnover of less than £5m. In the real world that would be a £100k job as CEO salaries are based on company size.
This individual went on TV to moan they had to shut beds as they couldn't afford nurses!
I'd be embarrassed to trouser that amount of money. There are plenty of youngish retired SLT who'd do it for half this man's salary.
I no longer volunteer but I do give money occasionally. There's also a huge amount of stealing in the sector but it's hushed up. I reported quite a few managers and nothing was done .
I do know people get a lot out of volunteering and I will go back to it in the future.

Rather than focus on salaries you need to look at the percentage of income that is spent on salaries and running costs compared to donations received. This will give the true picture. It’s all available online. As an example for every £1 the RSPCA raises 81p is spent on animal welfare, 18p fundraising the next £1 and 1p on governance.

Absolutely - brilliant post.