Finland's services workers' union PAM has urged fast-food restaurant chain Hesburger to address complaints made by employees about working hours and conditions.
The call comes after a company campaign claiming to be a 'responsible employer' led to a significant backlash on social media, with twelve current and former Hesburger employees telling Yle about the poor treatment of staff at the nationwide chain.
The complaints include issues such as chronic under-staffing, employees having to work for 10 hours without breaks and having to work without pay.
"This completely contradicts Hesburger's responsibility campaign," Raimo Hoikkala, an employment contract specialist with the trade union, told Yle.
"We cry together during shifts because it is so painful"
The current and former employees of the fast-food chain told Yle that the working conditions and excessive demands on the young workers have often led to employee exhaustion.
"We cry together during shifts because it is so painful at times," one current employee, a 21-year-old woman, said.
Former staff member Jasmin Ristolainen said that the experience of working at Hesburger had a detrimental effect on her health.
"I didn't know how far I was expected to stretch myself. I was at work from morning until twelve in the evening, without breaks," Ristolainen said. "I wonder what the social consequences will be if so many other young people are exhausted."
Other employees interviewed by Yle reported that it is standard practice within the company to only have two people on duty in a restaurant at any one time, one in the kitchen and the other on the checkout. Due to the constant flow of customers and home delivery orders, there is simply no time to take a break.
"At worst, I didn't have time to go to the bathroom," one male employee, who is in his twenties and has worked at Hesburger for three and a half years, told Yle.
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The issue of under-staffing was a constantly recurring theme throughout the interviews.
"There are simply too few people on shifts. The rush is constant," a 19-year-old Hesburger employee working in southern Finland said, with many adding that the huge increase in home delivery orders during the coronavirus pandemic has made working conditions at the chain "intolerable".
The increase in workload has not been reflected by an increase in the workforce, the employees reported.
Hesburger founder offers apology
The issue of working conditions in Hesburger outlets became a hot topic of discussion earlier this week on Jodel, an anonymous discussion forum application, after the company launched a 'responsible employer' campaign.
Earlier this week, Helsingin Sanomat and tabloid Iltalehti both reported on the "storm of criticism" that ensued on Jodel in reaction to the campaign. IL also wrote that Hesburger founder Heikki Salmela said he did not see how the people raising the issues raised on Jodel could be employees of the company.
The current and former employees of Hesburger interviewed by Yle expressed amazement at Salmela's stance, with one calling for the "denying of problems" within the company to end.
However, Salmela subsequently told business magazine Talouselämä on Friday that he now offers his apologies to the employees and promises to investigate the matters raised.
"This is the number one priority for me now," Salmela said.
Experiences in first job can have lasting effects
For many of the employees interviewed by Yle, their role at Hesburger was their first experience of working life which some said allowed the company to take advantage of them.
"When we don't know better, we can't say no. We thought that was the way it is at work," a 21-year-old current Hesburger employee said.
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PAM's Hoikkala said that the reputational damage to Hesburger caused by this episode, and the experiences of the employees, can have a detrimental knock on effect on the wider industry in the future.
"Young people are the workers of the future, they choose the field in which they go to work. The restaurant industry is already facing an attraction challenge as well as a labour shortage. Young people get their first experience of the industry here, and if young people have been treated unfairly, the restaurant industry will certainly not be attractive to them in the future," Hoikkala said.
He further advised employees to first contact the union's local shop steward if they have a grievance at the workplace, and if a shop steward is not available or has not been elected, they could also raise the matter with a supervisor.
"It would be good if the grievances could be clarified and treated during the employment term, otherwise the challenges will not change," Hoikkala said.