Lidl Accused of Going Too Far to Reduce Shrink
By Bernice Hurst, Managing Director, Fine Food Network
Following an article in Stern, a German magazine, discount supermarket Lidl has been forced to deny charges of spying on workers. The magazine claimed that both cameras and private detectives monitored employee movements and kept track of their relationships, personal finances and even trips to the toilet.
Comparing the retailer's actions to the secret police in East Germany, Lidl was accused of tracking both banal and intimate details. Stern's catalog of evidence related to branches all over Germany as well as the Czech Republic. The surveillance took place via mini-video cameras installed by detectives. The official reason given to store managers was to reduce shoplifting.
But among the detectives' reports, according to the UK's Guardian, were "details of precisely where employees had tattoos as well as information about their friends." Detectives were also expected to report on whether employees appeared to be "incapable" or "introverted and naïve."
Attracting wide scale media attention was an internal memorandum that "allegedly advised staff that 'female workers who have their periods may go to the toilet now and again, but to enjoy this privilege they should wear a visible headband.'"
A Hamburg labor lawyer, Klaus Müller-Knapp, said the transcripts were "scandalous to the highest degree" and breached laws on freedom of expression while both human rights groups and trade unions pledged to take up the case.
While admitting that some surveillance had taken place in Germany, management expressed shock at the accusations, asserting that both cameras and detectives were aimed at shoplifters rather than staff and then insisted that both practices had been discontinued in any case. Despite the company's protestations of innocence, local officials are said to be investigating.
Discussion questions: Are stores justified in monitoring their employees' movements? Where is the line to be drawn between what's acceptable to reduce shrink and actions that constitute a violation of workers' privacy?