Lidl  is a German discount supermarket chain that operates over 7200 stores worldwide. Founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family. Lidl has since the opening in 1973 of the first of its stores in their present incarnation now established itself in over 20 countries in Europe.

Trade unions in Germany and other countries have repeatedly criticised Lidl for mistreatment of workers, breach of European directives on working time and other abuses. These have been published in the Black Book on the Schwarz Retail Company published in Germany and now available in English. While The Times notes that Lidl managers work excessive hours, being obliged to sign out of the working time directive when starting with the company, both The Guardian and The Times in the UK amongst other allegations have reported that Lidl spies on its workforce with cameras, makes extensive notes on employee behaviour, particularly focusing on attempting to sack female workers who might become pregnant and also forces staff at warehouses to do "piece-rate" work. Lidl management has denied the charges. In Italy, in 2003, a judge in Savona sentenced Lidl for anti-union policies, a crime in that country. Lidl has been criticised in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for not allowing workers to join unions.

In March 2008 the German news magazine Stern released a cover story reporting systematic surveillance of Lidl workers, including the most intimate details of their private affairs.

Further instances of Lidl's purported mistreatment of past and present employees are documented on a website created by a former employee.

          Working Conditions in Lidl

                    From website created by a former employee.

       In 1973 Dieter Schwarz had an idea. As he watched one of his employees kneeling in front of the shelf and stacking up the bananas, her face red with embarrassment for having failed to fulfil her duties in the assigned timeframe, a new concept was born.
She knew she should have finished an hour ago.
She knew she wouldn't get paid for this hour.
And yet, the feeling of inadequacy combined with the fear of losing her job caused her to stay.
This was (and is) common practice in the sector - but Dieter Schwarz was about to perfect it. If the sheer terror at the thought of losing one's income was causing workers to do one hour of unpaid overtime every day, why not three or four? If he increased their workload without increasing their hours and forced them to stay as long as they were needed, he could considerably cut down on personnel expenses, and this would enable him to sell at prices no one else could compare with and still make an enormous profit; he basically sells the product to the consumer at half the normal retail price, and his employees pay the other half.
Employers break the law all over the world to squeeze the most out of their workers. But the Lidl concept is entirely based on breaking the law: Lidl could not exist in a country that applies their labour laws!

Lidl is considered the nastiest multinational employer (besides maybe Walmart) in the civilised world, and rightly so.
Unfortunately I wasn't aware of that until it was too late.
I had a well-paid job in a decent factory, but the night shift completely destroyed my health. So I signed a contract with Lidl after I was guaranteed that I wouldn't have to work nights.
As you can guess, that guarantee wasn't honoured, and I had to get up at 4am every night.
I had hoped that I could stick with it until I found decent employment - but in the end I put my health and dignity first and left.
(To be fair, I have to add that when I started we had a store manager who was both decent and competent - but I soon had to realise that neither of these qualities are common in Lidl.)

These are just some of the working conditions:

- Contracts are for 10 or 20 hours/week. However, employees may be able to work full time most weeks, provided
a) they never mention their rights
b) they are on call 24/7
c) it suits the company.

- Whoever shows awareness of their rights has their hours cut down. The same goes for employees who are not 'flexible' (=not available to come in at short notice any time, or not answering their phones at 5am). And of course any career opportunities depend entirely on tractability and 'flexibility'.

- Labour laws are not applicable in Lidl. Especially the legally prescribed minimum daily rest period is regularly denied. This happened to me quite often, and when it became the norm, I quit.
Some of my Polish and Slovac colleagues have to work two shifts a day (5+ hours at night/morning, 2+ hours in the evening), five days a week, each week; which means that every week they are denied their daily minimum rest period for five consecutive days.
There even is an internal terminology for regular breaches of the law: for example, an evening shift followed by a night shift, denying the employee his legal entitlement of an eleven hour rest period, is called a back-to-back shift.

- Employees are constantly harassed. However fast they work, they are expected to increase their speed every day, and not a day goes by without the manager telling them they are too slow, usually with a more or less subtle hint at possible dismissal.
(On one occasion, I was told I had to change a number of bulk pallets in an average of 15 minutes each; I managed to change them in an average of 9 minutes, and on the following day I was given 8 minutes for exactly the same task.)

- Employees only get paid for the hours they're scheduled for but have to stay until everything is finished. Since the amount of work can't possibly be done in the assigned timeframe, the employee has to add a few hours of his own time without payment.

- If an employee gets called in for extra hours at short notice, these hours are conveniently 'forgotten' on the payroll.

- Fear is the main means of staff motivation. I have been told that disciplinary action had been taken against me on two occasions (for ludicrously silly reasons that wouldn't even have been addressed anywhere else); the disciplinary action didn't come after all, but it helps reminding the staff of how easily they can get rid of them. (The same has happened to a number of staff members in our store.)

- Cashiers are required, under pain of disciplinary action, to start work ten minutes before the beginning of their shift. This may not sound like a lot, but depending on the rota of the cashier, it could amount to up to two additional unpaid hours per week.

- Cashiers are supposed to scan an average of 35 items per minute; I never heard of anyone who managed to do this even once, and it is my belief that this is actually impossible. But the magic 35 is used at every given opportunity to remind even the best employee that their work is not satisfactory.
(And while they are busy trying to scan as many products as humanly possible, 'Mystery Shoppers' are being paid to sneak other items past the checkout and get the cashier into trouble.)

- An employee who purchases a drink or a chocolate bar for the break has to get the receipt signed by both the cashier and the manager or will be accused of theft. (Naturally, the time one is looking for the manager is part of the break itself.)

- I haven't experienced or witnessed any locker, pocket or body searches in our store; however, we have been repeatedly informed that these could and would be carried out if the manager felt like it. And I do know these have taken place in other stores!
(Some employees leave their coats at home, even in winter, for fear of having something slipped into them as an excuse for their dismissal.)

- Lidl employees are not supposed to have a private life. They never know what time they will finish; the time given on the rota is simply an estimate (and usually a very bad one) and only indicates until which time they'll get paid. Employees are told not to make any plans or arrangements for the time after work.
The rota is usually out at the weekend for the following week, so employees don't know before Saturday or Sunday whether they'll be working on Monday. And of course the rota can be changed at any time. (I have heard of stores who have, at least theoretically, a monthly rota, but that seems to be the exception.)
Employees are also expected to be available when called in at short notice. They may be called in on their day off, on days on which they have worked already, during their holidays and even when they're on sick leave! And those who don't comply are told that they 'let the team down'.
(Talking about sick leave: sick employees, with or without certificate, can expect a visit from the store or district manager, and they usually don't bring Get Well Soon cards. And those who have been ill for too long can expect their notice in the post.)

- Sick days are not paid; the employee’s rota is simply changed, making his sick days his days off, and he will have to catch up with the lost hours after he returns to work.

- Warehouse, shop floor and checkout area are infested with security cameras. Yet they have nothing to do with security; their only purpose is to control the speed and efficiency of the staff.

- Attendance at staff meetings is compulsory, as anywhere else, but unpaid.

- The Lidl policy of terror, pressure, humiliation and total control applies on every level. Managers receive an annual salary for a 48 hour contract, but they, too, have to finish their work before they go home; thus a working week of over 140 hours (no typo!) is not an exception, though many managers have to blame their own incompetence (overordering, personnel mismanagement etc).

- There is no proper authority in Lidl to deal with disagreements between management and employees (Lidl will probably claim that there is no need since there are no disagreements). Something like a spokesman would be the first step towards workers' representation, and this is something Lidl would not allow under any circumstances!
Theoretically, disagreements and complaints could be brought to the attention of the district manager, but these are guaranteed to backfire! Lidl has a totalitarian structure, and however justified one's complaint is: questioning the store manager means questioning the hierachy, and this doesn't go down well at all!

- Until recently, female eployees in Poland and the Czech Republic were given the privilege of being able to use the toilet during working hours when they had their period. But since they had to wear a headband in order to let the manager know it was that time of the month, there was an understable outcry; and now they have to wait for their break, just like anyone else.

Many Lidl employees, especially job starters and foreign nationals, tend to believe that the way their employer treats them is the norm, or even legal. It is not!

You may ask yourself how Lidl are able to hold on to their staff under these conditions. The answer is simple: they don't! Most employees leave after a few weeks, either because they found decent employment, decided not to give up their dignity for a few extra Euros or are sacked under some pretext because they lack tractability or quickness.
Since the tasks performed by the majority of the staff don't require a lot of training, they are easily replaced - preferably with foreign nationals since they tend to fuss less about rights and minimum requirements.
When you visit your local Lidl, you will see new faces on a regular basis. And if you look into the eyes of those poor souls who have to stay there for more than a few months, you will find them reddened from sleep deprivation, and dead from dehumanisation.
Having been a Lidl employee, it was almost impossible to afford one's shopping anywhere else but in Lidl. But a few weeks before I quit I decided never to spend another penny in there - why sustain the dark power that had turned me into a zombie?
I have gathered experiences with many despicable employers and suffered a lot of humiliation at several workplaces; but the most traumatic of them all will always be my time in Lidl!
I don't blame anyone who shops in Lidl because he has no other choice. But every time you pass the checkout, think of the money you have saved by shopping in Lidl, and remember that all these savings come out of their employees' pockets.

(Of course one may wonder whether a multinational company could get away with these practices without the co-operation of the authorities. In February 2007 I have contacted the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and suggested to send inspectors. In reply I was told that the Department had no authority to send inspectors into Lidl unless I filled out an official Labour Inspectorate Complaint form - however, they are very reluctant to send out this form, and it took several emails and reminders to finally receive the form after more than three months. To view my communication with the Department, click here.

June 2010: It is now just over three years that the Department have received my complaint form by registered letter, and still no inspection has been carried out in Lidl.)

In 2007, the Guardian published an article about the working conditions in Lidl at http://www.guardian.co.uk/supermarkets/story/0,,2033346,00.html. Due to a misunderstanding, though, I wasn't quoted correctly - my evening shifts didn't last for 12 hours; however, they ended as late as 11pm or midnight (or, in case of an inventory, even a few hours later) and were followed by night shifts that commenced at 5am (not 6am).

Now we get to the stories of my colleagues. If you are working for the Lidl People as well and have something to contribute (anonymously, of course), send an email to

I found a particularly chilling account of a former employee on an Italian blog (don't worry, it's written in English) which probably will only be believed by Lidl employees. WARNING: This is pure hardcore, and anyone with a weak heart should skip this link; if you think you can take it,

click here

.

At around 11.00 i get a phone call from one of the duty managers, she aked me if i could do her a favour, now this manager i like and she does her best, especially the crap i know she gets daily.She wanted me to go and work in another store as they were short staffed naturally i said no, whilst pretending to have other arrangments, she was okay about it and told me its my day off and we were cool, then she told me a story about how she had to take rotas home as a manger has made a mistake halfway through the month, now from what she told me she was working on it all evening until 2.00am !! I told her this was ridiculous, and rememeber this is in her own time, covering for somebody elses mistakes which she does on a regular basis !! Then she told me one of the senior managers who hasn't even been with the comapny for a year gave her a roasting for not doing some order for two days and she is one of the more experienced mangagers that was tranfered from another store.I really feel for people like that who are eventually going to be ground down.
After finishing the phone call after moaning to her about not getting off the till until 20.15, way after we are supposed to close, and realising she had just phoned me from HER home not worlk!! i forgot about it and got on with my day, later on the phone went again and it was another manager asking me the SAME question about working in the same store!! Somebody else answered the phone that time as i wasn't in, but their attitude to my relatives on the phone really gets me, they phoned up yesterday to check if i was coming in when i was well on my way to work, i found out when i got home that night.
One time when i was delivering leaflets for this new store, a manager at the store i was training at phone up to check if i was in, they did it twice their trust in me was really a great motivator!
...
This is a continuation of yesterydays delights when i was phoned up for a second time to come in to my store, my mother answered the phone, now as far as i know she was polite, but the manager that phoned has been talking to our security gaurd, who i get on with, in a break the security guard told me that this manager had said that my mother was asking questions and going "what do you want.." and proceeded to say that i was a mummys boy, how many staff he has told this too i don't know as you can imagine this was a bit shocking my life is my own business and the reason i live with my folks is complicated and mostly financial, i also floated to another duty mannager that i was thinking about leaving, and had conversations with him at cashing up about what this other manager had said to me, he said it was bullying ect and was simpathetic.

I think our manager ist just there for the humiliation bit - there's nothing she loves more than giving out to people in front of others, which sometimes can take an almost comical turn.
One day she told me to clean the trolley bay and level the trolleys half an hour before we closed. An hour later she calls me and yells at me (in front of everybody else, of course) that the trolleys weren't level. I managed to keep my calm and even a straight face (which was very difficult) and told her that I had levelled them when she told me to, but that there were still customers afterwards. Without lowering her voice one bit, she told me that that was no excuse...

Lidls r nazi i had 2 work a 15 hour shift & when i wanted 2 go 4 a second ten minute break was told no as had had ten minutes earlier! i quit on the 3rd day (from a blog)

In our shop we order three times as much as we sell. We are on rota 5am until 10am but never finish before evening because we must work backstock. One day I got bad toothache just after 10am and begged store manager to let me go to dentist. She finally agreed to let me go 'early' - early being at 3pm, after 10 hours work (with 15 minute break) and 5 hours of agony.

I am a Store Manager in an English store and have read your web page and of course around 90% of what you have written is accurate.
One thing you failed to mention was the issue of alarm call outs for managers which can occur during any time of the night/early morning.
One such occasion was when I had only had 1 hours sleep and was called and had to attend the store at 2am (where there was some alarm sensor error or something as no break in occurred). I then had to drive home so tired afterwards and then attend work at 6am for my normal 10 hour shift.
The most hours I have done in a week is 69 (which I realise is very good!) considering the other managers I know of.
I know of a manager that has fallen asleep at the wheel and crashed their car, writing off their car and needing treatment for their back etc. They had worked the previous 6 days and had done around 75 hours in those days.
Nothing seizes to amaze me with this company.
I have seen everything you could wish to see having been with the company for between 2 years and 5 years (wishing to remain anonymous), and am currently searching harder than ever to find employment elsewhere.
I sincerely hope that your search for justice for Lidl employees all over the world comes to something and that you follow this through, and keep writing to them.
When I quit I promise I will help you to bring Lidl down, and seek justice for the stressed, tired, hard working and mentally tortured employees of this fearless employer.
I know that my place will be readily snapped up by someone young, attracted by the good salary, but once they realise what is expected from them they too, will see the light and leave.
As i stated earlier, please please do not in any way use this email address or any of my details that could be linked to me on any of you're pages as I am still an employee.
I just wish to say keep up the hard work, and I know that other Lidl employees look at your page to see if there is light at the end of the tunnel, and a visit will occur so that they can see that leaving the store at 9pm and starting work again at 6am is completely against the law, as these are the times we leave work and start again the next morning. Of course inventories finish around 11pm and the store manager is expected in at 6am to run through any mistakes and get the result with the District Manager.

It is probably worth mentionning right now that I am someone who works extremely hard in any job I have done, happy to put in extra effort, to go that "extra mile" that employers want from their staff. And also, I was aware of some of the complaints made about the company before I started. But, was reassured by the Regional Director that that was the "old Lidl" and that the new LIDL was beyond that, much improved. It is for this very reason that I make these comments in 2009 to make people aware that the company, at least to me, seems very much the same (90%) as I see on websites and in newspaper reports.

I don't know where to begin.

Perhaps I could talk endlessly about the way managers talk to you as if you're worthless and not worthy of their employment? This was what annoyed me most of all....the patronising tone of managers talking to you....."well if you want to be successful here you need to be something special". In a similar way senior managers and auditors will often take photographs of the store when they visit. I was actually pulled into the office one day and questionned with a pile of these photos on the table. The ops manager and director were either side of me and went through a number of these photos. It felt like I was a criminal being interrogated for murder by detectives. One photo showed how we sold out of a product line. Another showed how there was too much of a product on display, and that it was not productive. I just thought what do you want....you complain to me when there's no stock out, you complain when there's too much. At one point the ops manager said to me....Do you think you're a leader? "Yes" No you're not he said back to me....So I just thought why the hell do you ask me the question in the first place, if you're just gonna deny my answer? Then at the end of this session they both said....do you want to make any comments to us?....Yeah right like you would even listen to me!!

With this in mind it's not surprising that we call the leadership 'management by fear'. I once cashed an employee up and he had a till difference of 30p. He said to me let me pay that because the company likes the till difference to be zero and he did not want to be documented as an employee with a till difference.

Another thing is the incessant 'DM list' (a list of jobs left by the District Manager) left frequently for in-store staff, a list which has to be completed by two days...."John" said the DM...."all of my DM jobs have to be treated as a priority" Sometimes these jobs were given before the weekend, and it was simply impossible to get them done on Saturday and Sunday as my in-store colleagues would tell me. Some of these jobs seemed quite strange like having to move a clip board so that it is hanging from a hook instead of standing on a shelf. Strange because on top of these jobs staff are expected to still put out all the stock, maintain the shopfloor, work on the till, make orders, serve customers etc. It's not surprising that staff roted to start at 6am would sometimes start at 3am (unpaid) in order to get everything done.

I hear similar things: Lidl is not that bad, it’s much better. Senior managers saying that the company has changed and is different from all the press reports in 2006-2008. Thing is all the senior managers who said this were still working for the company back then. Thing is a culture of a company cannot just change overnight. Thing is in the recession as the £ falls and bites into Lidl’s buying power, increasing expense, they are pushing staff even harder to make money back. Thing is can a leopard change its spots?

In a legal sense I find the company really covers themselves very well. ‘Do not drive when tired’ written in documents you’re given. But when you start working for Lidl you’ll see the real Lidl differs to the Lidl on you’re contract. One time they demanded that I drive to head office to get price tickets (as punishment for my incompetence), I was so tired but I did not say no, a task to add to the many other things to do that day! These tickets would have just come the next day had I not driven there. Other parts of my contract seemed to be ignored too, working many more hours than stated and travelling more too. When I was in training the company even had less staff than normal at the store, to put me under “more pressure” - I said to myself I am driving so much and could have a car accident from fatigue, these people are complete ****holes. And man I ended up hating this company car which I spent my life in!

I am astonished with the things I have seen in my Lidl career. Honesty checks where they drop a £10 note in the staff toilets to see if staff hand it in. Searching customers’ shopping on exit, pretending that they do it for training purposes, but really checking if anything’s been stolen. Small wonder that one staff member left, saying he’s better off on the dole.

I have never really understood this company. I told a relative of my frustrations working for Lidl, they just replied – you can’t win with those people. I think this probably sums it up.

On one time before stocktake the District Manager said that I had to work an open-close, ending up to be 6am-10pm, then starting at 6am the next morning. When I counted the stock I was so tired that I could not do simple counting. Then the DM made out I was completely incompetent. Another occasion I had my name read out in front of others because my car was dirty, even though I cleaned it twice in the week. The only dirt was from the journey that morning. But Lidl doesn’t care about you’re excuses, there such a black and white company “I don’t care about you’re explanation because I pay you a fantastic salary and it’s a great opportunity” My boss once said to me. Great opportunity to do what? Burnout? Do your back in? Do alarm call outs at 4am? Treat staff like ****? Er no thanks.

After seeing Lidl job vacancies I applied for job at the Lidl thru the head office. Went for an interview at the Lidl regional office and was at the start optimistic. When I started I was shocked. I knew things would be bad but I was never ready for everything that happened. I worked there at Lidl as a district manager for eleven months out of the weston super mare regional distribution centre (RDC), when I left out of approx 16 DM's I was the fourth most experienced. I regularly worked over 60 hours a week with no overtime. My advice dont go near Lidl. Lidl is the worst employer I have ever seen. As district manager (DM) you can only take a quick break (maybe 10 minutes) work 10 hours a day minimum, have to drive miles and miles. You have to opt out of the 48hr week. You won't see family or friends. Lidl is just not worth it. the ops manager would shout at me down the phone for no reason. everyone seems stressed out there and paranoid. the instore staff have it worse tho, having to pull massive pallets of stock by hand. maybe they even end up getting back problems. staff who work there may even have knives pulled on them when they stop shoplifters.
At the start the job looks attractive but honest the reason they pay good salary is because no one stays working there a long time!! And the reason there is opportunity to progress is because so many people burn out from the job and leave. Lidl is an awful company.

Very interested to read your experiences which were exactly the same as my own.
I'd heard horror stories about Lidls, but thought they were all written by wimps! I therefore thought, being much tougher than most wimpy people, that I could cut it!
How wrong could I be!
My job was a Deputy Store Manager and I was told I would start for 12 weeks on a training plan and was given my "Lidls Passport" (training book). That was the first lie. Day one saw me shelf stacking, day two I was given a till to work. No training just a warning that if the till was down, I would have to pay the difference!Another example is that I was expected to change the bailer having been shown once how to do it; I was expected to shift a pallet of lemonade on my own with a customer observing that it was dangerously heavy and too big for me; I was expected to empty a pallet completely in twenty minutes (?) again, with no training. Some of these expectations together with the lack of training are, in my opinion, dangerous and in breach of HASAWA. I ought to mention the back to back shifts with only two hours between to sleep and eat (the only time you had chance for liquid and food to sustain you for another 12-14 hours!
The working hours are arguably illegal – I was only allowed a break of a few minutes on very few of my working shifts. On many shifts I was allowed no breaks at all. Breaks appear to be seen by the store managers as a luxury and not a necessity or an entitlement. On every shift I worked between one and two hours over the nominal shift hours. In my view, this store is seriously understaffed and needs a realistic staffing review. The management attitudes in the store are very poor. A 21 year old with the attitude he has will always win enemies: ****y, arrogant, rude, aggressive with no people skills – all attributes of a very bad manager. The Other's attitude and approach are equally questionable. There is a clear bullying culture in our branch. The organisation structure is very confused. All of the staff (except three) are either managers, deputy managers, assistant managers or duty managers. Therefore, no one knows who to report to and too many orders are being dished out by too many people to too few people.The level of customer service shown by some members of staff is appalling. I used to cringe at the rudeness of one particular member of staff. Yet the Lidl staff manual places huge store on the importance of this particular KPI.There are some fantastic and loyal individuals operating in the lower positions in the store who are not being treated with the respect they deserve by the managers. The Managers rule by fear and have obviously never learned how to motivate people to achieve peak performance. Their expectation that I would be happy to just pick things up as I went along whilst I was being spoken to like a dog was obviously based on the assumption that I was as desperate as the other members of staff and that I would just put up with their arrogance. A number of the staff have voiced their unhappiness at the same problems as me but they don’t say anything because they are too scared of losing their jobs. I walked out after just 5 weeks when the young ****y manager hauled me into the office to tell me that I had done the ticket order wrong - my retort was that he had shown me how to do it in 5 mins and that of course I would get it wrong given the lack of training. I told him "tell you what, I'll see you later" and walked! The best thing I did. My soul and body had been destroyed in those 5 weeks and I honestly believe I would have been dead if I had continued. Anyone who doubts what I say - go and try it just for a month!
I was totally disgusted and sickened by the whole experience and cannot believe that they are getting away with it!

Hi, I'm a picker in a lidl warehouse in england. I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU ALL FEEL. My current selection manager lied to me(and 45 other core pickers(which by the way there are only 7 of us left)) in my interview about overtime rates(which your lucky to get your normal rate at all), pay rises which I was told that by a years time I would be at top rate as it was very easy to achieve. Complete lie, everytime they gave me a target to hit for a pay rise something always comes up that i've done wrong(Same goes for the others that started with me) nearly two years later still no payrise and still they expect me to hit and surpass my previous target which keeps getting harder and harder to reach. Also is the method in which they work out your pay. They base your worked hours on an average. So as you figure your pay is NEVER right but NEVER over always under. they don't state your hours worked. Lidl is the ONLY warehouse i've ever worked at that had a "depression hotline" which to me is a very bad sign to start with.

This week i've had to work a 7 day week and still manage to hit their out-of-control targets that if you do manage to get them they just raise them the next day. Whenever you ask them anything they don't agree with they will always reply with "you know where the door is, we have a stack of applications to replace you." Always a boost.

Don't forget the "NO TALKING, NO SMILING, NO LIFE" policy that follows their shifts that are 07:00-finish, 11:30-finish, 14:00-finish.

There MANY things that Lidl get away with, such as they had an independant employee survey company come in but we NEVER saw the questionares but the "employees" gave a good response. Lastly, Christmas just gone we were all forced to to book holidays in for the times of their choosing.

I don't know a single operative in my w/h that ISN'T trying to go elsewhere for work.

Lidl has offered me a salary that i considered to be absolutely fantastic and worth of whatever comes. I have always worked much harder than other people and felt great that this time i get paid hard for working hard. Boy, how wrong was I. I was given no training at all never worked less than 50 hours a week and of course, for us managers taking a break is seen as weakness and the way you get treated is just ridiculous. Respect? Forget it. Human rights? Forget it. But that isn’t the worst thing. The worst thing was that I realised my management style is starting to change too and because I didn’t want to become just another animal who treats people like garbage, i actually felt relieved when they sucked me on spot when I’ve gone for my only 10minute break in 12+ hours shift. District Manager just said he’s failing my probation (after i was there for just over 3 months) and he sounded like he couldn’t care less. But do you know what? After those 12weeks of constant bullying I couldn’t care less either. I then been 4months unemployed but I needed that to recover and become human again. Job as a cashier may not be as bad as being a deputy manager but you will still be working unpaid overtimes and get treated like s**t so stay away if you can. The store manager who was (not) providing me with training has to look at district manager as he was a god otherwise his employment could end right away.

I have 3 years work experience as a shop assistant in Lidl. My opinion about this company is very similar to yours, it’s a typical corporation who don’t care about their employees.
From the first day I informed my managers that I’m a proud member of the trade union, and that many things in my opinion are unacceptable and breach the law. They told me that they are a German company and don't accept trade unions. Well, I answered that they’re operating here in Ireland and that they surely are under Irish law.
Anyway, this whole year which I spent here was a terrible time, nobody here is treated with respect, the work force are rather slaves in new form. Actually, in the shop where I am working, there are now 5 people in the trade union, and I’m a kind a shop steward (Union representant).
This March I orginised the first meeting all members of the trade union, and I informed my manager in detail about this beforehand. Two months later some big boss from Lidl Headquarters in Ireland visited our shop and ordered my manager to find something against me. (I know this from my manager, of course unofficial.)
Anyway, a few days later I was accused about insubordination, and after many other things I got a verbal warning. Of course I appealed the decision, and I said to some big boss that I was innocent, but to no avail.
Im still under disciplinary sanction, people in my shop are afraid to do anything (high unemployment around) about their rights.
Now the company have their 10 years’ celebration, with a €10 voucher gift for workers. As I said to my colleague, €10 is good for a kid to buy ice cream, but not for people who work so hard. One good thing from the last days was that only few people agreed by signature to have their pictures/video images from the company’s 10 years’ celebration used. I told them that it is against the rights under data protection.
Anyway, it is hard to work here. People are sick of the atmosphere, always under pressure and never hearing a simple Thank You. It is a shame we have to work in this atmosphere... but I’m not ashamed of what I do because it is to improve things for myself and others. It’s a shame that this kind of company is on the increase... only for the profit of their owners, nothing more.

Having worked as a trainee district manager for the company in the UK (a few years ago now) I was on wikipedia out of curiosity to see what is written about the company and found a link to your site. I totally relate to all of the stories. I was so tired working for them that on one of my days off I crashed the company car (not serious crash, I was fine). I gained six penalty points for speeding once due to being very tired while driving and the other time due to sheer fear at not arriving on time to a meeting at the regional distribution centre. I lost over a stone in body weight in only a few months out of the very demanding physical labour required. I think the most hours I worked in a week was about 85 but I never did less than 65. The money and car are very attractive to newly graduated students but when you work out the hourly rate, it's less than minimum wage. Needless to say, I got out of there as fast as I could.

I was suspended due to being accused of stealing a packet of crisps at the cost of £1.19. Since the day I started, I had always paid for everything at the END of my shift because I couldn't get anyone to stay on the till long enough for me to do it any other way. It was never a problem and even the store manager and seen me do it at the end of a shift and never said it was an issue. I was to attend a hearing, in the Lidl store. I know now why this was all brought about as well.

Anyway, I attended the hearing and told the area manager and someone who was completely unknown to me (and wasn't even introduced to me) that I no longer wished to work for the company and handed him an envelope which contained my letter of resignation plus the cost of a packet of crisps that the store manager refused to allow me to pay for.

I told the area manager that the company was a disgrace. I informed him about fraud going on within the company but he didn't care. The store manager was signing training documents for staff members without their prior knowledge or consent. He didn't care. I told him how members of staff have trouble trying to get their breaks, let alone anything else, to which he replied just ring for another till. He seemed to be under the impression that if you rang for another till, someone would jump on a till for you to go on a break. Another member of staff who is always thrown onto first till can be on a 10am-close shift and will want a break at 7pm, and be told no because she finishes in an hour. And this is by other store assistants. The manager has previously thrown a bag of hard boiled sweets at a member of staff because someone annoyed him during an inventory.

Anyway, I handed the area manager my key for the door, emptied my locker and handed him those keys and told him that from this moment on, I no longer work for Lidl and I expect my pay slips (which I couldnt get at because they were always locked in the top safe and there was about 6 months worth in there) and my P45 within a week. 4 weeks later I had to demand them. I had to ask one of the cleaners (who works 3 hour shifts yet gets to stand in the back for 20 minutes drinking tea) on Facebook to get them sent to me. And even then they screwed me out of half a months wages and when I phoned up about it, they didn't even care enough to sort it out. I can't even get through to them on that number now.

About 2 weeks later, I received a letter stating they were dismissing me. Funny that seeing as I had already told them I no longer worked for them. But I do know what caused the problem.

About 2 weeks before all this started, my partner and my mum both came down with a sickness bug that had been going around. This meant that no one was looking after my now 2 year old son. The assistant manager told me that another member of staff was due in at 10am and could I wait until then. I said yes. At 10am when someone came in, I asked about taking my till off, but he tried to back track on me trying to make me stay, telling me that the stock in the warehouse should be my number 1 priority and I told him I couldn't give a monkeys about his stock when my son is left doing god knows what because everyone else is fighting over the bathroom. I told him to either take my till off or I was going and leaving it there. And then all this over a bag of crisps. It didn't start before that because the store manager was on holiday. And I have since found out that they told everyone else that I left on my own volition. They had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.

To paint a picture of the type of company we're dealing with here, the store I worked for hired an assistant manager who previously worked as a bouncer on the nightclubs in town. He had no retail experience at all. This assistant manager was dealing drugs on the carpark, turning up nearly an hour late to open up, which means no bread, fruit and veg, chiller etc had been put out and he had a habit of yelling at staff in front of customers. Did Lidl sack him? Nope they just moved him to another store.

I now think the company may be making things difficult for me getting another job but I always have something up my sleeve. They think they can ruin me but they are dead wrong. I need to have a reputation before they can tarnish it.

I was 19 when I began working for Lidl down south, after offering me a shop assistants role I was initially delighted as I had been out of work for a while and £6.50 per hour would be the most I'd ever earned at the time, my happiness was short lived. It was around November when I first started, the first week went reasonably well, I got to go home on time, they only really had me on the 7am to 11am shifts, as I was only contracted 20 hours, then I saw the following weeks rota, first shift of the week; '7 – C' was all that was wrote for Monday, I was told that it meant 7am until shop closing (8pm), then I noticed a couple more of these shifts plus others, but I was only contracted 20 hours! I told my duty manager that I wasn't too happy about working those kinds of shifts but all he said was that I'd survive and that everyone else has to do them 'from time to time'. So I did it, although it wasn't 7am until close, more like 7am till 9.40pm! Over 14 hours! Apparently I wasn't allowed to leave work until the shop had been 'closed down' properly, meaning all the stock on every aisle had to be tidied and half empty boxes emptied on top of boxed stock, then the edges of every aisle had to be mopped then a machine pushed up and down each aisle twice, then the till area had to be swept, mopped, bins emptied, then left over stock had to be put back in their places, the staff room cleaned, then we had to do yet another walk around the store tidying the aisles and stock, of course if it was a day when the 'specials' came in all that would have to be done too, not to mention all of the price changes and point of sale signs being changed. I was basically working an extra 1 hour+ a day for free without pay!

I asked about breaks and they told me that you only got a break if you were on an 8+ hour shift but were 'pretty good' as they let everyone go for cigarettes etc. when they wanted one. When it came to my break (7.5 hours into my shift) they told me that although it was officially an hour only 30 minutes was paid so “The staff prefer to just take half an hour and work the rest so they get paid” I knew they were talking rubbish, I decided to still take an hour, but sure enough after half an hour a duty came into the staff room and told me to get back on the shop floor as my break was over and I was eating into the next employee's break and now they wouldn't get a full half hour!!

I was there around a year and a half, during this time I had been ill a number of times but was too scared to phone in ill, one time I had exceptionally bad flu, I had been in the previous day and after asking to go home was denied it and told to come off the tills (where at least I got to stay seated) and work on the shop floor, I rang in and told them I couldn't come in as I was ill. I went in the following Monday and was dragged into a meeting with the manager and assistant manager. I was basically told that it wasn't acceptable and that I could lose my job, that they didn't believe I wasn't well enough to come into work. Soon after I accidentally slept in for a 7am start one day, only by ten minutes but as I was getting ready for work rather than ring to see where I was they sent a duty manager to my doorstep!

Lidl are a horrible, disgusting company to work for, I was shouted and swore at by management because the floor machine was broken and I mopped the whole store by hand but had missed a bit, I refused to go into work for a week and was assured by the area manager that it would be sorted, I never heard anything. I was once accused of stealing from my till as it was down one evening and forced to pay £20 of my own money to put in the till, I was then put on a final warning by the area manager despite never having a verbal or written one first. I was constantly rang on my day off to come in on days off, if I worked a short shift such as 7am until 11am I was nagged to stay longer and if I said no the manager would change the rota there and then and tell me I was on the rota to stay later therefore have no choice, If I still refused he told me I was letting the team down and ultimately other members of staff would suffer and would be told it was my fault. We got dangerously high stacked pallets of stock that I was required to put out with only 15 minutes per pallet. I worked 60 hour weeks over Christmas.

Even though I was under a 20 hour contract if I didn't work the overtime they wanted me to it would be deducted from my wages as 'Under-time'. I was called in while I was on holiday, even once while I was actually not in the country I would still receive calls asking me to go in and not believing I was abroad. Stock Taking (more like p*ss taking') or inventory days were a joke, sometimes having to work from 7am until after midnight to count every last bit of stock in the shop, one time the area manager who was there with the store manager (who somehow got out of most of the work) denied us a proper break and thought that a short 10 minute cigarette break would suffice. After leaving the hell-hole I wasn't paid what I was owed and upon seeking legal action received threats of violence and death from people I assume who were relations or friends of staff telling me to drop legal action, I told my solicitor of the threats, Lidl promptly settled out of court.

I've just visited your website which I came across by chance as I was curious if there were any other Lidl employees, or ex-employees who came to the conclusion that they were being ripped off working for Lidl.
I WAS a stock picker at Lidl and like all Lidl employees, I too was lied to during the interview regarding overtime. I was contracted to 6 hours a day, yet on average I was working between 8-9 hours a day and started work at 1pm. I never met a single person working in there that didn't think that Lidl were taking advantage of their labour.
As you are aware, Lidl and big brother go hand in hand. They have pick rates to monitor your efficiency, in theory the quicker you pick the quicker the work gets done, the quicker you can get out of there, this is not the case; they drag the shift out by taking people out of busy areas and make them pick for the morning shift, increasing their (lidl) profit margin at the expense of your pocket and your free time.
They have no consideration for people with commitments. One of the employees wife worked nights and they had children. Lidl basically told him 'If you don't like the hours you work, quit'. I walked out of the place a few weeks ago. I refuse to work with a metaphorical gun to my head, and I refuse to be taken advantage of doing a job which gives you no incentive to achieve anything. Not even a tidy wage.