Some Sydney Legends Have “Leaked” A Brutally Honest EB Games Employee Training Video
Exploitation of casual workers? Groovy.
Every mildly dorky high-school kid dreams of landing a part-time job at EB Games (I was extra-strength dorky; I got one at the library). Getting paid to talk video games; getting discounts and first dibs on new releases; bathing in the soft fluorescent lights of the local shopping centre. As first jobs go, it beats the hell out of frying mysterious pieces of bird at KFC or busing tables for nests of wealthy Boomers on brunch dates.
Or does it? Turns out EB might not be the perfect debut gig you’d think. As detailed by Kotaku in July, EB Games is facing accusations that it routinely exploits its mainly young casual workforce, regularly forcing them to work unpaid hours during events like midnight launches and in the course of standard work days. A number of current and former employees have also detailed a culture of senior staff members sexually harassing, verbally and physically abusing their subordinates.
Several former EB casuals filed complaints with WorkCover and the Australian Human Rights Commission back in May, but here hasn’t yet been much word on how those complaints have been processed or resolved. In the meantime, self-described “bunch of idiots who bang on too much about video games” Big Head Mode have released their own version of what an EB employee training video might look like, complete with exploitative work practices and threatening corporate faux-friendliness.
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Via Kotaku.