Bakers Delight at Low Wages, Poor Conditions

‘Bakers Delight’ is the name given to a chain of bakeries around Australia, mostly franchises. The company was established in 1980, and its co-founders, Roger and Lesley Gillespie, are now sometimes to be found on Australia’s Rich List. In September, Roger Gillespie (who last made the Rich 200 in 2004 with a fortune of $100 million) bought the Victorian discount grocery chain, NQR.

Their own corporate profile reads:

Bakers Delight is Australia’s most successful bakery franchise.

Over the past 29 years this Australian owned company, has grown to over 700 bakeries across three countries, serving 2.5 million customers each week.

Every day, in every bakery, Bakers Delight bakers create a range of traditional and gourmet breads. All products are baked from scratch, fresh daily on the premises.

Bakers Delight bakeries are distinctive in appearance, branding, product quality and customer experience.

The company’s philosophy underpins every action: Delightful Environment, Delightful Service, Delightful Product.

Also, in the case of Bakers Delight stores in St. Helena, Diamond Creek and Laurimar: No Penalty Rates, No Guaranteed Hours, No Sick Pay and No Holiday Pay.

How Positively Delightful!

The friendly sales assistants at Bakers Delight stores in St. Helena, Diamond Creek and Laurimar (Victoria, Australia) are currently negotiating a new workplace agreement. So far their employer, Wayne Price, has offered them an agreement that does away with penalty rates, guaranteed hours, sick pay and holiday pay in exchange for a tiny bit extra in the base rate. Mr. Price has also refused to include yearly pay increases to cover the cost of living. On top of this the workers are being bullied and told they are not allowed to discuss the agreement or talk to the union. They are under constant video surveillance and feel intimidated by Mr Price. They would really appreciate your support! All the workers are asking for is to receive Award entitlements like penalty rates for working nights and weekends, security of hours and sick pay and holiday pay. Currently they don’t receive these entitlements, with some workers receiving as little as $9.29 an hour! While you pay top prices for your bread, the employees are working under conditions that undermine industry standards.

Let Bakers Delight know that you will not tolerate the exploitation of young workers. The workers are fighting for:

    Penalty rates on evenings, weekends and public holidays;
    Guaranteed shifts and security of hours;
    Sick pay and holiday pay;
    Guaranteed pay rises every year to cover the cost of living;
    An end to workplace bullying and over-supervision.

These are the conditions other workers in the retail industry enjoy.

Bakers Delight’ workers deserve them too!

For more infos on this and other industrial campaigns in the retail and services sector, please see the UNITE website.

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2014 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
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33 Responses to Bakers Delight at Low Wages, Poor Conditions

  1. Guest says:

    For more information on the behaviour of Bakers Delight visit http://www.bdlies.com

  2. abcd123 says:

    I’m not surprised by the low standards of Bakers Delight. I had a friend who worked there on the Gold Coast and the problem seemed to lie with the manager. Apart from being unreasonable and disorganized, they did whatever they could to keep costs low, even if it meant keeping a staff member on working at their own loss.

    Unreasonable work conditions aside, it seems that there is a lot of emotional and mental stress unnecessarily put on young workers as well. Not that it was harassment, but a certain amount of common sense should tell you how to act like a normal human being.

    My friend had hoped for some sort of common sense and basic character on their part, but it seemed they lacked both. Not only are conditions seemingly awful, but it seems that the wrong people are being hired to lead these franchises. I’ve been to various Bakers Delight stores over Australia and mostly come across disgruntled and unhappy employees.

    First step: hire people that actually care about their employees. Maybe they’ll treat them better than the people in place right now.

  3. Amy says:

    I am currently working at bakers delight in Success [?]. i am 18 years old and on $11 which to me SUCKS im doing 20hrs a week and soon to be more i think there just hiring young ones to pay them shit pay and i really exspected to get paid more. The other employees are nasty the eldest one exscpected me to know everything on my first day and was REALLY pushy they jump down your throat everytime you do something wrong and the only reason im still putting up with it is its my only job i can find at the moment i am awaiting on another job so im crossing my fingers i get this 1 =]…

  4. Madde says:

    I currently work at a bakers delight in N.S.W. I love my job, I love the shop girls and the bakers. I have been in my job for 2 years and although at 16 I find the responsibility I’m given a bit of a struggle, I enjoy that they have enough trust in me to put me on at key times. I don’t get paid bucket loads. I get 9.52 an hour but it’s enough. I wouldn’t work anywhere else. Even though you are being treated unfairly I am not. I encourage you to find a boss who is respectful and listens.

  5. Marcus says:

    I’m not working for Bakers Delight, but I work as a baker in Brisi and it tells me, that your company is not the only one in Australia, who has forgotten, who are the real heroes in their business! We all are the people who are underpaid and working hard, so that they have the money to enjoy life!

  6. peter jones says:

    Bakers Delight might have delight in their name but they are not a delight to work for, their tarts, danish squares and mince pies are not baked in the shop they are brought in frozen and put in the ovens and baked, dont know where they are made that is a secret, they use poor quality ingredients from china. Their hot cross buns are full of grit because the fruit comes from china, they charge you the earth for inferior quality goods. The bakers are treated like shit, the shop assistants are treated better as they sell the product, without bakers there would be no bread, with no bread the owner of the company would not be in the rich list. They allow bullying and abuse of junior staff and when a poor little junior staff member falls to pieces they get rid of them and employ someone else to sacrifice, they have to remember that you get more bees to honey than to vinegar. They cant keep their bakers as soon as the baker can get another position they leave, and they find it very hard to fill the position as the word has got out about how badly they treat their staff. So be warned do not get a job at Bakers Delight and do not buy products from them, they might think again and start treating staff like humans not dogs and when their profits go down they might change, but I think hell will freeze over first.

  7. baker says:

    Ive worked for bakers delight for 7yrs and regret ever starting there, ive work across several bakers delight stores and there all the same, everyone there is treated as slaves instead of employees. Its a very sad place to work.

  8. Moneur La Di Da says:

    I don’t report my real name based upon past history.

    I worked for Bakers Delight. As a baker they speak of having pride and honour as a baker. As a worker you aren’t treated as a worker but a machine. They employ social engineering and manipulation to control their staff. The environments are often tempered with violence and some cases drugs and alcohol, not so common but sometimes on site.I worked briefly at one store where one man would be nice to you one moment and then abuse you beyond reason the next. They also drank alcohol and did drugs on site.

    My first job the employer said to me that I don’t mind if you turn up to the job drunk as long as you don’t vomit.

    I have to admit this working environment turned me into an angry and aggressive male by my second job.

    They more than doubled the work load of a single shift in a year period.

    They would boast that they pay you at better rates than the award rate as an apprentice. I earnt 320 dollars a week working 40 hours.

    I have to say some managers do show a lot of respect to their workers. But some are willing to put in harms way their apprentices for mistakes.

    One manager threw a baking tray at an apprentice for forgetting salt in the bread. He went to hospital with burns.

    On my first job another employee was doing work and I joked that he was doing my work for me he replied it’s how I am going to get you fired. He was not joking.

    I have realised that most bakers have extreme personalities and low socioeconomics, high stress.

    I received death threats, insults, and have even been assaulted whilst I worked for them.

    The only thankful thing I have to say is that they gave me the ability to leave them and finally chase dreams and aspirations in an industry I do enjoy.

    My only wish for apprentices who do work in Bakers Delight is to never start. It’s an industry filled with the bile of angry distressed men who seek profit at any cost. Even if it costs you your health.

  9. not posting real name says:

    i currently work for a bakers delight in that area bout 10km away i get all of the above holiday pay ect no problems at all tho it is a franchise every store has different pay ect they just have a dodgy owner

  10. peter jones says:

    The only way to stop Bakers Delight from making you work overtime and not paying you for it is to write down in a diary the time you start and the time you finish every time it happens. Then go to Fair Work, and get into contact with the Young Workers Legal Service in your state.

    Don’t let them get away with the bullying go to court and sue the pants off them. The only way to hurt them is in the pocket and tell everyone you know about Bakers Delight and tell your friends to tell as many people as well.

    We have to stop these people from abusing their staff.

    My daughter was offered drugs by the baker so she could relax. When she reported him to the manager he told her to shut her mouth and that is when the bullying got even worse. SUE SUE SUE GET THEM BACK.

  11. michelle says:

    The owners at Bakers Delight Avalon were the worst. Constant drug use, bullying of workers esp. young female staff. Eventually most of them left. They even poured detergent over the bread so no one could take the unused product at the end of the day. Vile people to work for.

  12. lied to and ripped says:

    the crap starts at the top of the company and runs from the gillespies down… most of the people who are your bosses are actually miserable and have their homes mortgaged to buy into the company. They have bought a dud business model that does not work and almost all are going broke. The head office is horrible to deal with and the franchisees get bullied no end. You don’t get it: they can’t afford to pay you any more money.

    http://bakersdlies.com

    by the way the drugs usually come from the bakers not the franchisees.

  13. chris says:

    im an apprentice at bd there are two other apprentices where i work i get 300 for a 42+ hour week i get treated like absolute crap one of the other apprentices was told when hes trade qualified his going to be sacked dont get paid public holiday shit or anything ive been there 2 and a half years im 18 and im over the stress and bullshit of bakers delight

  14. sickofitNSW says:

    I currently work in a bakers delight as a sales assistant and get treated like crap. I have recently had my hours cut drastically and told that they cant afford 2 adult wages full time out front (she has an 18 yr in my place!) I was not told any of this until I questioned why the following roster I had 2 shifts when I normally have 5 (I work 10-4 mon – fri). I get belittled and teased by the other workers about the way I speak, my religion, my kids in private catholic schools, being a defence family (I am a aussie, white and catholic). the other worker constantly whinges about working with the kids if I have time off, her husband, her family. I have had customers tell me that they refuse to be served by her because shes a fruit cake. I even get childish comments about what I am eating for lunch! She told the owner that I have a problem with the kids, my response when questioned was “how could I, I have not worked with any of the them”. The owner has called me a dumb arse over an order I made (a personal one) in front of other staff and customers. When I expressed the constant whinging and that I was sick of listening to it, I get to work to find my hours cut, I mean seriously! I cant officially complain to bakers delight until I have a new job. Its all utter bullshit. They own another bakery (not bakers delight) and put all their time and effort into that one. I have been told that the owner does this (cutting hours drastically) to force you into quiting as she doesnt like firing people. More like she has no grounds to actually fire people and knows I would drag her arse into unfair dismissal! I work my arse off and actually enjoy all the customer interaction and giving advice of what breads, what meals etc. If I had known it was going to be like this, I would never have taken the job when it was offered to me.

  15. tony says:

    My son is working at the traralgon bakers delight and he was only getting $8.49 per hour and not getting penalty rates working from 6am to 11am, then going back same day at 11.30.. they would make him work on his break, is that legal.. can anyone give me the award that they are under.. He is a first year apprentice.

  16. peter jones says:

    SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU BAKERS DELIGHT

    When a manager is told that drugs were offered to a staff member many times and reports it, its up to the manager to investigate it, not to bully the staff member who has reported it. That is what the manager is for and that is what he is payed for to do, KEEP HIS STAFF SAFE BUT THEY DONT. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS MAKING THE PRODUCT AND MAKING THE MONEY. Any parent who allows their children to work in that place, should have their heads read, that when a staff member reports being offered drugs to the manager and the manager and other staff bully that person for reporting that staff member are as bad as the person selling the drugs. THINK BEFORE YOU ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO WORK AT BAKERS DELIGHT THERE ARE GOOD BAKERIES OUT THERE. To the person who said that franchisees are not responsible YES YOU ARE AS YOU ARE THE OWNER you should make sure you talk to your staff and not only the managers as you are responsible for your staff as their bosses, but all you care about is your shop and making money as staff are replaceable. REMEMBER YOU GET MORE BEES TO HONEY THAN TO VINEGAR. ONE DAY IT COULD BE YOUR CHILD BEING OFFERED DRUGS AT THE WORK PLACE AND BEING BULLIED FOR REPORTING IT. To the Gillespies SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU.

  17. peter jones says:

    Dear Tony,

    My daughter worked for Bakers Delight as an apprentice. She never got her lunch break and when she worked overtime she never got paid for it. Of course it is not legal as they take half an hour out of their pay for their meal break and he should take it. Get your son to write in a book that he has hidden (not at the shop) and write down when he starts and when he finishes and anything that is said to him that makes him feel bad with the time and date then go to Fair Work Australia as proof of what’s happening as you need proof.

    When your son started his apprenticeship he should have been given pamphlets about who to contact if there was any problems, if not contact the employee Ombudsman in your state and they will tell you who to contact. For God’s sake get your son out of there as it will get worse. I got my daughter out and she is working as an apprentice that is learning everything about bakery not only bread that Bakers Delight do. It makes it very hard to find a job after he has finished his apprenticeship as he has only learned Bakers Delight bread and finding another job will be very hard unless he wants to stay there all of his baker’s life.

    Please read all the other comments and think: Do I want my child working under those conditions? When my daughter worked for Bakers Delight I explained that she needs a meal break and the manager said that it is an unwritten law in the bakery that they can go outside for a smoke when they feel like. I explained my daughter does not smoke and the manager said that was her problem, so I got her out. Let me know how things go Tony.

  18. peter jones says:

    TONY JOIN YOUR SON IN THE UNION AND HAVE IT TAKEN OUT OF YOUR PAY SO THEY DON’T FIND OUT THAT HE IS IN A UNION, BECAUSE HE IS GOING TO NEED IT WORKING AT BAKERS DELIGHT.

  19. Seth (not 4 real) says:

    Currently working in Baker’s Delight as a baker in Perth (somewhere). I came from a foreign country. I thought working in Australia is a dream come true, but everything turns to nightmare when we started working… First week of work is a training week without pay, lot of breads to produce but only two baker on a shift, we finish our job 10hrs a day without even complaining about it, we have a good pay and 2 days off but still not satisfying for a very heavy load of work, and the reward from the franchisee? Instead of having concern for you working for 10hrs a day, they’re still annoyed and tell you “you’re too slow that’s why you cant finish your job in 8hrs”. I told myself “wtf is this, they have no concern at all”. Honestly, it’s very stressful to work in this bakery, until now they haven’t help us to find an accommodation and we’re still living with them, they deduct $257/week from our salary for the house rent all inclusive but limited food. I wanna go home… it doesn’t feel right working with this kind of bakery, no wonder almost all Aussie baker resigned, only 2 Aussie baker left, a highschool drop out and a drug user.

  20. Who cares what my name is... says:

    I love working at the Bakers Delight. I’m only 17 and still at home but I love baking so I did work experience for free until I could get a job. The boss I have is really nice and a joy to be around. He always tells us how good we are doing and he let’s us play music and all. I love the place. I’d rather get up at 4 in the morning to go to work then get up at 7 to go to school.

  21. Who cares what my name is... says:

    I forgot to mention that the longest shift I’ve ever had was 9 hours and that’s because I had to help a new guy. I love how I can go home after I do all I have to, so the faster I am the faster I go home and I’m fast. Time just flies at my BD. You guys should come to SA.

  22. Ben says:

    I am a 15 year old working at bakers delight, it was my first job offer so i quickly pounced on it. for the last 6 months i have been earning 6.50 an hour and soon when i get off my traineeship… 6.80. yay. bakers delight really is a crap job, its pretty much being a janitor with serving customers, and serving customers gets annoying cause if you dont get the cleaning jobs done you dont get to go home. one busy night i was meant to knock off at 7:30 but ended up going home at 8:30. i work 5 shifts a week (both weekends) which is a lot for a 15 year old, having exams to study for and other things on, i now have no social live as every single weekend I work. wouldnt recommend this place, im quitting as soon as i can.

  23. Trish says:

    My son has just finished his apprenticeship with Bakers Delight south of Perth and has enjoyed every moment, his bosses and workers have always treated him with respect and have always been there for him, there has never been a problem with wages or any talk of drugs or any bullying. I don’t know what sort of people are running these businesses obviously they are not capable and something should be done if that’s the case, but people need to realise these franchises are the bad apples giving the good ones a bad name. If you ask me the best Bakers Delight is in Meadow Springs.

  24. Trish says:

    This is Tricia’s son. I’ve had no problems with Bakers Delight. I’m just ending my 3rd yr on the 19th of Dec. I’ve been paid correctly as an older aged apprentice. We do get breaks if we want, but if ya want to be perfect at this job you take breaks when you have time, like 5 mins before the oven goes off or ten 15 mins before dough’s ready. And also our quietest day we bake we make over $5000 in bread, Saturdays over $7000. And I work between 7 1/2 to 9 hours a day. So it’s all to do with production scheduling, who’s managing and who’s working there.

  25. John says:

    I can tell you for a fact, bakers delight apprentices, bakers and retail staff at a victorian store are getting treated unfairly, bullied, intimidated & are not getting proper entitlements. Eg: bakers working up to & more than double five days straight before getting a day off (at times – not always); no penalties for public holidays or time off in lieu of working a public holiday; they are expected to be on call for when to come in to work; no proper rostering system; previous problems with no &a inaccurate payslips. Bakers should be working 152 hours in each 4 week period but [instead are?] working 160 hours with no 8 hours off as per their contract. Problem is complain & you may be sacked. Who to turn to, fair work australia? I have heard Unite is the union for these workers but if one person joins can they actually help? Extremely frustrating that one person (the boss) can actually get away with this.

  26. Disgruntled parent says:

    Looking for some advice to pass onto my son.
    He has been working for 6 consecutive years in a NSW Baker’s Delight.
    The owner told him this week he is terminating his employment as a baker on the grounds that he need to reduce costs to fund a store renovation.
    Sadly he told my son he will give him a prepared letter of resignation to sign.
    My son does not want to resign.
    Any suggestions on what his entitlements should be would be most appreciated.

  27. Andrea Wood says:

    To Disgruntled Parent -

    Your son should NOT sign a letter of resignation unless he genuinely wants to resign. If he does sign, he will forego any right to the required period of notice or pay in lieu, and possibly accrued holiday pay, superannuation contributions, or other entitlements may be withheld. He (or you) should consult a labour lawyer (eg Slater & Gordon) or the relevant union to determine his entitlements and his options. An unfair dismissal case could be possible if the reasons given are not genuine or legal. Good luck to you both.

  28. Alex says:

    I was at bakers as a shop girl for 4 years! Just quit! It was horrible! Our boss would watch us on cameras and call and abuse us if he was simply in a bad mood! He would swear and degrade us! Plus no penalty rates and we could work 9 hours without a break at all! On starting a job at a supermarket I’m amazed at how well I’m treated! I was not even thanked on my departure for 4 years of service.

  29. Lucy says:

    It is very interesting to read all these reviews on bakers delight. My son is currently working for one and yes he is being ripped off as well. I have advised him to pursue his lack of non payments of penalties and him being very under paid for a 27 y old through the right channels, however if this matter is not corrected we will be taking this issue to our local member and advising on issues with this company. When all else fails stand out the front of the store and inform customers of issue I am quiet sure they would not like their image for what their commercials on tv imply shattered. I am sick and tired of companies not paying right wages to its dedicated workers we do need to stand up for our rights more than ever now since the Howard govt changed all the work agreements I know I work for a company that won’t allow us to have our morning and afternoon break on an eight hr shift.

  30. Current employee says:

    Firstly you should all go and do your research.

    Roger Gillespie is the Founder of Bakers Delight, however he turned the business into a Franchise company and is the joint CEO of this – Bakers Delight Holdings. He does not own your local bakery – in fact Bakers Delight Holdings owns very few bakeries themselves – although sufficient bakeries to support the office staff.

    Your local Bakeries are owned by a franchisee, who purchased the Business model and rights to use the name and recipes from Roger’s company. So perhaps rather than genaralising about the entire company and badmouthing the Headoffice, perhaps you should look at the actual owners of the company – the franchisee.

    If your franchisee is actually doing wrong by you or a family member I would suggest you call the head office and ask to speak to someone in HR, because bad behaviour and practices by franchisees gives the whole network a bad name and prevents those good franchisees from finding good apprentices, and sales staff. This is especially true for those that suggested a practice of drugs in the workplace. These Franchisees usually run the business into the ground and get infringement notices from head office, the poor performing ones usually go into debt or have their licences revoked. They then whinge and whine about having no profit even though they were using the profit to pay off their house, car and holidays.

    Bakers often work through their breaks due to the production schedule, good managers reimburse this when they can with an extra paid day off, or not keeping them back on the days when they are done early.

    And to those that feel their pay rate is too low – please check to see if you are actually employed as a permanant staff member as opposed to a casual. If you work the same shift each week, the franchisee can run the risk of having to pay you super and annual entitlements if audited, so they may have you on permanant which is a lower hourly rate but with super, annual leave, and sick leave entitlements. I have a friend who didn’t know this and quit after a year and was paid out $400 in annual leave. He went back because the supermarket he had gone to didnt have this.

  31. Not Naming says:

    NEVER WORK FOR BAKERS DELIGHT ALBURY! IF YOU MUST THEN WORK IN THE CENTRO STORE WITH THE OWNERS NOT THE MYER STORE WITH THE MANAGER AND HER HUSBAND THE SO CALLED HEAD BAKER!!! Bonnie and Christopher used to own Deniliquin bakers delight – now they run the Albury myer centre bakers delight and they are running it into the ground (a theory of the staff is that they are trying to run it into the ground so they can get it cheap from the owners when they go bust). Bonnie and Christopher are difficult to work with at best – from bonnies perspective chris can do nothing wrong – and working with chris is working for a bully. He treats you like a child – he is sarcastic and rude and mean (and these are their good qualities). I wish the owners could see what was going on (having said that the owners are tight like all bakers delight owners). The shop is in major disrepair and a hazard… a major hazard that i can’t believe they aren’t shut down already. Their poor staff are treated like machines and are expected to never take a day off – even if you are sick, and god forbid you have children that need attention. Please don’t put yourself through the pain and humiliation that is working with the manager and head baker from Albury myer centres bakers delight…

  32. BD Employee says:

    It is true that each bakery is operated by individual franchisees and therefore something that you have experienced at one bakery is not the same at another bakery. I love working at the bakery and most other employees would say the same. There would be a few people out there that have had a bad experience most likely due to bad attitudes or poor work ethics. Ask yourself, would you be more likely to go onto the internet and write about a bad experience or a good experience. Most of the people posting bad comments on this post are those people you come across that have nothing to do with their days but complain, to everyone who will listen.

  33. Tayla Henderson says:

    I currently have just started work as a sales person at Bakers Delight and I believe it to be amazing! I am a young thirteen year old girl that serves the the delightful customers. To stay that all Bakers Delights employers and employees are cruel, inimical and sour is a bit of a stereotype isn’t it? The Bakers Delight I work at is has fun, friendly, hard working, and smiley employees that love their job and love serving the customers. I assure you that not all Bakers Delights around the world are the same! And I know you shouldn’t bring your personal life into the ‘workplace’ however if you were served poorly maybe they were just having a off day, or something was effecting their usual positive vibes. However I do know some employees are a bit tough sometimes, however I would just like to state, sometimes customers are too. And if you are being treated unfairly or wrongly in anyway you should go straight to your boss and tell them, and continue to go to high statuses if that fails. But once again I would just like to state I love working at Bakers Delight it is outstanding, fun, and just a brilliant job with brilliant people! :)

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