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Honey Birdette former staff in new campaign over alleged harassment, exploitation

Gina McColl

"Love struck." "Skip a beat." "Head over heels."

These are slogans from underwear and sex-toy chain Honey Birdette's Valentine's Day sales campaign. Each is attached to an image of a woman in stylised lingerie and passively posed – the last precariously on her knees, on the verge of tipping over.

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Former Honey Birdette workers protest

Supporters and ex-employees gather at Honey Birdette's headquarters in Sydney's Surry Hills on Tuesday as part of a campaign to improve the company's workplace safety.

Critics say the language, including the words "beat" and "struck", continues the brand's alleged dangerous and exploitative workplace practices, as new claims emerge of an ex-staffer being whipped by a customer.

On Tuesday, dozens of former staff and supporters gathered at Honey Birdette's headquarters, in Sydney's Surry Hills, to present co-founder and chief executive Eloise Monaghan with a Valentine's Day "break up" letter as part of a campaign to improve the company's workplace safety.

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Industrial organisation the Young Workers Centre says hundreds of claims by current and former Honey Birdette staff, overwhelmingly young and female, have been ignored by managers because they see harassment as "part of the job."

An earlier petition and protest at a Melbourne Central store received 7500 signatures in support.

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The latest revelations have prompted Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek to condemn sexual harassment by clients as a form of violence against women, and call for greater action from the government.

"We need a co-ordinated safety campaign involving workplace regulators and the Human Rights Commission. As both Minister for Women and Employment, Michaelia Cash needs to act," Ms Plibersek said.

The new campaign against a chain part-owned by retail billionaire Brett Blundy has seen new former "honeys" go public with tales of alleged exploitation and harassment.

Ex-employee Harriet says Honey Birdette's workplace culture encouraged staff to tolerate harassment to boost sales.

Employed during 2014-15, Harriet alleges she was once repeatedly whipped by a customer with a riding crop, but received no support, improved security or safety training after the incident.

She also alleges staff were encouraged to hand out private phone numbers to clients in the hope of increasing sales.

"At a sales boot camp, the then national manager talked about being sexually harassed by a male customer who offered her large amount of money for sexual services and [boasted how she] used that as a point to make a $1000 sale –  that's how [we were trained] to deal with it," said Harriet, who was employed at a Sydney Westfield shopping centre store.

She declined to have her surname published on privacy grounds.

"I was 19 years old, had never worked in retail before. I didn't feel I had any place to speak up or try and protect myself because managers always told us it's our own fault if we can't turn it into a huge sale," Harriet said.

Other staff have alleged they worked regular eight-hour shifts without toilet and meal breaks. Lee, who also declined to reveal her surname, told Fairfax Media she worked over a month of unpaid "trials", including opening stores for daily trade.

Honey Birdette's head of human resources, Bronwyn Bateman, said the company was committed to improving its employment practices, had engaged a Work Safety consultant to develop "best in class" procedures, and supplied Fairfax Media with its "zero-tolerance policy" on harassment, which encourages employees to deal with it "informally" by "tell[ing] the person to stop."

Catharine Lumby, professor of media at Macquarie University, who has helped develop such policies for organisations including the National Rugby League and the Australian Defence Force, described Honey Birdette's as "laughable".

"There is nothing wrong with, and no woman should be judged for, choosing to work in places where they are asked to wear garments of a sexual nature," Professor Lumby said.

But she said companies' anti-harassment policies need to be framed around the risks specific to the job, including client education, security guards to protect staff from predators, and additional remuneration for the physical and mental risks.

"The policy appears to be cobbled together as a result of media reports," Professor Lumby said.

"There is no evidence of a research-based education program – which would have to be aimed at the customers."

The latest revelations come in the wake of a major investigation by Fairfax Media into the prevalence of sexual harassment by customers and clients in a broad range of industries including health, education and social work, as well as retail and hospitality.

Harassment by customers – as distinct from bosses and co-workers – was made a breach of the Sex Discrimination Act in 2011.

Despite the amendment, there have been no prosecutions in the almost six years since the law was passed.

Nor have employers and workplace and safety regulators ramped up their compliance and enforcement activities in what critics say is "entrenched sexism" regarding the hazards female workers face.

"Gendered violence, like harassment, stalking and intimidation by customers has serious health and safety consequences for workers," said Keelia Fitzpatrick, Young Workers Centre co-ordinator.

Senator Cash said the government condemned sexual harassment of any kind.

"All workers should feel confident that they can go to work and not be subjected to harassment, abuse, intimidation or be made to feel uneasy," Senator Cash said.

Ms Plibersek said the time has come for Senator Cash to get regulators and rights organisations to act.

"The Sex Discrimination Act was amended five years ago, but many employers still aren't aware of the law and their duty to protect their workers," Ms Plibersek said

​"Sexual harassment by customers is a form of violence against women. Employers can't always stop this from happening but they need to take it seriously when it does," she said.

"Female employees need to know that the customer is not always right.

"Women's safety matters more than sales."​