Wednesday, January 03, 2007

B&Q 'dance routines' criticised


B&Q said dancing is not part of its formal recruitment policy, but Unions have criticised retailer B&Q for asking job candidates if they wanted to dance before being interviewed. Applicants for jobs as van drivers at B&Q's Norwich store were asked if they wanted to dance and pull funny faces.
Several jobseekers danced to the Jackson Five tune Blame It On The Boogie and were photographed by bosses.
B&Q said the dance was meant as a "light-hearted" exercise before the interviews began and said nobody had been forced to participate.
But unions said the practice was "bizarre" and called on the home improvement retailer to stop it immediately.
'Nonsense'
It seems to reduce jobs our members do to some kind of joke
Ed Blissett, GMB union
One of those involved said he had found the experience "humiliating and embarrassing".
"We had to copy this bloke, one of the managers," Rodney Southern told the BBC.
"At no point was I told if you don't want to do it you don't have to do it. We were told we had to do it."
One union official called on B&Q to "stop this nonsense", saying it was demeaning for all involved.
"This is utterly bizarre," said the GMB's Ed Blissett.
"It seems to reduce jobs our members do to some kind of joke."
Relaxation
B&Q said the practice was not part of its formal recruitment policy but added that store managers had been encouraged to ensure candidates were "relaxed" before being interviewed.
"We made it clear to all of the candidates that they did not have to take part if they did not feel comfortable and that it would not influence the recruitment process at all," it said in a statement.
"The vast majority of interviewees said that it was a relaxed way to get the interview session under way."

I would love to see their faces if they had asked any of us to dance...... I think we would have blown them away..hehehehe

Jim x

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am just wondering if they have another sort of "interview" for the next stage - maybe getting a group of them to dance around a handbag and see who takes the lead!!!

Anonymous said...

i work for b&q and spend most of my day singing and dancing my way round the shop floor!! am trying to persuade the manager to allow us to come and busk on a saturday, have also recruited some of the girls from the store and they come to swanley occasionally, i think its a great idea a real ice breaker at an interview, they used to make us do keep fit in the car park before the store opened to get everyone motivated dancing is soooooooooo much more fun!!!!!!!!!