The ridiculous rules London temps face at work

There has been lots of controversy flying around London temp's rights in the workplace, and we have seen many workers cases being flared up on the news, from dress code discrimination to harsh time keeping rules, there are many workers who feel that their place of work implements unfair 'rules'.

Temporary workers are legally entitled to the same rights as permanent employees in the workplace to use any of the shared facilities offered and are protected against any unlawful discrimination, however many of them fall victim to these ridiculous rules that workplaces enforce.

Research conducted by job board CV-Library found that 37% of workplaces in London have ridiculous rules, with one in five workers in the UK expressing their feeling of lack of trust from their workplace.

"Employees want to feel trusted, and while one workplace can differ massively to another, you have to treat your staff like adults – especially when it comes to being allowed to drink water and going to the toilet!" Says Lee Biggins, Founding and Managing Director of CV Library.

The most popular topic that arose throughout workplaces, was going to the toilet. Temporary workers can find themselves being clocked on how long they take to go to the toilet, and even sometimes get disciplinary warnings if they have taken too long in their opinion. Also, workers said that they had to even ask permission to go to the toilet.

One rule that has endured much scrutiny in the public eye is the issue with dress codes, particularly female dress codes. In many workplaces, woman are forced to wear high heels against their will. A famous case of this was when London temp Nicola Thorp was sent home without pay after she refused to wear heels at PwC. Temporary workers have to comply with the dress code of the place of work, but the main issue that temp workers are facing are the discrimination with men and women having different dress codes to each other. Is it acceptable for a place of work to ask men to wear trousers, but ask women to wear a skirt?

Being punctual to all of your shifts as a temporary worker is paramount to make a good impression and obviously necessary in order to complete the number of hours requested from the employer efficiently. As temporary workers rely on timesheets and clocking in and out to get paid, it has been revealed that a lot of employees decide to dock workers' pay if they are late even by 1 minute and even limit the workers on where they can go in their lunch break.

Another ridiculous rule that multiple temporary workers have highlighted are the issues around having water whilst working. In some places, temps will be denied water during their shift, whether that be in case they spill it or because it 'doesn't look professional'.