Sports Direct 'strengthens HR function', scraps zero-hour contracts & admits 'serious shortcomings'

A report into the working conditions at Sports Directs’ warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, (commissioned by the firm and conducted by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain) has identified “serious shortcomings in working practices at the warehouse which the Board deeply regrets and apologises for.”

Mike Ashley, Founder and Deputy Chairman of Sports Direct, “takes ultimate responsibility for any aspects of the working practices that were unsatisfactory,” the report says.

The report also says that the HR function is to be “strengthened and given a greater profile” and that “policy is in place to ensure all warehouse staff are paid above minimum wage.”

The company will offer retail staff guaranteed hours instead of zero-hours contracts – The Guardian, whose exposé was the catalyst for this report, states.