Staff clocked in the restroom: "Zara feels like a prison"

At Zara, employees are forced to work like robots and are closely monitored even during bathroom breaks.

This is testified by 39 current and former employees.

"Sometimes it feels like a prison," says one employee.

A recurring critique of the poor working environment at the world's largest clothing retailer – the Spanish Inditex flagship Zara – revolves around restroom restrictions.

"When I spent one minute too long in the restroom, they came running to me and said, 'Why are you one minute late?'" recounts one employee.

"They clock us; if we spend a long time in the restroom, they follow us and check. Then they stand outside and say, 'You've been to the restroom quite a few times now, what's happening?'" says another employee.

"If you said you needed to go to the restroom while at the cash register, they would respond that there were too many people in the store. You were only allowed to do it on your lunch break," shares a former employee.

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"You had to go to the cash register and report your restroom visit. There was a list of restroom visitors, and you had to hurry," says another former employee.

"You had to clock your restroom visits and subtract the time from your break," says a third former employee.

”Called me over the loudspeaker”

"If you went on a break, you had to let everyone know. Once when I went to the restroom, they called me over the loudspeaker because they didn't know where I was," says a fourth former employee.

Employees are also monitored in other ways. For example, they are not allowed to have their own mobile phones in the store, and several testify that they were forced to walk through security gates when they finished for the day:

"They don't trust the staff," concludes a recently departed former employee.

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One reason employees accept the rules is that they are often young. Many acknowledge that their time at Zara was their debut in the job market:

"It was my first real job. But on the first day, I cried and wanted to quit," says a former employee.

"You're supposed to be like a puppet. You're not allowed to say what you think. You're their slave," says another.

”A hugely toxic place”

"It's a hugely toxic place to work. You were just supposed to perform the job you were given, like a robot. Clean, fold clothes, hang them out, help customers – over and over again," says a third former employee.

Another former employee also describes a robot-like existence at work:

"The shop floor is divided into four invisible zones. I'm in the left corner and have full responsibility for that zone; I'm not allowed to move from there. Every five minutes, a clothes rack comes from the fitting room, and every item must be hung in the right place. If you don't manage, you get scolded. No one wants to go to the restroom because you don't have time; it backfires on you. You punish yourself if you waste time," she says.

A former employee who worked at Zara in 2023 absolutely does not want to return:

"I wouldn't do it again even if I were given millions," says the former employee.

* This text has been translated with support of ChatGPT and reviewed by Aftonbladet.