Coles has come under fire after an underwhelming Christmas gift to team members was revealed in an internal memo leaked online.
The memo revealed frontline supermarket staffers would receive a branded Coles drink bottle and five “mythanks” points, reportedly worth about $5.
“It’s been a huge year, and we would like to thank you all for your hard work! We have listened to your feedback and are excited to announce that this year’s team member gift is sustainable and personalised!” the memo reads.
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“Our elves have been busy making Coles water bottles.”
The corporate gesture comes as the company recorded a total sales revenue of $40.5 billion, or just over $1 billion after tax this year — up 5.9 per cent from 2022.
The disgruntled employee behind the leaked memo wrote: “Despite a year of record profits, the executives at Coles decided that the frontline staff who work their a**** off and cop abuse on the daily are only worthy of a Coles branded water bottle.
“What an absolute joke. Do better Coles.”
The memo was pulled apart line-by-line by netizens who even questioned whether the playful choice of the word “elves” was an appropriate way to describe those people within the supply chain responsible for making roughly 120,000 of the products dubbed online as “landfill fodder”.
“This is cheap merch, not a gift,” one person wrote.
“Has anyone ever, ever just considered a bonus in pay for that fortnight?” another said.
“I’ve worked for companies that give this sort of thing away for free. They’ll just have a huge box (and) you can take as many as you want. That should give you an idea of the cost businesses pay for these bottles,” another said.
Netizens also questioned whether other motives were hidden behind the guise of gift-giving.
“This is head office’s way of saying we don’t like the varied types of personal drink bottles you store at your tills. Use this one so you all have no individuality. Just like your uniforms,” one person wrote.
“Companies give out free branded water bottles everywhere. It is free advertising when people carry it around for them. This is more than a slap in the face,” another said.
Current and past Coles employees, along with other supermarket employees, anonymously joined the discussion.
“Coles managers would place plastic water bottles in the tearooms for staff, but Coles revoked this due to (the) environmental impact just under a year ago, stating they would come up with another solution soon … distributing water bottles is what I expected from them, but not as a Christmas gift,” one person said.
“I work in one of the Coles distribution centres. We were asked to vote on our Christmas present, a $25 gift card OR a Coles branded umbrella, and were laughing at how pathetic that was, but they’ve really outdone themselves for the supermarket workers,” another said.
“Man, can’t you just feel the appreciation?”
Coles responds
Coles told 7NEWS.com.au the drink bottle was just an “additional” gift to “show our appreciation for their work” and it accompanies the in-store and online discounts and increased Flyby points annually on offer to staff over the holiday months.
“Each of our stores also have a Christmas gathering, which includes a shared meal to celebrate as a team,” the company said.
The drink bottles are expected to land in store for distribution among staff from Monday.
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