The billionaire retailer Mike Ashley has been running Sports Direct like a Victorian workhouse, building his success on a business model that treats workers “without dignity or respect”, a scathing parliamentary inquiry has found.
The report by the business, innovation and skills (BIS) select committee, which was triggered by
a Guardian investigation last year, said Ashley had used “appalling working practices” and treated his “workers as commodities rather than as human beings”.
The committee’s chairman, Iain Wright, said:
“Whistleblowers, parts of the media and a trade union shone a light on work practices at Sports Direct, and what they revealed was extremely disturbing. The evidence we heard points to a business whose working practices are closer to that of a Victorian workhouse than that of a modern, reputable high street retailer. For this to occur in the UK in 2016 is a serious indictment of the management at Sports Direct and Mike Ashley, as the face of Sports Direct, must be held accountable for these failings.
“It seems incredible that Mike Ashley, who visits the Shirebrook warehouse at least once a week, was unaware of these appalling practices. This suggests Mr Ashley was turning a blind eye to conditions at Sports Direct in the interests of maximising profits, or that there are serious corporate governance failings which left him out of the loop in spite of all the evidence.”
