‘Lucky’ Urban Outfitters employees get opportunity to work for free on weekends

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It suggests that the modern American workforce has too many demands placed on it, and everyone could use a break – by driving its cars, of course.

Every time the commercial airs, my husband complains about it, saying it’s calling on people to be lazy and not appreciate their jobs.

He doesn’t get it. He’s lucky. He works for a really good employer that demands excellence but not excess. They treat him well and compensate him well. If they ask for something extra, there’s a good reason.

But sometimes employers go too far in what they expect from that 110 percent demanded from staffers.

In fact, Urban Outfitters, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, may have broken the land-speed record for corporate spin with a recent request it made of its employees for a “fun, team-building event.”

While the parent company, URBN Inc., took in a record $867 million in sales during its most recent fiscal quarter (7 percent higher than last year), in a recent memo the company asked salaried workers at its headquarters to show their company spirit by getting their “co-workers together for a team building activity!”

That activity? Working weekend shifts at the company’s newly built fulfilment center in eastern Lancaster County – for free.

Yes, the company was giving its workers the chance for some fun-filled, unpaid manual labor to help during URBN’s peak busy season.

But wait, that’s not all.

“In addition to servicing the needs of our customers, it’s a great way to experience our fulfillment operations first-hand,” the memo read.

Now, you have to respect the chutzpah of the person who came up with the idea to spin unpaid overtime as fun-filled team building.

And, I will give extra points to whoever typed that memo if he or she was able to do so with a straight face.

Seriously, I respect the creative thinking to try to soft sell what is quite clearly an unreasonable request.

Here’s why this move leans more toward employee exploitation than worker engagement, and why instead of rushing to sign up for the “opportunity” some employees sent the memo to the news website, Gawker.com, which reposted it.

According to Lancaster Online, URBN Inc. recently built a $106 million fulfilment center in Gap, and promised that the facility would employ 500 people, with the possibility of that growing to as many as 1,000 employees during seasonal peaks.

They were supposed to be hiring new people to do this work.

And with record-breaking sales, it’s not like the company can’t afford to hire a few temporary workers.

But perhaps I’m just being jaded. Maybe packing boxes full of skinny jeans really did seem like a fun idea to someone in corporate.

And while they didn’t offer to pay anyone, the company did say it was willing to provide lunch and free transportation to whoever needed it. That’s something, right?

Still, I can think of better ways to spend my weekend, perhaps volunteering for a charity instead of a highly profitable company.

For the record, URBN said it got volunteers for the weekend work.

It told Lancaster Online that, “We received a tremendous response, including many of our senior management. Many hourly employees also offered to pitch in – an offer which we appreciated, but declined in order to ensure full compliance with all applicable labor laws and regulations.”

The company called the “dedication and commitment” of its employees “second to none.”

Personally, I’d rather be called “paid.”