'It's very misleading': Grill'd workers describe the traineeship program which lets the burger chain pay staff less

• Current and former Grill'd employees reveal the payment and working conditions at the company after an investigation into its practices by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

• The workers explained the traineeship program Grill'd requires workers to do which could take up to two years to complete.

• Some employees say they weren't made aware of the traineeship requirements of the role during the interview process.

• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

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In November, Grill'd founder Simon Crowe sent an "urgent" email to staff warning them of a "pending media story" to come out about the company's alleged practices.

That turned out to be a series of articles from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age investigating the burger chain's practices. In the investigation, it was alleged Grill'd used low-paid "traineeships", which are subsidised by the government, to pay staff below award wages.

A number of Grill'd workers reached out to Business Insider Australia to detail their experiences working under those traineeships.

“I had no idea that… you get paid less"

A current 17-year-old Grill'd employee who wished to remain anonymous told Business Insider Australia they have been working there for around 5-6 months and receive $12.50 an hour.

They said when they started working at Grill'd, they were signed up to a traineeship which they weren't told about during the interview or application process. They explained they only found out about the educational requirements of their role during their induction.

"I was not given an option to work there without being enrolled in their traineeship program," the employee said in an email.

In a follow up phone call, they said the traineeship was "very misleading".

"I had no idea that ... you get paid less, you get a whole lot less benefits just because of it," they said.

When asked how the traineeship works, the employee said, "It's pretty much all online."

"They have people come in and do workshops and run through the online training but there's no in-person training ... apart from other employees, pretty much."

The worker added those in the program watch online videos, engage with training modules, and complete some assessments. But, they added, if participants didn't complete any of the work outside of scheduled hours, then "it's going to take like a very, very long time to finish".

"It's been very slow trying to get it done," they said. "So we end up having to do it like out of work hours at home to try and get it done. But it's just, we're not being paid enough to do that."

The worker said it would be better if the traineeship was optional.

"It'd be much better to just, you know, have it as an optional thing," they said. "If people want to do the traineeship, then they can. But it just wasn't optional. I think that's the worst part about it."

"We don't get any time at work to complete our traineeship."

Another current Grill'd worker who also wished to remain anonymous also emphasised there isn't enough time to get the traineeship done.

"As part of our 'traineeship' we are legally supposed to have at least an hour of paid work time dedicated to our traineeship coursework per week," they told Business Insider Australia in an email.

"This virtually never happens. We don't get any time at work to complete our traineeship. What this means is that we are paid below minimum wage indefinitely until we can complete the work in our own time.

"The amount of work we need to complete to finish the certificate is quite large and a multitude of the tasks need to be completed in the restaurant, which means doing it in your own time is virtually impossible unless you do it unpaid while at work."

The worker further described the challenges of completing the traineeship.

"This is bad enough but beyond that we aren't booked in to the workshops and other prerequisites that are required to complete the traineeship," they said.

"Even if you have completed all the coursework you will have to wait months to go to a workshop – of which there are multiple – that need to be attended before you can complete the certificate and receive minimum wage pay.

"Recently Grill’d changed the traineeship provider, and for a period of months completing the traineeship was impossible because the new provider hadn't taken over yet, so coursework couldn't be signed off and workshops weren't running at all and over the next couple of months during Christmas the current provider will be on break so no workers will be able to complete the traineeship and receive their minimum wage until they return."

The worker added the average completion time for doing the traineeship was 13 months, but they said some employees have been doing it for more than 24 months.

"These workers had to complete their certificates at home in their own time unpaid while being paid an extremely low rate at work. I know of workers that worked at Grill’d for years and never finished their certificate."

On top of that, they added Grill'd doesn't pay any penalty rates.

"Grill’d also doesn’t pay any kind of penalty rates, they don’t pay any different on public holidays, weekends or late nights. They also understaff as much as possible, each store is given a certain amount of hours to use per week for shifts which is not sufficient for the work load."

Penalty rates only apply as part of the fast food industry award when a company doesn't have an Enterprise Agreement, and they are only applicable based on a minimum of five hour shifts. Grill'd has an Enterprise Agreement.

“We are proud of our traineeship program"

A Grill'd spokesperson told Business Insider Australia in an email that the company is proud of its traineeship program.

“We are proud of our traineeship program and that our team members continually win nationally recognised customer service accolades as a result of their training," the spokesperson said.

"Our traineeship program has provided qualifications and a pathway for thousands of Australians across hospitality and other industries. Over 750 employees have completed their qualifications in the last 12 months and only 31% of Grill’d employees are currently trainees.

"Grill’d’s 2015 Enterprise Agreement is approved by the Fair Work Commission and is lawful, valid and compliant and was approved by 95 percent of staff who voted and indicated they wanted greater working flexibility.”

Do you work at Grill'd and have further information? Email the author of the article here.