Sports Direct to pay employees £43m in bonuses

Sports Direct said on Friday that it will pay employee share bonuses worth more than £43m.

A total of 11,104,370 ordinary shares were acquired by almost 2,000 participants following the exercise of awards under the company's share schemes.

The awards were made to eligible staff at all levels who had taken part in a share scheme launched back in 2011. Sports Direct announced in its annual report that it expects to pay other awards and incentives this year of around £19m, from which both permanent and casual staff can benefit.

Founder and chief executive Mike Ashley said: "The people at Sports Direct deserve every penny of these bonuses. It's thanks to their magnificent achievements and fantastic loyalty that we are able to make progress towards becoming the 'Selfridges' of sport."

The incentives are on top of normal wages, which the company said are banded at rates above National Minimum Wage, and for those aged 25 or over are above the statutory National Living Wage.

The group, whose working practices have been likened to those of a Victorian workhouse, insisted that casual workers are entitled to accrued holiday pay and statutory sick pay.

Earlier this week, union Unite accused Sports Direct of breaking its pledge to offer store staff guaranteed hours rather than zero-hours contracts.

Last week, it emerged that staff at the company’s warehouse in Shirebrook were being asked to use touchpads with happy and sad faces to gauge worker satisfaction. According to Unite, finger technology is being used, with workers asked to select the appropriate emoji as they clock in to indicate whether they feel they're being treated with respect. The selection of a sad emoji results in the worker being called in by management for a discussion.

Unite's assistant general secretary, Steve Turner, said at the time: "It’s nothing short of an emoji con and a bogus exercise to gloss over past failures and some of the problems which still persist in the warehouse.

“With reports from agency workers of crowded aisles, defective warehouse equipment and products staked dangerously high, we know that health and safety is still a major cause for concern.

“We also know that meagre promises to move temporary agency workers onto permanent contracts with Sports Direct are not being met and that the process is often down to who you know rather than length of service or ability."

At 1515 BST, the shares were up 1.8% to 397.70p.