Business tries to pay employees in pizza for representing the company at local charity: 'Asked us to do paid charity work then changed it to unpaid at the last minute'

If workers aren't being paid for their time, the real charity is the business itself…

Businesses love to "contribute" to charity almost as much as they love using pizza parties as a band-aid solution for morale. For one thing, it's a great look for the business after the marketing team gets its hands on the photos taken on the day and then makes a bunch of social media posts grossly exaggerating the company's involvement and contributions. Even more importantly, almost all expenses involved in the affair can be used as a tax write-off; it's basically like free advertisement.

While that's not quite how tax write-offs work, donating things and money is relatively straightforward; it quickly gets more complicated as soon as employees are involved and contribute their time and the cost of their labor to the cause. Now, even though it's "for charity," you're going to have to pay them as long as they're being required to as part of their job… If they're expected to show up to "volunteer" representing the company, that definitely counts. It's not nearly the same thing as the employees spontaneously deciding to contribute their free time for the greater good. In this case, another "greater good" is involved, called "placating your employer."

These workers were encouraged to sign up for a company initiative to work at a local charity. When they signed up, they were told they'd spend a half day working at the charity before returning to the office and that they'd be paid for the full day with lunch provided (but not pizza—for once!) However, the deal was quickly altered when the company tried to get out of paying the workers for the time worked at the charity, then being altered further when the provided lunch was revealed to be… pizza! This means that, effectively, workers would be paid in pizza for that half day of work.
Frustrated and further incensed by emails sent by their manager, declaring their disappointment that workers no longer wanted to “volunteer” and virtue signaling their own dedication to charity in the form of the donations they made to their children's swanky private school, this employee shared the story to this popular online workplace community sparking discussion on the topic.
via Alan Hardman
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