A dissatisfied Homebase employee has approached DIYWeek.net with allegations of unfairness against the retailer.
The anonymous worker revealed that he was in his late 30s, had worked for Homebase for 14 years and was "from a high volume store in the north of England." He called the staffing in Homebase "ridiculous" and revealed he was "close to leaving", though he did admit that some things had improved since the takeover of Wesfarmers.

Comparing his situation to the heavily reported cuts made to B&Q staff wages, he added: "We had our [Sunday premiums] taken off us years ago and get paid no extra for a Sunday. We are also paid less than [B&Q] on an hourly basis!"

"I am paid £7.40 an hour, however some people are paid less. The way staffing is in Homebase at the moment is ridiculous, for example I have worked full time [between 30 - 39 hours] for the last 4 years however if I take a holiday I am only paid for 15 hours [as this is what's in my contract.]"

"This is made worse when the manager told me I was inflexible with the hours I could work which is not the case. And because of this I was not offered a larger contract when Bunnings took over."

When asked for his overall opinion of the new bosses, he responded: "I have to admit Bunnings have improved things such as stock and the cost of product which has improved significantly. It seems they are concentrating on cost more than service in stores and at head office."

"I am close to leaving a company I love due to bad management and bad leadership skills in store and higher."

When approached for comment, Bunnings gave DIYWeek.net the following statement: "We are sorry to hear one of our team members is unhappy. We always welcome feedback and would encourage them to speak to their store or area manager so we can address their individual situation.

"Additional Sunday pay was removed in September 2013 and although we are only a few months into the new ownership, we have already started to make changes for our team to reward them for effort and performance.

"In March, we increased pay for team members aged 18 and over to a minimum of £7.20 an hour. In addition to this, we are also making moves to create more permanency and will (where possible) start to broaden our team members' hours and lift contracted hours to provide a better overall income.

"We are committed to investing in creating a culture we want for our teams and a business we can be proud of."