According to some Chinese local reports, Luckin Coffee has mandated frequent hand-washing for its store employees. Based on an 8-hour workday, an employee is required to wash their hands at least eight times, clean the wiping cloth 22 times, and come into contact with disinfectant 22 times. This frequent hand-washing and exposure to disinfectants have led to rough and cracked skin among some Luckin store employees. To cope with inspections and reduce hand injuries, some employees at Luckin stores have resorted to pretending to wash their hands.
On December 11, several frontline Luckin employees confirmed to Nanduwan Finance reporters that the company's frequent hand-washing requirement is real, and some employees indeed suffer from cracked hands. At the same time, Nanduwan Finance reporters reached out to Luckin's headquarters for comments but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Due to Frequent Hand-Washing Luckin Store Employees Suffer from "Damaged Hands" In October this year, a reporter from Dongfang.com's Zongxiang News went undercover at a Luckin Coffee shop in Shanghai. They found that Luckin's store employees must wash their hands every hour, after touching their hair or apron, and must scrub their hands for at least 20 seconds, turning off the faucet with a paper towel.
Additionally, Luckin employees must change the disinfectant cloth used for cleaning food contact surfaces every 30 minutes and the disinfectant itself every three hours. After closing the store, employees also have to clean items like milk tanks, scissors, ice scoops, measuring cups, tea clamps, and coffee machine milk warehouses with a multipurpose cleaner.
After working at the Luckin store for two days, the undercover reporter's hands became dry and tight. The skin on the right index finger was rough like tree bark, dry and cracked, with numerous intersecting grooves.
Although employees can wear PVC gloves or disposable transparent gloves during work, the undercover reporter noticed that few Luckin employees consistently wear gloves. The main reason is that gloves get wet easily, are inconvenient for work, and can reduce work efficiency, thus affecting performance.
Luckin Coffee Faces Scrutiny Over Employee Hand-Washing Practices and Skin Damage
On December 11, Nanduwan Finance reporters learned from several Luckin frontline store employees that the company's frequent hand-washing requirement is real. An employee named Xiaolin (pseudonym), who works part-time at a Luckin store in Guangdong, said that during work, he needs to wash his hands with hand sanitizer for 20 seconds every hour. The hands must be rubbed to produce foam, rinsed clean, and then dried with a paper towel. Hands must be washed whenever they touch any part of the body or anything outside the operating table or leave the bar. "Even during breaks, we have to wash our hands at the top of the hour."
Additionally, employees at his store must change the disinfectant cloth used for cleaning food contact surfaces every 30 minutes and the disinfectant itself every three hours. The store is cleaned with a multipurpose cleaner at night.
Xiaolin revealed that after frequently washing hands with hand sanitizer, his hands became dry and itchy, showing symptoms of peeling and allergies. "Wearing gloves is very inconvenient; they are not easy to use and tend to break easily, and they affect work efficiency, so I tend to avoid wearing them. However, my hand injuries are not severe, and I've gotten used to it over time. Using hand cream at home helps."
An employee at a Luckin store in Shanghai told Nanduwan Finance reporters that her hands quickly became cracked due to frequent hand-washing. She quit about a month after joining due to "damaged hands." An employee at a Luckin store in Hubei told reporters that her hands have been in a cracked state since working at Luckin, but she doesn't consider it a serious problem and just needs to apply hand cream regularly.
A store manager from a leading coffee brand told Nanduwan Finance reporters that Luckin's hygiene requirements for store employees are not uncommon. The brand they work for also requires employees to wash their hands every half hour and when switching positions, with disinfectant cloths also being changed every half hour.
To Cope with Inspections and Reduce Injuries Some Luckin Store Employees Pretend to Wash Hands In addition to the frequent hand-washing requirement for store employees, some Luckin store employees pretend to wash their hands to cope with inspections and reduce hand injuries, according to Zongxiang News.
The store where the reporter went undercover had only one camera pointing at the bar. The camera, located at a diagonal right angle above the hand-washing sink and with a baffle on the left side of the sink, allowed employees to pretend to wash their hands by lowering their hands next to the baffle, out of the camera's view. During their time at the store, the reporter observed colleagues pretending to wash their hands. Pretending to wash hands involved fake actions like pressing the hand sanitizer dispenser and rubbing the air instead of foam for 20 seconds in front of the sink.
In addition to pretending to wash hands, some employees also reduced additional hand-washing. The store's warehouse camera couldn't capture the entire warehouse due to its angle, and sometimes boxes stacked to the ceiling conveniently blocked the camera. Therefore, employees would enter the warehouse whenever they needed to use their hands, such as tightening an apron, drinking water with a mask off, or throwing away trash, and then return to the bar as if nothing had happened.
However, regarding the reduction in hand-washing, Luckin store employee Xiaolin told Nanduwan Finance reporters that his store has strict video surveillance, and the area manager checks the footage daily. His colleague was once penalized for washing hands one second short. "So every time, I wash for extra time, fearing that the store's timer is inaccurate. We basically can't reduce the number of hand-washings or pretend to wash our hands."
The aforementioned employee from the Hubei store also told reporters that their store has "all-angle surveillance, and the sound recorded by the cameras is very clear," making it difficult to pretend to wash hands or reduce the number of hand-washings.
Are Hand Injuries Considered Work-Related Injuries? What Should Luckin Employees Do? Are the rough, cracked, and peeling hand skin problems experienced by Luckin employees due to frequent hand-washing considered work-related injuries?
According to the report, Wang Limin, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of East China University of Science and Technology, pointed out that the hand sanitizer used in Luckin stores is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent, widely used in cosmetics and detergents, and is generally not recommended for direct contact with hands. The disinfectant powder is also an efficient disinfectant and sterilizer, not recommended for bare-handed use. "Long-term use of these two types of chlorine-containing products can cause hand allergies in sensitive individuals."
Dong Ya, a lawyer at Guangdong Zhixin Loyalty Law Firm, told Nanduwan Finance reporters that according to Article 72 of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases," production and business units must provide necessary and safe labor protection equipment for employees. Additionally, the correct wearing and use of labor protection equipment is a legal obligation that employees must fulfill, effectively preventing or reducing personal injuries during work.
"Although Luckin's strict hygiene standards to ensure product hygiene are commendable, with many employees experiencing hand skin problems, Luckin should also recognize the importance of providing gloves of appropriate length and material. When Luckin employees encounter such problems, they can recommend suitable gloves to Luckin and request the provision of appropriate labor protection equipment for their work positions, including gloves and hand cream. It's also suggested that Luckin flexibly handle hand-washing issues according to different work positions. When employees need treatment for hand skin problems due to work, they can claim that medical expenses should be borne by Luckin," Dong Ya further pointed out.
Luckin is currently the coffee brand with the most stores in China. According to Luckin's latest financial report released in November 2023, the company achieved a revenue of 17.838 billion yuan in the first three quarters of the year, a year-on-year increase of 85.85%; net profit under US accounting standards was 2.551 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 488.19%.
As of September 2023, Luckin had a total of 13,273 stores, including 8,807 self-operated stores and 4,466 franchise stores. In its latest financial report, Luckin did not disclose the number of employees in its stores. According to the 2022 annual report, Luckin had 14,599 full-time employees and 19,045 part-time employees, with 8,214 stores at that time.
