(Photo credit: Rolex)
Rolex said it has reshuffled the department which oversees warranty care worldwide after employee reports of harassment at the “highest level” prompted the brand to cancel job contracts, a rare peek inside the watchmaker's employment practices.
“After noticing a breakdown in one of its services, Rolex immediately took the necessary measures to put an end to the situation,” a spokesperson at Rolex said. “The measures taken led to contract terminations at different levels of the hierarchy, including at the highest, and resulted in the complete reorganization of the service in question.”
According to Unia, the largest labor union in Switzerland, Rolex employees who work at the World Service department had reported a drop in work conditions — prompting some to quit, go on sick leave or retire early — after a change in leadership in 2016.
Still, the union said Rolex had been good to communicate with. “Rolex SA, signatory of the watchmaking CCT [Labor Collective Agreement], has provided a stable social partnership, one that has even improved in recent years in Geneva,” Unia said.