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Apotea is the largest online pharmacy in Sweden, with around 900 employees. In 2019, the company posted sales of just over SEK 2.7 billion and a pre-tax profit of about SEK 63 million. In recent years, businesses have grown exponentially and received extensive media attention, with business start-ups being described as a success story.
But in the last few weeks Criticism has been directed at the management of the company.
In a review by the Dagens ETC newspaper, employees and former employees of the Apotea warehouse testify to a stressful and harsh work environment, where there are threatening text messages from managers, forced overtime and sexual harassment in the workplace.
According to sources, Apotea’s management will use surveillance cameras to monitor its employees and carry out collective punishment when someone on the work team works too slowly.
Pär Svärdsson, CEO and founder of Apotea, confirms that there are deficiencies in the work environment.
– Obviously there is dissatisfaction, and if people feel stressed, we are the ones who have done wrong. We must find role models to make sure no one feels stressed at work, says Pär Svärdson.
– We accept criticism and we will increase the speed to address the issues, Pär Svärdson tells DN.
Photo: Barzan Dello
In March 2020, When the corona pandemic took off in Sweden, the demand for online pharmacy products increased significantly and, during the spring, Apotea recruited around 200 new employees for the warehouse.
According to Pär Svärdson, the company was pressed between wanting to make customers happy and at the same time having a good working environment in the warehouse.
The result did not turn out as expected.
– We did not have time to hire managers to the same extent, which has meant that communication has been broken. If we had known it would be such an extreme situation, we would have planned and hired more for the spring. Now that we look critically in the rear view mirror, it probably turned too much at once, says Pär Svärdson.
With the last weeks increased spread of infection, Apotea’s sales increased by 25 percent. They plan to hire another 100 people for the warehouse in the near future.
– Now fortunately we have had time to hire managers, but we still feel some anxiety. We want to grow over time and we want the company to do well. But after we have all worked hard over the past year, in combination with the criticism we have received, we are not in a good situation, says Pär Svärdson.
During the corona pandemic, up to 50,000 packages were shipped a day from the Apotea online pharmacy logistics center in Morgongåva.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT
He denies allegations that the company carries out collective punishment and controls employees through surveillance cameras.
– We have cameras because we have very sensitive products, but of course we don’t use them to monitor staff. If there are people who feel monitored, we have not been able to communicate why the cameras are there, says Pär Svärdson.
In the Dagens ETC review, people have testified about sexual harassment in the warehouse.
– It is completely unacceptable. We have a whistleblower function where you can send an email, where everyone can and should report if something happens, says Pär Svärdson.
But, despite that According to Pär Svärdson, it seems that it is important that sexual harassment does not occur in the workplace.
– Everything that has come to my knowledge, I think we have treated it in the correct way, but if there is someone who believes that we have not done it, we must do it again. We have a policy that says it is unacceptable, but it is our responsibility to make sure it works too, says Pär Svärdson.
The Unionen union, which has Apotea employees, has now launched an investigation:
– We have a dialogue with the members at the moment to get a proper picture of what is being said. When we gather the information, we will call Apotea into negotiations, to discuss the different parts of what has come out, but also what can come out, says Jörgen Gustavsson, Union ombudsman at Uppland.
The union review is in the initial phase, but there are already indications that members are experiencing bad practices in the Apotea warehouse.
– Indicates that what is written in ETC magazine are experiences that our members have. It is partly that they feel controlled, but also that there are collective punishments. They feel like it’s a very stressful environment, says Jörgen Gustavsson.
According to him, it is of the utmost importance that the case is taken further.
– Apotea must review its work organization, it should not be like that. We must find a way to prevent employees from experiencing this stress, says Jörgen Gustavsson.
To improve the work environment Apotea will now hire more senior managers, organize workplace training and conduct employee surveys.
– Those who work in the warehouse make up 90 percent of our company, it is extremely important that they prosper and it saddens us when we hear that there is dissatisfaction. Apotea should be the best place to work, says Pär Svärdson.
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