Under Chinese law, only 10 percent of a company’s staff is supposed to be made up of labor dispatch workers. But Zhang says the regulations are often not rigorously enforced. She noted that companies can also circumvent the limit by hiring workers categorized under different outsourcing schemes that function in largely the same way, a strategy that job advertisements indicate Shein is using.
A spokesperson for Shein confirmed to WIRED that the company “works with third-party vendors to staff the vast majority of our warehouse operations,” but declined to specify what percentage of the workers are categorized as labor dispatch. “Shein’s practices are aligned with industry standards and comply with local laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Because many of Shein’s warehouse staffers are classified as gig workers, they are not guaranteed a set hourly wage, just like Uber drivers and food delivery couriers. Job listings and several videos reviewed by WIRED indicate that while workers are promised a monthly base salary, their total compensation is calculated based on their productivity levels, a system summed up as “more work, more pay.”
This structure gives workers the option to hustle to earn higher incomes. But when the volume of Shein orders decreases, their wages may also drop due to no fault of their own, according to one of the videos. In a clip posted to the ByteDance-owned platform Xigua in January, one purported Shein worker complains that she can’t earn enough money because “the amount of goods is not enough.” She adds that she imagined having a more stable salary by this point in her life.
“Shein is committed to ensuring the fair and dignified treatment of all workers within our supply chain and is investing tens of millions of dollars in strengthening governance and compliance,” the spokesperson for Shein said.
Shein told WIRED that, based on records from its vendors, the company estimates junior warehouse staff are paid roughly 7,000 RMB ($997) per month, while senior workers can earn more than 12,000 RMB ($1,709) on average. The current monthly minimum wage for full-time employees in Guangzhou, a major Chinese city close to where many of Shein’s warehouses are located, is RMB 2,300 ($327), according to China Briefing, a website run by the consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates (this figure excludes overtime pay and other forms of compensation).
Shein’s use of labor dispatch workers has been covered previously. In 2021, the Chinese news outlet Sixth Tone reported that Shein allegedly “appears to rely extensively” on dispatch agencies in its warehouses, which the article noted “are associated with a host of labor problems.”
But Shein has never mentioned the practice in its annual sustainability and social impact reports, which detail the company’s efforts to ensure its suppliers are adhering to local regulations and its code of conduct. In its latest report released in August, Shein disclosed that it hired third-party firms to audit 15 out of its 21 logistics warehouses in China last year and found they “all … performed well.”