Undercover Boss Review - The Many Failings of Oxfam.

I was shocked to discover that not only had Undercover Boss not been axed but a new series had started last week. Thank you Channel 4 for telling me, not! For anyone who doesn’t know what the premise is, CEOs are sent undercover at some of the UK’s biggest companies to find out what’s going on (cue choruses of ‘you’d think they’d know already’). This is actually a strangely fun and comical programme to watch, albeit accidentally. 

The company under the spotlight this week was Oxfam which is of course one of the UK’s biggest charities, if not the biggest. We follow CEO Mark Goldring (who came under fire recently for his huge salary) as he becomes ‘Rory’ posing as a presenter for a documentary on volunteering for the charity sector. Under this disguise, Mark unearths what’s going wrong with his company since Oxfam seems to be losing money and its not as if he’s getting paid well or anything (Oh wait…).

‘Rory’ begins his experience in London posing as an annoying street charity worker trying to sign up long-term donors to the company. And I’ve got to say, it’s pretty amusing seeing him trying to stop people with his catchy line ‘Have you got a moment for Oxfam?’ (This is central London, no one has a moment for anything unless its Boris Johnson being hit by a water cannon). But there’s a problem. When someone does stop, they’re expected to give over their personal details. In public. And it turns out no one wants to do that. Seriously who was the previous CEO? Boris Johnson? (Yes I’ve managed to work in two mentions in one paragraph. No need to thank me).

After a somewhat embarrassing day trying to sign people up, Rory’s next stop is Brigg in Lincolnshire which has six charity shops trying to compete with each other in the town centre. Unsurprisingly the Oxfam store there isn’t doing well, being in the lower quarter of shops doing well. Apart from the competition, there are good reasons for that. This part of the programme was apparently filmed in January/February so people aren’t going to spend much after Christmas. Apart from that, the shop is too small, the floor is in bad condition, and the window is so tiny that there isn’t any opportunity for a big window dressing campaign. Again we had another fun part in Rory trying to dress a window. He does not have a future in design, let’s put it that way.

Mark/Rory then visited a recycling plant in Milton Keynes which I missed because I had a headache at the time and fell asleep for ten minutes. But then I’m told Milton Keynes gets that reaction a lot so maybe there’s nothing to forgive there?

Anyway when I woke up, we seemed to have migrated to the Philippines, more specifically to the part where Typhoon Haiyan hit in November. Six months later thousands of people have been left homeless and there’s a lot of work still to do. Mark/Rory/I-can’t-decide-what-to-call-him gets a very fun job mixing the poo. You’ve got to wonder whether a statement is being made here. Again there are problems. The protective gear is far too hot, considering the temperature outside is 40 degrees and even hotter inside. Plus the other workers aren’t even bothering with wearing it (how they manage with the smell, God only knows). Indeed Mark can only spend fifteen minutes in there before having to quit.

He then gets a thankfully nicer task (but then he couldn’t have gotten a worse task) building a latrine. He’s told that because the suppliers aren’t, y’know, supplying anything, Mark cannot waste any materials. No prizes for guessing what happens next. Yep, Mark wastes material. There was also a clip where he tried out some fishing in narrow boats but again headache, fell asleep, missed it.

When I woke up again, we’d gone back to the pretty fancy Oxfam headquarters where the people Mark worked with during his time being a normal person were summoned to meet him under the guise of an interview for the fake documentary. Along the way a taxi driver would ask them questions about how Mark as ‘Rory’ did for reasons which are never explained to us.

This is where I have a gripe and it doesn’t apply just to this episode, but the entire series in general. The CEO always promises to fix the problems they have seen but surely there are more problems than that? The ones the people they work with don’t mention because they don’t want to criticise Oxfam in front of the camera for fear of losing their jobs? For example? It feels like they’re dealing with only some of the major problems but aren’t digging deeper. Or if they are, we’re not being told about it.

Anyway Mark promises to fix the problems he’s seen because what else can he do in front of the camera without looking like an idiot? He talks to the people he’s worked with, takes two of them on as consultants, and tells Julia (who he worked with in the shop in Brigg) that she’ll be going to Senegal to see how the money she’s raising through the shop is helping the poor who need it. I have to admit, that was a heartwarming moment.

We also had a heartwarming moment when Mark flew back out to the Philippines to see Daisy who was in charge of the sanitation. Her story is incredibly sad - she had to give up her university studies and therefore her dreams of becoming an engineer when the typhoon hit. Mark tells her that Oxfam will pay for her studies so that she can qualify as an engineer.

Overall Undercover Boss is as ‘fun’ as ever, although that could be down to my sadistically enjoying the CEOs doing some actual, back-breaking work. I’ll definitely be tuning in next week where Pets at Home is the company under scrutiny. I might even be watching without a headache!