Buckle up, because there's a lot to go over.
Make no mistake, this borders on being a Victorian factory brought to the modern day. Dubious conditions paired with unreasonable expectations with constant pressure from sneering managers & supervisors. Truly a carrot and stick approach without the carrot. Workers are pressured to maintain unreasonably high work rates, with practically no real support being given to those who struggle. Ironically, certain practices that can optimise and improve workflows are either prohibited or actively prevented by supervisors, sometimes via downright unprofessional passive-aggressive micromanaging.
Naturally, their constant tunnel-vision for high production rates comes with drawbacks. The workplace is filthy, with lint, dust, loose threads, labels, and litter strewn all over the floor and equipment, because the management is so hyper-focused on production rates that basic housekeeping and maintenance on the factory floor are completely neglected. This became a significant problem during the summer, as nearly all of the fans on the factory floor were completely ineffective due to being clogged with dust, making the already uncomfortably hot environment practically unbearable to work in. The pre-treatment area is the worst affected - literally every surface is sticky and dirty. Furthermore, the containers for the pre-treatment solution are old, and being reused and refilled, so we can't trust the barely-legible labels on them, and we have no idea what chemical(s) we're handling and getting on ourselves, and what the risks & precautions might be. The air quality is also highly questionable; sometimes, there is such a thick haze in the air that if you were to stand on one end of the factory floor, you can barely see the opposite wall. The central conveyor roller rack running down the length of the factory floor has many sharp, jagged edges and points from protruding bolts, crossbars, and broken plastic signage, and many of the trays themselves have sharp edges from pieces being broken off. I have seen numerous people receive scratches and cuts on their hands and arms when removing or placing trays on the rollers - myself included.
Outside of the high-demand holiday periods, many workers can't get enough shifts. Furthermore, it's not rare for confirmed shifts to be cancelled, abruptly, and sometimes at short notice, which can disrupt plans and earnings. Many colleagues expressed frustration and distress due to not being provided enough shifts, with some admitting to struggling financially outside of the busy holiday periods. I, for example, once had a meagre 4 total shifts over the span of 3 weeks. In general, the morale on the production line sine-waves between "low" and "rock-bottom". Everyone is constantly exasperated with the company and its supervisors & managers. No-one feels adequately respected, appreciated, or valued by the people they work under, everyone is suffering some extent of burnout, and many people are worried that their job isn't secure or sustainable.
With so many varied and valid concerns, it then becomes far more egregious that trying to get constructive responses from supervisors & management is almost always a wasted effort. If you have an issue or query that needs any kind of actual discussion with a supervisor or manager, you can forget about it, because if it requires much more than a one-word answer, they will either dismiss you outright or fob you off indefinitely. They will drag their heels and repeatedly defer any kind of liaising until you just give up and get back to the grind. This behaviour from the supervisors and managers has been an observable, repeating pattern, not just by myself, but many frustrated colleagues. At first I thought this was merely a symptom of some higher-ups being hopelessly disorganised, but it's so consistent across so many different staff that it seems to just be the standard for how they operate. None of them will put the bare minimum amount of effort into following through with a follow-up, all the while regularly pushing everyone below them to do more and more. Even the company's responses to Glassdoor reviews are clearly written by ChatGPT. At times, the gall and hypocrisy nearly defies belief.
