During the browsing process (does anyone else find hanger sizes rarely match the garment labels?), I noticed one piece of clothing was 'made in Bangladesh'.
"Bangladesh," I pondered, "I wonder if it came from that factory that collapsed in April - were these clothes made by affected workers?"
The answer is probably 'no', but it didn't matter.
I put it back as the moral dilemma combined with an impatient six-year old was enough to turn my mind.
It's wrong to suggest Primark is responsible for the deaths of thousands of workers at the Rana Plaza, but the fact some of these workers may have been making garments for the clothes retailer has damaged its reputation.
Is it enough for a multinational to wash their hands of responsibility by outsourcing production, or should companies lead by example and ensure worker's rights and conditions are maintained across the whole 'people chain'?
You might expect HR's place in this debate, as custodians of worker's rights, to be central. Sadly, it isn't, and we were surprised by how few HR directors were willing to even talk about it.
As the movement for integrated reporting and measuring human capital builds pace, should HR be at the heart of human rights?
We are interested in hearing more views on this and whether it is a realistic ambition.
Interns deserve wages
On the topic of worker's rights, employment rights minister Jo Swinson has written for HR magazine about Government plans to crack down on unpaid internships.
As a media professional, I feel strongly about this. At previous companies, unpaid interns were used as cheap labour to prop up struggling publications. Full-time journalists were let go and unpaid interns hired to do similar roles.
This practice is known to happen across the industry.
The problem is supply and demand. The recession has not been kind to the media, with many jobs and titles going under. Some media executives, often non-journalists, do not appreciate the craft and are more interested in quantity over quality.
This places a squeeze on vacancies and leaves young hopefuls desperate to work on an expenses-paid basis to get bylines and valuable experience.
I applaud Government efforts to curb this behaviour and hope the minimum wage will become standard for media internships.
