Unpaid work trials in the UK

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

The "Opposition" Parties such as Labour are campaigning to end the current practice of unpaid work trials with no guarantee of a job at the end of the trial.

Do you agree with this?

Have you done these trials and ended up with paid work at the end of the 6 month trial or however long?

 

[tducey]

I agree, I was lucky that my workterm out of college was a paid one. I've worked a lot of contract jobs and when they're done they're done. Been lucky they've been paid ones though.

 

[Mr Allen]

@AGXStarseed why would you "like" my post and not comment? You should know from the post I did about people on Facebook that I don't like when people do that! It's pointless and annoying, this is NOT Facebook.

 

[Starfire]

I don't agree with this if the job trial is for a trade or craft for example, that can only really be learned while doing the job hands on, and while needing to be supervised continuously. The firms can sometimes be taking a big risk with someone under these circumstances, who has no experience and can be handling expensive or difficult to work with tools or materials in a potentially hazardous environment. It also works both ways and could give someone the opportunity to realise quite quickly that they don't actually want to do that job after all, as well as being helpful to future employers to decide who has the apptitude for a job or apprenticeship.

I was asked to mentor a young lad under these circumstances a few years ago. He had spent one year at collage and wanted to be a plasterer but had never worked outside of small bays at collage. His first job was to plaster a small ceiling while I did a large living room one. He panicked and realised quite quickly that a tiny ceiling done at leisure in collage is quite different from the real world. I had to take over and do them both because he was incompetent. He then tried to pour waste material down the sink because there was no skip. That would have blocked the pipework and drains and cost a lot to have unblocked. He couldn't drive so had to be picked up and dropped off. He didn't want to clean up because there should be labourers to do that! He didn't want to carry 25kg bags if plaster upstairs because they were too heavy! He didn't want to screed floors because it made his back sore. He didn't like getting wet or working off scaffolding or dusty environments. Despite it all I was nice to him because he was young, and everyone deserves a chance. Should he have been paid? no because he didn't actually produce anything that would have passed, I had to do my work and his, I should have been paid extra for having him. His father phoned me a few weeks after he left to thank me for having him. He said his son had realised that construction didn't suit him and he hated the pressure and working conditions. He had taken a job in a warehouse and loved it!

If unpaid work trials stop, companies will simply not give people the opportunity to try, or prove themselves and be given a job. Why should they what would be the point? It makes more sense from a business perspective to simply hire experienced workers when needed.

Having said that, the trials shouldn't go on longer that 12 weeks, that should be long enough for both parties to make a decision. I have also seen young men getting jobs after a short unpaid trial, and I learned to hang paper, basic plumbing etc by being a labourer for free when I was younger outside of my job. Admittedly I was quite fascinated by different trades, tools, skills etc and I wanted to learn them all!

 

[AGXStarseed]

@AGXStarseed why would you "like" my post and not comment? You should know from the post I did about people on Facebook that I don't like when people do that! It's pointless and annoying, this is NOT Facebook.

A few things, Rich:

1. I don't recall seeing your post regarding people posting on Facebook, or if I have then I've forgotten as I've got other things on my mind.

2. The "like" and other ratings are there to be used, whether you like them or not. Are you going to get yourself all worked up every time someone rates your post but doesn't comment?

3. I don't always have time to post a reply to every post I rate, so don't get upset just because I rated your post first rather than writing a full length comment because I don't have time.
(My dinner is currently going cold as I'm writing this, just so you know).

Bottom line: I'll try and comment as much as I can, but I may or may not do it immediately, so stop whinging.

 

[Gracey]

If I put the effort in, I want some kind of remuneration in return, even if it’s only to cover my bus fares and pocket money.

If I’m training, I wouldn’t expect the same rate as a fully qualified and experienced tradesman, equally I wouldn’t be expected to produce the same standard of work or amount of completed tasks either.

Are there many people these days who can afford to work for free?

 

[Judge]

Are there many people these days who can afford to work for free?

An obscure labor concept- for good reason. It precariously matches people desperate to work with those who could so easily exploit such desperation. Sounds like a wise move to end such a practice in the UK.

I'd be very wary of such practices. Where there's a potential reflecting the more menial the task, the greater the possibility of not being hired. While not outright prohibited by law, in the US federal and state laws appear to make the practice legally precarious for any employer who contemplates it, with an emphasis on requirements to carry unpaid wage liability if they dare maintain such policies.

I'm guessing most larger firms probably have legal departments who consistently discourage the idea. Employers offering higher echelon positions on such a provisional basis may well get decent public relations from such things. But to me it's still just "putting lipstick on a pig".

 

[Mr Allen]

I've been doing the "work for free" thing for years, it's literally been the only way I've ever been able to get a job.

I received an email from my MP this week, the Bill to end unpaid work trials was overturned by the useless government this week, I'm very sorry but WTF?! Slave Labour was allegedly abolished Centuries ago.

 

[scrp14]

work trials have offered a way of employers to see how an individual works in a given week or month, whilst in my experience, they have measured my social interaction more than my ability to work, for instance I did well in helping customers use computers in the jobcentre because thats my speciality (not the customers but the technical support side) and in doing so i was allowed to keep claiming benefits, but once I couldn't do it anymore they put me back on the sanction. I also only lasted a week in a high end supermarket, where i suppose the more high-end it is, the more quality in interaction they expect you to have

 

[Mr Allen]

work trials have offered a way of employers to see how an individual works in a given week or month, whilst in my experience, they have measured my social interaction more than my ability to work, for instance I did well in helping customers use computers in the jobcentre because thats my speciality (not the customers but the technical support side) and in doing so i was allowed to keep claiming benefits, but once I couldn't do it anymore they put me back on the sanction. I also only lasted a week in a high end supermarket, where i suppose the more high-end it is, the more quality in interaction they expect you to have

Yeah, about 20 years ago I got a job in Boots' in Meadowhall which was supposed to be for 9 months covering for a lady on Maternity, for reasons I don't really want to go into I lasted about a month of working 40 hours a week if that.

I started in late October 1997, and was let go by about the middle of November.