7 hour unpaid trial shift

melb

can anyone beat this? This is in a very popular long established restaurant/deli in Leeds which is doing a roaring trade! Having taken my daughter on afterwards she asked if sh would be paid for the trial shift as it was so long. Answer no as it was a trial shift. Each shift she will be doing this week is 3-4 hours. Not really fair is it?

Oh and she is doing an unpaid 4 hour shift in a pub tonight - after having done an unpaid 2 hour trial shift n Sunday but "the Manager would like to have a look at you"

ohreally

melb wrote: »

after having done an unpaid 2 hour trial shift n Sunday but "the Manager would like to have a look at you"

Shocking state of affairs, isn't this the purpose of an interview? Exploitation pure and simple.

The lass should be paid, end of!

[Deleted User]

melb wrote: »

can anyone beat this? "

I guess it isn't fair but I'm sorry it beats taking on a job on where you find you dislike it / aren't a fit so much to stay before feeling so tied down, only today the MD laughted and say "ohh you've survived into second week, many don't" !!!! I honestly didn't know how to respond apart from wow they are brave saying that! Wish those sentiments had definitely been shared in an interview alright or off the record.

I worked 5 days before being issued with payroll form if you want to look at it another way. Before daring to ask about being paid and could I supply my details. So perhaps simply the wrong side of the manager was got here.

My first job in care was first 3 shifts unpaid simply if you wanted to duck out whilst giving you fair amount of time to assess or catch the situation in the most honest light.

Give leeway, get it back ten fold sometimes.

Marktheshark

Never work for nothing, it is optional.

melb

I said to her if she totalled up the unpaid hours in the last year on trial shifts it would probably be a full week's wages! The best ones are where they don't actually tell you how long the trial shift is going to be - if they are busy they just hang on to you!

pickledonionspaceraider

melb wrote: »

can anyone beat this? This is in a very popular long established restaurant/deli in Leeds which is doing a roaring trade! Having taken my daughter on afterwards she asked if sh would be paid for the trial shift as it was so long. Answer no as it was a trial shift. Each shift she will be doing this week is 3-4 hours. Not really fair is it?

Oh and she is doing an unpaid 4 hour shift in a pub tonight - after having done an unpaid 2 hour trial shift n Sunday but "the Manager would like to have a look at you"

You know this really winds me up, it seems the young trying to get jobs are constantly having to do trial shifts. It seems the norm in min wge jobs, to get them to do at least one, maybe several shifts, before letting them know if they were taken on or not. It is always the young, I have never heard any one over the age of 30 being expected to put up with this rubbish

One of my sons friends did 3 x four hour trial shifts, then was told he hadn't got the job. THREE!! I was gobsmacked and think that in some circumstances, for easy min wage jobs, they are working the system and when a perm member of staff books holiday, they advertise a ''job'' which does not exist and get the holiday covered by young uns doing trial shifts to get sent home at the end of it with nothing.

I think there should be some kind of law against expecting people to work more than a couple of hours at most for free

thing is these are ALWAYS lower end spectrum min wage jobs where they need to see how well you perform. In professional circles, a person would never be expected to deal with this

paddyrg

I went to a bar job once - found out on the shift that it was a 'trial shift', damaged a pint glass and they wanted to charge me a quid for it (in 1991).

Needless to say after the shift I just walked away

melb

Make no wonder the young get disillusioned! Apparently there is some governmental guidance on this but no laws which say it is reasonable to ask someone to do 1 to 2 of unpaid work to see if they are up to the tasks required, but after that they become "productive" and should be paid.

kathrynha

melb wrote: »

can anyone beat this? This is in a very popular long established restaurant/deli in Leeds which is doing a roaring trade! Having taken my daughter on afterwards she asked if sh would be paid for the trial shift as it was so long. Answer no as it was a trial shift. Each shift she will be doing this week is 3-4 hours. Not really fair is it?

Oh and she is doing an unpaid 4 hour shift in a pub tonight - after having done an unpaid 2 hour trial shift n Sunday but "the Manager would like to have a look at you"

Which restaurant/deli?
I'm in Leeds and wish to avoid places that exploit people

martinsurrey

kathrynha wrote: »

Which restaurant/deli?
I'm in Leeds and wish to avoid places that exploit people

I bet if they stopped doing trial shifts they would only hire people with experience, and a lot of people would be complaining "how do 'young uns' get experience if no one is willing to give them a chance!"

kathrynha

martinsurrey wrote: »

I bet if they stopped doing trial shifts they would only hire people with experience, and a lot of people would be complaining "how do 'young uns' get experience if no one is willing to give them a chance!"

A 1-2 hour trial shift isn't too bad, but a 7 hour one like the OP is complaining about is unfair. As most of the places offering trial shifts are probably offering zero hour contracts, and it is easy to get rid of new staff, then I don't think the trial is really necessary, and neither is asking for lots of experience.