Have you ever been asked to work an unpaid trial shift?

UKParliament

Stewart Malcolm McDonald, MP for Glasgow South, wants to hear from you if you have ever been asked to complete an unpaid trial work shift.

He has proposed a new law which would ban the practice of asking jobseekers to work a trial shift without pay.

He wants to know:

Have you been asked to work an unpaid trial shift?

After completing it, were you offered the job?

Are you an employer who has asked job applicants to complete an unpaid shift?

Is this practice more common in some industries than others?

Stewart will be monitoring and responding to your comments so post below to join the discussion.

You can find out more about how Bills become law here.

Comms69

Yes, been asked and done it.
No, not offered job, and glad of it!
No
Common in some sales jobs


- don't actually see a problem with it. The first shift is typically a training day anyway, not a lot of work actually gets done.

Kayalana99

I had a friend asked to work a trial at a chip shop, after the trial they asked her to work another trial day as they were worried she was a bit slow so she did. Then after they asked her for the 3rd free shift she had to say no as they were obvouisly just trying it on.

ska_lover

I know someone who got stung for THREE consecutive trial shifts and then were turned down for the job

Disgusting.

I understand one, but three days worth is pretty much using the job market as free holiday cover

greatgatsbys

Yes, I have worked numerous unpaid trial shifts and every time, I find it frustrating and demeaning that I am expected to 'perform' with no guarantee of a job at the end.

- 3 hours at a UK chain of restaurants. I was not offered the job. (This was in London.)
- 5 hours at a local pub. I was offered the job afterwards but declined due to my poor experience during the trial shift.
- 3 or 4 hours at a large UK coffee chain. I was offered the job and worked there for 3 months, and quit due to poor pay practices.
- 4 hours at a local pub. I was offered the job and worked there on and off for a year.

All of my experience with unpaid trial shifts has been in the hospitality sector. Whilst I understand they have a high turnover of staff, this does not mean that I should work for them for free, whether they intend to hire me or not. It is rude and disrespectful. I am fortunate to be in a job currently that pays for everything I do, including my first day which mostly consisted of paperwork. This is not too much to ask.

I hope your law gets approved! It is a great idea and one I have supported for years.

kingfisherblue

My son has just found out that he has been successful in getting a part time job while he is at college. He has volunteered at the same place previously, a couple of years ago. Now that he is older, he needs a DBS (working with vulnerable adults). He has worked one short shift and is going to work two more, before his actual job begins. However, he is not required to - it's because he knows that they need the help now, but they are waiting for his DBS to come through. They didn't ask him, he volunteered, so it is a different situation, although he is receiving some training whilst on a voluntary shift. He has to do other training, which he will be paid for.

Although I don't think that working a free shift should be allowed before deciding whether someone is 'right for the job', there are a limited number of circumstances where someone might want to help out - but they are few and far between. My son's job is with a charity, which will pay for his DBS, training (with no clawback clause), and the wage is above minimum for his age group. Not being paid for a shift (rather than volunteering) is different, and shouldn't occur in private or public companies. Charities, I think maybe a little leaway, but only in certain circumstances.

pete_v

I'm a software engineer.

Yes, been asked to come and work a day in the office, after passing an initial phone screen. No, they didn't pay me (and I didn't expect them to). They did pick up the tab for lunch at the restaurant across the street.

Yes, they offered me the job.

No, I didn't take it - with much regret since in many ways it was a bit of a dream job. But the trial day showed me that the commute I thought I could put up with, was actually worse than I'd anticipated. I decided I wasn't willing to do it every day after all.

I thought this was an excellent way for them to see whether I was good at the job (rather than asking me about it in an interview, which is really a pretty terrible form of assessment for most things except sales or politics) and for me to see whether the job was good for me (job was, location wasn't).

This is a bit of a different world to scamming a few hours' free labour in a chip-shop, though.

Pete

mycleverbunnies

My daughter did a whole week of 4 hour 'trial' shifts at a smoothie/crepe type shop under central station bridge.They then said she'd need to do another week 'unpaid training'. She said no.For the next year while I worked in town I had to walk past the shop in town seeing an ad in the window everytime for part-time staff and a mobile number to call.I am convinced they did this repeatedly to exploit young people and to get workers for nothing. I should have reported them but I didn't know who to.They could still be doing it if they are still there.

pmduk

To clarify, is that Glasgow Central Bridge?

Fortunately I have managed to escape this inequitable practice so far.

IAmWales

mycleverbunnies wrote: »

My daughter did a whole week of 4 hour 'trial' shifts at a smoothie/crepe type shop under central station bridge.They then said she'd need to do another week 'unpaid training'. She said no.For the next year while I worked in town I had to walk past the shop in town seeing an ad in the window everytime for part-time staff and a mobile number to call.I am convinced they did this repeatedly to exploit young people and to get workers for nothing. I should have reported them but I didn't know who to.They could still be doing it if they are still there.

They can be reported to HMRC for failure to pay minimum wage.

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/worker-disputes-over-minimum-wage

[Deleted User]

In the care industry has been my experience mainly

First care job after sitting in a classroom unpaid for 4.5 days then the first three shifts were unpaid as well - I guess if you decided it wasn't for you, you felt less owed about it all. 2012

2015 Three trial shifts in a nursing agency out of hours booking nurses over the city - to be fair to that it did turn out to be a highly pressured job and I'm not sure I could have coped with 12 hours constant busy on such a commute so that ended nicely. Plus I think they probably thought at one point I was messing them around claiming I wanted a part time job. (Had history of full time work pretty much to that point)

Another was a trial at a sales job after I'd previously turned it down and had to go back tail between legs when I got sacked from my chosen job for lack of confidence .. I lasted half day and all were relived at lunch time when I think I just said I won't be back! 2015

Can't say anything more except 'sit and see's' which have only been a couple of hours and a welcomed addition to an interview, during which anybody can say anything can't they.

My very first job in 98 was a week's unpaid trial to see how I faired as straight out of school in a factory office - was there erm for 9 months until 'redundancy' came along.

I'd think I'd rather have trials then at 2 or 3 months in, an employer decides it just isn't working as by then you just added to a ruined CV. Then I've been put off at offered 2 week paid trials before now think it's just an employer who really doesn't understand how 'conditional job offer' works - again this is much more recent experience. So I'm a bit mixed about the whole affects. Sorry!