5 days work trial WITHOUT PAY

[MRSRUDEBOX]

Hi there. Not sure if this is the right place but I just want as many people in Bury to be aware of this but there is a company advertising for PPI call centre jobs at somewhere called 'The Hub' in the Millgate. However, I went for an interview with them last Friday and they told me if successful I would start Monday BUT it was just TWO days training and THREE days on the phones and if at the end of the week they did not feel you were up to the role then you would be dismissed AND NOT BE PAID!!! I want as many people to be aware as possible so am sharing it as much as I can.

It would seem after talking a LOT of people have not been successful with this company after a week and are dismissed without pay!

To dodge the law, it seems they are asking new starters to sign a form to say they agree to getting ZERO PAY if they fail to 'make the grade'.

A pathetic TWO days of 'training' is purposely setting people up to fall! A reputable company would give you at the very least one week! This company it seems are purposely aiming that very few make the grade but get a few days of free labour in the process.

that’s awful! Thanks for sharing, OP. It’s really shocking.

Unpaid trial shifts and unpaid internships should be outlawed. Hate the exploitation that is going on.

So technically if they didn't take anyone on and just used training and this freebie work every week , this would save them lots of money and might even become normal for them and there might not even be any jobs ... Just a way to get work done for free !!
Definitely a scam surely ?

Bastards. 😈

Pretty sure that's illegal

I would send this to your MP. They need to sort out employment law so that this sort of thing is not legal.

@doubtingmyself18 but that's the point - I don't think it is! But it should be. Employment rights have been completely eroded! We need the unions to have a voice again.

Outrageous. Companies that do this should be widely named and shamed.

Bloody hell that's a new low in bad, exploitative employment practices.

Makes zero hour contracts look positively benign.

So effectively they're never going to actually employ anyone, just get a weeks work out of people for nothing.

You're right OP people need to be made aware that this sort of thing is happening. Wondering if the local MP could be asked to look into it, although, I'm guessing it's not actually illegal.

Unpaid Trial Work Periods (Prohibition) Bill 2017-19 this bill has just had its second reading debate (16th March 2018). Hopefully if it goes through then unpaid trials will be a thing of the past.

THIS is the MP sponsoring the bill. I bet he would be interested to hear about this even though he isn’t from your area.

I know it is not strictly the same scenario. Many years ago when I was naive; I worked in a career where, in one interview, I was asked to show/prove what I did. I completed the task and I did get the job 2 weeks later; however the work I finished during the interview was used as a legitimate commercial profit to the company. I left as soon as I could. It's a disgusting state of affairs and I feel the same regarding unpaid internships.

This is awful. My youngest daughter had to do an unpaid trial shift for waitressing over Christmas. She only had the job for 6 weeks!
Middle daughter has just completed an unpaid expenses only internship ( after graduating with 30k debt). At times I honestly wish I hadn’t given my kids a work ethic! It’s a curse nowadays.

You did the right thing to highlight this here (& everywhere possible) despicable practices encouraged by Tory policies I'm glad I'm old (at times)

We’re in Australia so slightly different laws I think. My eldest daughter has just had an unpaid trial shift at a cafe (she didn’t get the job unfortunately) and they said rather than paying her cash for the shift they’d provide her with a free lunch. She also got a few hours of training with the barista and taught how to use the tills and eftpos machine. All useful skills for her going forward.

I wasn’t happy about the lack of pay but felt the trade off with the teaching she got as a good compromise.

This rather pathetic try-on by the employer is not only immoral and outrageous - it’s also plainly illegal.

Everyone who has done this work and not been paid can take them to tribunal and get paid.

Thankfully here (queensland) trials must only be long enough to demonstrate the skills required.
This varies based on awards, and awards (minimum pay, time off and some other laws) vary by the job you do, but I believe the maximum is one day of work. Any further "trailing" must be paid, which is fine. I recently did a weeks trial period however I was fully paid (and got the job) even if I had failed the trial I would've been entitled to all but the first day paid.
Would've thought this would be illegal in the UK by now.

What a bunch of crooks.

My daughter worked a full shift at Superdrug only to be told she hadn't got the job....fucking disgusting

That's outrageous.

Glad you have named and shamed, OP. Do you have a local FB site you can put it on too?

I’ll pass this on to Bury Times reporter.

Bloody hell - Exploitative slave labour. Taking into account travel and food you would be PAYING TO work for these despicable chancers.

MIL had a similar problem a few years ago. Did one twelve hour trial shift in a very similar role (same computer system as well) as her previous job and they asked her to come in the next day for another unpaid trial. She pointed out that had worked efficiently for about 11 hours and didn't know what else she could prove to them in a further twelve and they to,d her not to come back.
She was telling her sorry tale at her next Job Seekers meeting and got sanctioned as she hadn't been available for work during her "unauthorised" trial. So she was shafted twice. She got her benefits back after complaining to MP and also wrote to local paper to name and shame the company.

Awful :(

Report it to your local MP.