No one wants weekend work

[LastOrdersMaura]

My friend has a cafe. It's in a central location with a good bus route, cycle route and ten mins walk from a huge university campus.
Despite the jobs being on Indeed and advertised on a local job site, no one is applying. Or they apply but say 'is there any negotiation on the days?' Why doesn't anyone want weekend work anymore? I would have thought there would have been college students, Uni students, mums/ dads who can only work when partners are home, retired people who are bored. Why is it so difficult to recruit?

God there’s some BS being spouted in here.
It’s all about the local economy- if there is not a shortage of jobs where she is, people won’t apply. If there is, then they will.
So, time to make it more attractive. Why not turn it into Apprenticeships, give them 30 hours and a qualification, weekends mandatory. She will pay £4.30 an hour to a young person who will get a hospitality or Customer Service Qualification, and for 16-18 year olds there are incentives of up to £4k for the business too. Before anyone moans about the £4.30, remember this is an alternative to college, where they would eat nothing. If your friend wants to give it a go, tell her to contact National Apprenticeship Service.

It’s the fact it’s both days. 10-4 Saturday or Sunday advertised in window/Facebook/local college and it will be snapped up I bet.

1. The pay clearly isn't high enough, otherwise people would have applied
2. On the weekends, people want to be with their family, go shopping or go out with friends
3. Since the pandemic, job security is incredibly important, a cafe job is not secure enough at all

To add to that, if people are available to work weekends they would more likely apply for supermarket jobs which are better paid , secure and in abundance at the moment.

When I was 16 i had a Saturday job 9-2 (in a care home helping with breakfast and lunch) I was offered both days but declined as I was in full time college and needed at least 1 day off each week for downtime/socialising/family time etc.

Your friend should try to advertise for 2 roles. One Saturday position and one Sunday position. She will have the bonus if having some potential sickness or holiday cover then.

I work for a large company that several years ago asked people to start working Saturdays for a standard day rate. There were no takers. When it upped the shift rate by £100 there were so many takers you couldn't get a look in.

I suspect it's also due to the effect of Brexit.

When I was at uni, I was on campus 5 days a week, 4 long days and one short. That wasn't even the studying I needed to do for each class and placement which could be nightshift.

Weekends were my downtime.

@LastOrdersMaura

But she's not asking for experience. What are all the teenagers doing for jobs these days? I'm sorry but you cannot be an eighteen year old with no experience and expect to get more than MW. I'm on 50p more than that and I am responsible for peoples lives (care work.)

If you read other mumsnet threads lots of parents don't like their children having part time jobs because they want them to focus on their education "school is their job" etc.

Then the children are surprised when they graduate uni aged 21 and hiring managers dismiss them because they don't have any work history 🤔

I can understand if you've got a child who does a lot of extra curriculars at a high level, but otherwise most 16-18 year olds can manage 8 hours a week. pretty much everyone had some sort of part time job in sixth form and throughout university when me and my siblings were going through them (2004-2014 so not exactly eons ago!)

I don't think that this problem is specific to your friend. I saw on the news recently that lots of hospitality venues have been unable to open due to not being able to recruit enough staff. They said that a lot of people who used to work in hospitality have now found jobs in other industries.

I suspect that it's also down to inflation. The cost of everything seems to be rising significantly, but wages aren't .... yet.

Minimum wage isn't enough to live on anymore. Agree with what others have said about the huge influx of unskilled EU workers having kept wages in these industries stagnant for years. We might be about to see a change...

Before anyone moans about the £4.30, remember this is an alternative to college, where they would eat nothing

And this is why this sort of Apprenticeship is frankly bollocks. If you want a near full time worker, pay for it. Quit pretending that jobs require eons of training before someone can be competent.

I remember working in a newsagent 12-6 every Saturday and 12-5 every Sunday while I was at sixth form. Minimum wage. I guess fewer youngsters have a work ethic these days!

If you read other mumsnet threads lots of parents don't like their children having part time jobs because they want them to focus on their education "school is their job" etc.

Then the children are surprised when they graduate uni aged 21 and hiring managers dismiss them because they don't have any work history 🤔

it's not accurate at all.

Parents are well aware of the competition in the real world, and encourage their children to choose carefully.

It's the real world. Priority is given to people who worked 'smart". Any job is better than slobbing in front of your video games all weekend.
But relevant experience or more interesting experience gives an enormous advantage. They will still be in competition with 20, 50 other candidates with the same degree, the same experience!

Some kids start applying for internship, anything, nearly a year in advance to show how keen and interested they are!

It's nice if you worked in a little cafe down the road, or babysat for your neighbour, but honestly.. who cares?

thevassal I totally agree with you, my DS always managed to work part time, play sport at county level and do his school work and got into Uni - where he carried on with a part time job and lots of sports.

Unless you are studying Medicine or similar I think most students have time for a few part time hours, many of my DS's friends won't even get a part time job in the long vacations as they want to ''socialise' all the time and their parents seem happy to fund it .

I am very happy my DS has a strong work ethic, when part time jobs were hard to find at the beginning of the Covid pandemic he set up his own door to door car wash business.

It's funny how people on MN view wages. Precious DC's should not have to work for NMW and miss out on their exciting weekend socialising. Who works in care homes, national trust coffee shops, nurseries, preschools? Who serves your children school lunch, books your dental appointments, changes the bed sheets in your mini break hotel? All these people work for little over minimum wage, most work antisocial hours, do they not deserve more?

Totally agree with this. I worked throughout A Levels and uni, term times as well as most holidays, for shite money. I still managed to go out clubbing and see my friends etc. If you really have to, you make it work.

I would have though a 16 - 18 year old would do this

All these people work for little over minimum wage, most work antisocial hours, do they not deserve more?

It's irrelevant if they "deserve" more or not. Encouraging our own children to earn MORE or work towards a better CV is normal.

@LastOrdersMaura What you get paid is not really relevant though. I managed 100 members of seasonal staff in my last job - ticket staff, tea room, shop, visitor assistants. Predominantly teenagers and students, none paid the minimum wage. Minimum wage for under 18s is £4.50, I bet she could afford to pay more but doesn’t. If she can’t afford to pay more the business isn’t sustainable.

I worked at boots aged 15 in the mid 2000s, I was paid £5.70ish then. Why would teenagers want to go for minimum wages when they could get more.

@LastOrdersMaura

When you're young that's the only time you can work and socialise consistently! I used to go out every Friday and Saturday night, work 12 hour shifts in Neros all weekend and felt great! Woke up at some random house and shower, I don't know how many times I used to ask my colleagues 'do I smell like tequila?' It was the best!

Hmm, are you sure? I suspect your evenings out were quite tame then 😂😂 Both my DDs have worked for cafes (including Neros). They were really really really shite employers who didn’t employ enough staff and relied on young staff being too compliant. Both DDs had times where they worked several 12, 13 and even 14 hour days with almost no breaks at all. I am NOT exaggerating. They would have to open the shop and close the shop because there was no one else about to do it. They both would end up being underpaid for the hours they worked. (They were a So both shafted for tips but that’s another matter) I wouldn’t have put up with it personally. Luckily they both only did it as a stop gap job before their Grad jobs started.

I don’t think it’s snowflakey to be knackered after a 12 plus hour shift where you have been on your feet the entire time.

My DS wants to work, did go back to uni. however, because of covid he will finish a month later on his course than he did last year because studio work was not accessible. Employers in Wales do offer minimum pay plus if they have a good employee, but if university do not release you then what can you do.

My student offspring has just accepted restaurant work on Friday eves, Saturday lunch and Sunday eve. Lots of peers are working weekends.

However, students have been locked down and cooped up, maybe they want to do their bit as customers of the hospitality grade for a while.

Also, end of year exams are about to start - maybe they are revising and studying.

Friends daughter worked for Robinsons brewery in a pub, the tenant robbed them of all tips made them work crazy hours, sent them home after an hour if it was quiet so with bus fares they were on minus money. She went to work for an independent and earned more in tips in a day than she did in a month with the brewery

Other years kids started early earned money for a week in Ibiza whatever before uni. started. Well that may not happen for them this year.

Totally agree with this. I worked throughout A Levels and uni, term times as well as most holidays, for shite money. I still managed to go out clubbing and see my friends etc. If you really have to, you make it work

But who really has to? When you can have an Etsy shop or be an eBayer or get an after school babysitting job or do some tutoring or coach kids sport, who “really has to” make this job work. A supermarket is better than this. Literally McDonald’s is better than this. If the position you are trying to fill is worse than a McJob then you as the employer are the one who has to really make it work. You can lament until you are blue in the face about lazy good for nothing kids but you are not trying to sell this job to someone who isn’t looking for a job. You are trying to sell this job to someone who IS looking for a job and they are never going to buy it because they just don’t really have to make it work.

@Shadedog what are they selling on Etsy and EBay? These are mostly rich kids who are able to buy materials and have artistic hobbies.

But there will be sixth formers and students who live in the OP's friend's town looking for work. I am flummoxed that this is even an issue, to be honest. With a long summer ahead, and no real prospects of travel, a lot of teens will be keen to work and earn money before they go back to sixth form or uni.

They will want full-time jobs if possible, not weekend work. And they'll be off again in September.