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?

It's difficult to recruit across the board right now.

If nobody wants to apply it's because it's not attractive to them.

Does the ad make it sound enjoyable or is it a list of "must be reliable, punctual, responsible, flexible" and sound more like a ransom note?

Tell them why they want to work there.

And don't insist on both weekend days. It's a big ask. And she'll get desperate rather than willing.

@LastOrdersMaura The minimum wage for 25+ has not kept up with inflation for decades at this point, let alone for teenagers!! Expecting people to work weekends for £6.15 an hour (or even £8.21 which is for 25+) is ridiculous!

If nobody thinks their time is worth that little, it's the responsibility of your friend to pay a wage that kids these days believe their time is worth. Good on them if you ask me! So many of us work for a pittance of what we deserve

-Jeffeine

I love working at the weekend. I've never liked working to a school week. Seeing people live for the weekend and having the Sunday blues like many threads have mentioned before seems a strange thing to want.

@InTheMiddle23

I love working at the weekend. I've never liked working to a school week. Seeing people live for the weekend and having the Sunday blues like many threads have mentioned before seems a strange thing to want.

Well, yes, but if you work on the weekends, surely you get the Sunday blues on Friday. The Sunday blues just transfers to whatever day it is before you have to get back to work.

When i was a sixth former we all had saturday jobs. These days a lot of businesses want them to do more than one day, while schools advise them not to do more than 8 hours, so it is really hard for them to find something. Is your friend insisting on them working both weekend days rather than one or the other?

@LemonRoses

"Our youngest got a well paid internship off her own back. We had no connections in that industry. It allowed her to get a graduate training post with one of ‘ big 4’ - again, we have no connections. It was on merit and academic results."

Very impressive. That's what my brother did. We have zero connections and he applied and got an internship at one of the largest financial institutions in the world and then they offered him a job straight after the internship. Those are extremely hard to get to though!

[quote XelaM]@LemonRoses

"Our youngest got a well paid internship off her own back. We had no connections in that industry. It allowed her to get a graduate training post with one of ‘ big 4’ - again, we have no connections. It was on merit and academic results."

Very impressive. That's what my brother did. We have zero connections and he applied and got an internship at one of the largest financial institutions in the world and then they offered him a job straight after the internship. Those are extremely hard to get to though![/quote]
Clearly not that hard if ours both managed it, perhaps? Ours is bright and hard working, but not exceptional. The main thing is, she applied.

Heard of Brexit?

@InTheMiddle23

I love working at the weekend. I've never liked working to a school week. Seeing people live for the weekend and having the Sunday blues like many threads have mentioned before seems a strange thing to want.

But the Sunday blues just switch to the Friday blues, surely? Unless you absolutely love your job and never get that feeling of "dread" about going back to work.

@InTheMiddle23

I love working at the weekend. I've never liked working to a school week. Seeing people live for the weekend and having the Sunday blues like many threads have mentioned before seems a strange thing to want.

Presumably you don’t have children?

Can’t imagine anything worse - I’d completely miss out on quality chilled time with my children if I worked weekends

YANBU, absolutely no one wants weekend work and this was before the pandemic and Brexit so they are not to blame. I'm a manager in a supermarket and our website clearly says the working hours available for every vacancy yet we still get people coming to interviews and trying to negotiate Monday-Friday. We also get time wasters who have no intention of taking the job and will try and talk their way out of it in the interview because they just need to put the interview in their work journal for the job centre. It's extremely frustrating trying to recruit for weekend positions and we pay over minimum wage and everyone gets the same regardless of age plus an enhanced premium on a Sunday. For the jobs advertised with no weekend working we get hundreds of applications for every position, I suppose it comes down to how desperate people actually are for money and if their time on the weekend is more precious than a wage.

It's exactly the same with my role.

24 hours over a weekend, decent pay for the city. Easy work.

Really struggle to recruit anyone due to it been a weekend.

@brondary if they are under 18 they have to have a break by law if they'll be working 10-4, anything over 4.5 hours and they should have a 30 minute break. Young workers actually are entitled to more breaks than someone over 18.

[quote RightYesButNo]Plus I agree why would you want to mix with the general public for minimum wage if you’re unvaccinated. I think the young people should’ve been vaccinated 1st really.

@Peanutbutterandbananatoastie We have a case study for this, unfortunately: Bulgaria. They vaccinated everyone who was “pertinent to the economy” first, not who was most likely to be killed by COVID. Result: it’s one of the top seven countries with the highest COVID death rates in the world. Our UK rate rate of death from COVID for those 70-89 is about 124 in 100,000. Theirs is 421 in 100,000. Here’s a great article about what happens when a country vaccinates the young (and others) first.

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/20/putting-economics-over-ethics-is-a-dismal-vaccination-strategy-bulgaria-shows-why[/quote]
Top 7? It’s 7th.

It’s daily cases are 1/10th what they were in the last peak and still falling hard.

The U.K. cases are are about 1/30th what they were in the last peak, but have stopped falling.

It will be very interesting to see whether the U.K. cases rise (due to younger populations not being vaccinated) and if Bulgaria’s cases continue to fall (due to younger populations being vaccinated).

At this point it looks like it’s 1.0 to U.K. vs Bulgaria. But they also are not a wealthy country with a vaccine developed in house.

I’d argue they’ve done well. Sure it sucks for the olds, but in the long run their younger (and older generations) may be better off.

It is a tie if your kids young. Those hours wouldnt be great. I temped. I did mid week. But maybe it suits some people weekend hours

Also they have vaccinated 10% of their population, with the U.K. vaccinating about 55%. I think check back in a few months and see who is in a better position moving forward.

@ChunkyMonkey2020

It's exactly the same with my role.

24 hours over a weekend, decent pay for the city. Easy work.

Really struggle to recruit anyone due to it been a weekend.

Isn't that 2x 12 hour shifts though? Why would anyone want to do that over a weekend?

@ChunkyMonkey2020

It's exactly the same with my role.

24 hours over a weekend, decent pay for the city. Easy work.

Really struggle to recruit anyone due to it been a weekend.

How much per hour?

I earn £15 per hour as a nurse during the week or £18 Saturday £22 Sunday . So I do prefer weekends sometimes.

@Minnicu

I earn £15 per hour as a nurse during the week or £18 Saturday £22 Sunday . So I do prefer weekends sometimes.

After tax?!

@PattyPan

Working in a cafe adds nothing to your cv as a student

I don’t understand your insistence that coffee shop/retail jobs add nothing to a young persons CV. I’m sure my kids all included theirs on their CVS and I know my daughters referred to their various jobs during interviews. Their jobs gave them plenty of interesting material to answer any ‘transferable skills’ type questions for starters.

Why is it so difficult to recruit?

Due to there being a shortage of hospitality workers and to many jobs.

perhaps your friend needs to look at offering a higher wage for weekends, or perks for weekend shifts

@Egghead81 Yes I have children. Full time, but hours are flexible. Some earlys, some lates, we often do things straight after school. Partner is the same, so we've saved loads on childcare over the years. Lots of juggling but it works well, and it's often just a few days until the next day off.

But the Sunday blues just switch to the Friday blues, surely?

no, Ive worked Friday night, Saturday back to back shifts before and never had the Thursday blues

gone out Saturday night and lay in bed all day Sunday knowing ive got till Friday before I go back to work..that was great

I am absolutely staggered by so many of the answers on here.

All my dc, their friends, their University peers, their 6th form peers, my nieces, nephews have all worked in these sorts of jobs, and know, and fully expect to be paid NMW.

We must live on a different planet from so many posters.
Why would you expect to be paid more than min wage for a job that doesn't need any qualifications or experience, and minimum skill level ? There is no 'danger money' needed nor 'unsocial hours'.

I do think there would be more applicants for a shift either on a Saturday or on a Sunday - ie, two people to cover the weekend. If you are at school all week, or have a lot of study at University, then committing to both days at the weekend is probably a bit much.