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?

Recruitment for weekend jobs or worst including weekends is traditionally awful. People do not want to work weekends.

Exactly, retiring early, too much to be working so much sat and sun, nearly all the time.
Gone extra money on Sunday’s too

It's not just weekend work that is a problem. I'm recruiting for about 60 full time roles at the moment and it's incredibly hard. I've never known it so bad.

Plus most students have not had vaccines yet so may be nervous about taking customer-facing roles
This is a massive factor at the moment. Loads of people are choosing alternative work that doesn’t involve putting their health at risk. Even if it’s lower paid, the safety aspect makes up for that.

Ugh. I’d detest those shifts, always hated middle turns. Takes up the whole day and you have no weekend at all.

I applied for a job in a library at a uni a few years ago; there were two roles, one sort of standard-ish office hours with one late night. The other was more evenings and every weekend. Would have totally buggered up every day you worked as you couldn’t do anything else.

Years ago I used to work all day Saturday on a market stall (9-5) and then in a shop on Sunday (9-1). Even at 17 I was gutted to only have one half day to myself.

Weekends are much busier in restaurants and hotels, it's when a lot of hospitality businesses make most of their profits. Someone working a weekend is far more likely to be run off their feet than on a weekday so I don't think it's that big a leap to suggest higher pay on weekends.

My partner worked in a foodie pub while he was at university a few years ago. He did a split on a Sunday (very rarely ever actually managed to not work in the break though, so 10am - 11pm) and would be rushed off his feet all day. It was constant. He did more covers on a Sunday than they had in Monday - Friday and yet was paid minimum wage AND they switched tips to pro-rata so got shafted on those as well.

He said he'll never work Sundays for minimum wage again, and I don't blame him.

@tracker222

It's not just weekend work that is a problem. I'm recruiting for about 60 full time roles at the moment and it's incredibly hard. I've never known it so bad.

I think younger people not being vaccinated is probably a factor

Also, it's a tough job in good times but with all the extra measures in place, it must be even harder.

All the people who blame Brexit - so you think it's fine that the cafe owner isn't paying a decent enough wage for Brits but that if it hadn't been for Brexit that same shitty wage would be fine for Eastern Europeans? Isn't that incredibly racist?

She needs the right kind of applicant. Is she just looking for weekend staff? A lot of people need more hours than that. DH works at the weekend in hospitality but he doesn't just work at the weekend. He still needs a full time job.

Whats the reputation of the coffee chain like? My best friend worked at a well known coffee house during uni and described it as slave labour and had a scalding hot coffee thrown at her by shitty customers at least once a shift enduring that for £8 an hour? no thanks

Also minimum wage sucks. DH has been working as a chef for 20 years now and due to the pandemic has had no choice but to take w minimum wage job. A lot of companies seem to be paying less round here because people are desperate.

@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.)

I think there will be plenty of teenagers /young people who would want this job. Your friend is simply not 'reaching them' with her adverts.

Oh and they expected her to be onsite an hour before her shift (unpaid of course)

The 18 year olds I know make far more than min wage through babysitting and selling things online. Some do social media and tutoring. Far better paid. There are far more options for earning cash now than in our day!

Minimum wage for an 18 year old is £6.45. At the hours advertised thats £77.40 a week before deductions.

She's advertising in the wrong places - she needs to try stuff like local FB groups. She may well end up with local sixth formers. Uni students are about to go home for the summer. Sixth formers aren't looking at Indeed.

Cafe here advertised and the local 16yos were fighting over the jobs.

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?

It is perfectly possible to be campaigning on both (and more issues). This particular conversation is bout minimum wage hospitality jobs.

It sounds like shit conditions, tbh, OP. As plenty of others have said, split the days and increase the pay (and/or conditions).

What amuses (astounds? astonishes?) me in this type of conversation is why people are surprised that these vacancies aren't being filled. A basic grasp of economics coupled with a bit of current affairs knowledge will fill in all the blanks. So including, but not an exhaustive list: lack of vaccinations, rubbish hours, rubbish money, having to deal with shitty public, Brexit, pandemic, job insecurity meaning people aren't moving around.

One of the things that never fails to get my blood boiling is the insistence that poor people must be encouraged to work (for low pay) by reducing the amount of money they get in benefits or wages, whereas to attract good CEOs you have to pay an obscene amount otherwise they won't do it. Hopefully this situation is an indication that the tide is turning: when things are scarce they get expensive. Currently that seems to apply to hospitality staff. Are we seeing an increase in pay? nope. Good luck finding staff then.

It is notable that one of the things that improved the lot of peasants in (i think) the 14th century was the fact that the farm workers and drudges etc were decimated by the black death (nobles too but maybe not so much as they weren't all packed in hovels like sardines) and as a result they could negotiate better pay and conditions to till the fields and so on for the nobles. Maybe Covid-19 will be our black death?

@LemonRoses

That’s Brexit for you....

Just what I was thinking.

And my dd does weekend bar/cafe work, she started at 18yo with no experience and was on more than NMW for an 18yo. She got paid at the top adult rate...25yo?

I've worked weekends for 20 years, on a roster. I'm used to it. I don't get extra at weekends, just one salary. I like days off the week, I get more done! And I see my teenager more!

I think unless the job pays a Living Wage OPs friend is going to struggle to find anyone. Brexit has made it harder for Europeans to live here, students are at home studying and British born folks either like their weekends off or it has to be worth their while,

I was speaking to a friend who owns a couple of restaurants. An impact of Covid has been that a number of his staff have moved on- finding life easier outside of catering than in it. I understand this to a degree as it is a hard way to earn a living. She is getting people in, but is working harder to do so, with more local advertising, agency usage and word of mouth from some of the sixth formers/Uni students.

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?

Go and ask a dentists receptionist or a hca or a chambermaid if they want to jack it all in for a 2 weekend 10-4 shifts and see what they say. This is a job in an unhip dept store for a kid whose alternative is either better pay or better hours or (probably) both.

There’s obviously something not appealing about hours or wage. If it’s full day Saturday and Sunday it’s too much for a sixth former . Maybe advertise as 2 x 1 day jobs. Occasionally 2 days. Benefits would be cover if one ill or on holiday.

Oh how I can relate! I work for a large retail store and we cannot get the staff. Everyone’s availability is something ridiculous like “4-8 Monday-Wednesday” and NO weekends! I thought students would love weekend work as it’s easy money and the hours are always decent. I’m only 22 myself, granted I’m an assistant manager but it’s so strange to me as I would’ve jumped at any opportunity to gain experience- whether that was working weekends or any other shifts they needed.

Yes to trying Facebook or Instagram for reaching potential employees that’s what small businesses do near me.