To do this for my friend’s DD

[Mummyissleepy]

I’m a head of department in quite a large corporation. My department gets quite a lot of unpaid work experience requests from young people. I have always declined them due to the volume we get. However now my best friend’s DD has asked if I have any unpaid work experience opportunities in my team. Would I be unreasonable to break my own rule (of declining work experience requests) and offer her work experience in my team?

Also, if the young person is working for a friend/family member, they may well be more inclined to work harder - I know that I had a word with my two to remind them how lucky they were to be in such a position and they did not want to let the family friend/member down. All went well on each occasion.
Most recently, my ExH (we are amicable) partner recently took our mutual friend's daughter for work experience (TV media) - she worked hard and is extremely grateful.

To be honest, this is the problem.
You take on work experience from friends & family.
These then lead to apprenticeships.
Which then lead to jobs in the industry.

And then these exceptionally lucky people say things like 'i worked really hard to get here' and 'if I can do it anyone can' and probably have things to say about people on benefits too.

This thread is like a reverse of the post office thread where the OP gave the job to a kid who proved she could be hired despite her age, and turned down the applicant who had applied through their mum. That thread was heart warming. This one, not so much.

Also, you know the young person whereas you don't know those who send off emails to companies randomly as dictated by school/college/uni. If you trust them to be reliable, punctual and interested to learn about the business, it's understandable that you would give the opportunity ahead of all those you don't know.

I agree.
DD did WE with someone I knew. She suffers from Anxiety and I was worried she would struggle in a busy office environment and I said was she absolutely sure she wanted to do it because if she let them down it reflected badly on me as well.

Our work has a 1+1 rule - if we give work experience to someone who knows a colleague, then they also have to arrange a “+1” from a local school with no links to the firm.

I think it’s a great idea to combat nepotism, so you could give to your friend’s DD but then balance by giving to one other of the applicants you get.

As a PP said this is a truly depressing thread and exactly how inequality is perpetuated in the workplace. I would never do this. There should be an official channel to apply to work experience and the kids of friends and family should go through the same application route as everyone else. I used to have a job in a very desirable organisation and got asked by a few friends and acquaintances for a foot in the back door. I directed them to the company careers website every time.

@Mummyissleepy what sector are you in? If you're in the City I can recommend The Brokerage www.thebrokerage.org.uk/

Another amazing organisation is Drive Forward Foundation which works with care leavers to get them into work experience/training/employment.
driveforwardfoundation.org/

The benefits for a corporate of partnering with an organisation like this are multifold - access to talent, fulfilling community/CSR pledges, volunteering for staff at all levels, networking/opportunities for third sector or statutory collaboration.

Also if your EDI policy doesn't cover this I would suggest the firm's governance procedures are falling behind and require an update!

It’s this type of benefit that is the real one of private schools - the kids have better connections as the parents of friends are more likely to have jobs that might provide opportunities like this and they are more likely to normalise the higher paid professional jobs they see the parents as having as being “for the likes of them” and apply for them.

I’m not sure how you tell Business owners how they have to run their own Business.
As long as I’m not doing anything illegal I will run my business how I see fit and if that involves helping people who I may need help from then that’s what I will do.
I am not in a position to offer WE but I can offer help and advice and maybe one day I will ask for and get a favour in return. I don’t help people I know just to get something in return but it does mean if I need something I am more likely to get it.

The old boy network is alive and well
Do you work in Government @Mummyissleepy ?
It just doesn't sit well with me

Yes - 'social capital' that young people from less privileged backgrounds can simply never access, regardless of how hard they work.

As long as you do the same if someone for your team ask you l.

This.

I agree this is a depressing thread. Not least because of all the replies saying it's fine, presumably because they or their children have or will benefit from this.

Really stinks for those kids who will apply for things and be knocked back because it's been earmarked for someone with the right parents.

And that, right there, is structural privilege in a nutshell. The same reasoning has closed off opportunities to women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, people with disabilities, and people from working class backgrounds.

To other PP: of course you can run your your business as you see fit within the law, just don't complain if people call you out for shitty ethics.

And you can't possibly know how hard someone would have worked on a WE placement they were never allowed to do.

Great to see as a senior leader in an organisation you have such a fair and open view on equality. The fact that you know it is wrong and you won’t entertain other peoples requests you still don’t give a toss. What is even more laughable the kid can’t even apply herself, she has to getting mummy to arrange.

Do it. Technically my workplace doesn't offer work experience, but in practice I see it happening for family and friends. I think everyone does this because otherwise how would anyone get any meaningful work experience?

Morally that would not be an ok thing to do. As others says it just enforces the it's not what you know, but who you know, and perpetuates social immobility.

In the financial institution I work for this wouldn't be allowed.

YANBU but could you also speak to your HR team about setting up a formal work ex programme so that it's no limited to only friends of friends ?

Don’t do it, you shouldn’t be bending rules or giving special treatment to friends in the workplace, it’s unprofessional imo.

If you offered work experience to anyone who applied that would be completely different, I work in a hospital and we offer work experience to everyone, some coworkers then have their children or children of friends come for a day or two and I have no issue with that. But, if you refuse work experience requests from everyone then allow your daughter’s friend to do work experience it looks like you have no issue giving friends special treatment (which is true) which isn’t a great look for a manager imo.

I think you should do something to hep the community and offer work experience to more young people.
Can't you link up with a particular school or a few schools and offer experience just to them so you don't get heaps of requests to consider.
It seems unfair just to offer it to your friends child. Would you also offer it to your staff's children or their friends.

This.

I honestly wouldn't. It smacks of nepotism and an abuse of your position. Also I presume co-workers all know of your policy of saying no so it wouldn't take a genius to work out she was only there because she knew the right people.

What a load of rubbish. Why would a young person you know be better or more reliable than one you don't? By this reasoning, you'd never employ someone you didn't know.