Having to wait for everyone's lifts after work

[Tired75643]

I'm a team leader in a pub, I regularly work the evening shifts and have to set the alarm and lock up once everyone has finished and left. Generally it'll be me and one other member of staff at the end of the night finishing, some drive home, some (like me) get taxis and wait at the back of the pub.
Recently we've had a couple of new staff start who rely on lifts from parents when they finish, the problem is they are waiting about 20-30 minutes for them once we're finished. Both are younger girls who don't feel safe waiting outside alone, which is understandable. I obviously can't lock the door until they're outside so I have to wait with them but this is adding half an hour onto my shift when I just want to get home and go to bed, my taxi only usually takes 5 minutes to get there.
I talked to the manager about it and his answer was just tell them to wait outside and go....but I really don't want to leave 19 year old girls on their own late at night when they don't feel safe. I also don't want to be waiting at work longer than I need to, unpaid, after a long shift.
I've tried telling them when it looks like they're half an hour away from finishing so they can call their lifts but there always seems to be a delay, and there's no guarantee what time we will finish so they can't set a specific time.
AIBU to ask my manager to either sort
something out with the staff members
or let me stay clocked in until I can actually lock up and find some extra tasks so I'm at least being paid to be there?

They are adults. This is not your problem to solve.

why dont you share a taxi home with them? youll each only have to pay 1/2 of the taxi and it will prevent anyone from waiting out alone.
it's true that it's not safe to wait alone at night and its caused by your own policy of not having a set time for their shift to finish.

As adults they can choose to:
learn to drive and sort own transport
book a taxi
ensure their parents are there when they need a lift

a few nights on their own, in cold/wrt weather they may Keane to book their lifts at the right time?

If the girls can't leave till their mum and dad are there to pick them up, make sure the parents know to be there at a certain time as the building will be locked and the girls will be standing alone outside.

If the girls are old enough to be working at night, then they're old enough to be sorting out their lifts.

Not your responsibility to babysit these girls - it's work not school. You have your own responsibilities and it doesn't include holding their hands.

You need to push back and tell them that you gave them plenty of notice to call their parents and get their lifts organised. Let them know that you will not be waiting after work from now on.

When I was their age I had a job and walked home mostly alone at 3am. Crazy now I think about it but I had to do it. I don't see the harm in those girls waiting outside for their lift but can't they wait out the front or somewhere lighter? Usually round the back of pubs etc is dark and gloomy! Now I'm in my 30s I would probably do what you do and wait, but I don't think it's fair on you long term!!

I worked in bars and hotels for 10 years, rarely ever had a set finishing time. I usually got finished after clean down etc, if I finished early it was a bonus but you are usually told its unsociable hours. It's just how most places work!

Have you worked in hospitality? It's explained during interviews that it's unsociable hours and you work to when you work.

No, I worked in bars and hotels for years, it was up to the owner whether they paid a taxi but it costs a fortune for taxis now and it's not sustainable! I never once got a taxi home, because it was a job I took so my responsibility to get home!

Exactly. You can tell who hasn't worked in hospitality.

Jesus H Christ, firstly these girls are completely taking the piss. You are not their mother. They need to find solutions that don't involve you.

Secondly, is the UK really now so dangerous that girls have to chaperoned every moment of every day?

I wouldn't be talking to any employees parents ....

I'd be telling the actual employees that "I can't wait outside with them again and they will have to wait alone if there are delays in future."

The adult employees should be telling their own parents this information... Why would me, their boss, be contacting employees parents about their family logistics??

everybody is so dismissive of the employees' safety--you'd feel differently if it was your own daughter.
if the pub has uneven unpredictable unsociable hours, then it is also the team lead's responsibility to deal with that, not just the teenage minimum wage employees.

As you're the team leader when these particular staff members are on duty, I think it would be acceptable to have a word with them before their shift and say that 30 mins before they are due to finish up, you are giving them permission to make a call/send a text advising their parent of the time to collect them. They finish at X hour, as do you.
By them not sending the text/phoning, they are extending your working time but you're not getting paid for hanging around.
They can do that, or they can expect to be standing around as the pub will be locked up at X hour (when you all finish your shift).

They are the two options available to them.

Do you allow them to use their phones towards the end of their shifts (30-45 mins before the end of the shift) to contact whoever they need to contact in order to arrange their lifts home?

I just wouldn't expect my adult child's boss to organise their safety/lift home/come and chat to me about logistics etc.
I'd expect my adult daughter to be competent enough to sort this out herself ...

The girls have asked her to wait. From one of OP’s posts:

”One in particular has been very vocal about not feeling safe waiting outside, the last time I really pushed and said I need to lock and go she looked really worried and started talking about different scenarios and safety issues etc.”

You need to tell them that you are not their mother and if they don’t feel safe then they need to find jobs closer to home so they don’t rely on someone waiting behind with them.

how can anyone organise an instant lift when they dont know when their shift end time is, regardless of how competent they are?

It’s still not OP’s problem.

You’ve already raised it with the manager and he’s said just lock up and go. So do that.
They are 19 yr old adults. If they don’t like standing outside they can arrange lift to come earlier/get a taxi or drive.
I’d from next week I’ll be locking up at end of my shift.
I bet one or two nights stood outside they’ll call mum sooner.

That's not 'asking the OP to wait'. That comment you picked up on, seem very much like a them issue, where they could resolve their unsafe feelings by contacting the person collecting them asking them to be waiting outside for them for when their shift ends, and not 30 mins after their shift ends. Where is the "Would you mind if I waited inside?" or "Can I wait inside please until my lift comes?" in that statement that the OP wrote? I must have missed it hidden in the 'different scenarios and safety issues' that was mentioned.

From the OP:

I've tried telling them when it looks like they're half an hour away from finishing so they can call their lifts

They’re in the wrong job then.
Or they need to learn how to drive and source their own cars.
Or organise and pay for their own taxis home, ensuring their taxis arrive when they need to leave without eating into OP’s personal unpaid time.