To wonder if any other employers have struggled to fill positions?

[bitjel]

We have had NO interest in a couple of our roles for over a year and have even gone through then job centre (no help). Is unemployment so low ate the moment that there is no-one to fill roles?

There's also a massive shortage of school bus drivers in the U.S. Some school districts are paying $35 (27 GBP) per hour and still struggling to fill the jobs.

I think it may have something to do with the hours. It's a couple of hours of work in the morning, then a couple more hours in the afternoon. The time in between is unpaid, and finding another job to plug the gap would be hard.

Glad its not just us then.

Depends on pay and hours and if it's permanent. DH was looking for a new job some 3 years ago (as he was a bit bored with his current one at the time,) and EVERY job he applied for, was offering only 4-8 hour a week contracts.

They said, 'oh most weeks it will be at LEAST 13-16 hours, some weeks 25-30, but they would not guarantee any more than 4 to 8 hours a week. It's so they can keep you to your minimum hours when it suits them, and drag you in at their command when they're busy.

A LOT of employers do this and that is why they can't get the workers. Many people need real jobs with proper guaranteed hours. They don't want to be fucked about with the hours and the pay, and have their finances sent into a tailspin.

Similarly, I have seen a number of jobs advertised that only offer 8-10 hours a week and that's it. Who the fuck can survive on that? LMFAO!

I'm willing to bet that yours is the latter. A job offering a piffling amount of hours. Not many people want 8-10 hours a week work. That's not gonna pay the bills is it?! And as someone said, I am guessing basic pay, and stupid hours - like an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon 6 hours later. So the person doing it can't do anything else with their day.

This would only suit someone who is very solvent, doesn't need the money, doesn't do much with their life or go out much, and is quite lonely and wants the company. Also, someone who likes to get up at 6.30am every weekday! I personally don't know anyone who would fit this profile.

You sound quite angry. I get how frustrating it must be for people looking for work when there are only very part time/low hours roles available, but it isn't actually the OP's fault that a school doesn't need a full time minibus driver.

My husband is a school site manager and on of his caretakers does the mini buses. My husband is also trained so he does it when the caretaker is away. Can you use the site team?

I agree it will be the low hours and split shift nature of the role. Is it the same hours each week (not just number of hours but also timings)? Or will there also be the requirement for them to be available at other times e.g to take a class to the swimming pool once a week every week for a half term?

Is it something a local cab company can help with, or the local authority transport service? Is it something an agency could help with?

You don't though, or you'd have attracted someone, unless your business has a really awful reputation as an employer.

Recruitment is hard ATM. I've just tried to appoint to a £125k post and didn't get any good enough candidates. I did when I offered £140k.

At the other end, DS works for a coffee chain and they're having to offer well over minimum wage for entry level jobs, but they do get applicants when they do.

If the hours are difficult, then the role will need to pay a premium.

Ah. I wonder if you're local to me then, or if it's a national problem! People aren't applying because it's a part-time job that clashes with their own school run. Either they want a full-time role to live on, or they want a part-time role that can work around pre-existing commitments.

Would it be possible for you to make it a perk of the job that a mini bus driver got a place on the bus for one child of their own, so that the driver could drop off their child at school at the same time? That would make it possible for some people to apply who won't apply now.

Or, you need to change where you advertise, so the ad gets seen by people who don't want full-time hours, who aren't going to be doing a school run themselves.

It will be the hours and split shift nature. Also term time only so it will restrict holiday freedoms (many people without children prefer to have term time holidays as they are cheaper). Anyone with children it is school run time. It's a very restrictive job for low hours but split into a couple in the morning and a couple in the afternoon, vs low hours in a shop/cafe where it might be 8hrs in 2 4 hour shifts but its an afternoon or a morning chunk.

As a PP suggested, is there a way to offer to on site staff. I supplied at a school where the TAs/ cleaners/ lunch staff caretakers could do the bus as extra hours. So the morning mini bus run was TA staffed, the swimming transport was done by the caretakers/ cleaners/ lunch staff.

At our school the bus drivers are mostly quite old (sixties at a guess?). I don’t know obviously but it strikes me as a job you might do once you are retired and already have a pension and looking to keep active?

I think these low hours and therefore relatively low wage will become harder to fill as most people will need to work till late sixties now. Which can be very different to early sixties.

i noted one of school bus drivers mowing the lawn and doing general caretaker tasks, so might be an option to combine some roles to make a larger job hours wise and maybe more attractive?

Yeah this is a good idea, and I think our local school does this. It's so difficult to find someone who will just do 1.5 hours in the early morning and 1.5 hours six hours later. People do have a life, and as I said, they can't do fuck-all with their day if they're restricted to these weird hours. And as a pp said, it would be very hard to find a job to fill in the extra hours to boost your pay.

Same with dinner ladies IMO. I think they do very odd hours. Around 11.30am to 1.30pm Monday to Friday. So only 10 hours a week, and not very good pay, and again, can't do fuck-all with the day because they're restricted by these 2 hours plonked in the middle of the day.

Again, I think it would only suit people who don't have much else to do and who want the company. (Or it may suit someone who does a permanent twilight shift - like 4 til 10pm. (Then again, I would have thought they'd want to rest and chill in the day.)

Wouldn't suit me I have to say. Each to their own.

I think years ago, this would have been a nice little job for someone for some extra money or even enough to survive on.

Since wages haven't risen in line with the cost of living, a large proportion of the people who once might have been able to make do with that sort of job, now need to earn much more.

These low paid, short hours, term time jobs are much harder to fill than they were a decade ago.

It's a mixture of mums going back to work while DC are babies, whereas a school hours job used to be "extra" income for a family with a sahm, now mum was never at home. People working longer, so the "little" retirement job is less in demand, and the WFH explosion that means people can earn proper money flexibly.

We had TAs doing the school runs at the last school I worked at. It was extra hours for them making both the TA and the driving job more attractive.

Very valid points, thanks. I think our business manager is more likely to scrap the minibus and not offer this to parents. It's a shame but the money can be allocated elsewhere.

Fuck all pay and crappy hours that wouldn't be acceptable to the Jobcentre, never mind the person who has to live on that income, then.

That's why you aren't getting the applications.

This is what my dc’s school has to do. They essentially created a caretaker role, and included minibus driver in the duties. They couldn’t fill the vacancy prior to that either.

The company I work for is inundated with people wanting jobs.

It's not a 'real job' It is not likely to be able to actually provide someone with sufficient money/hours to pay their living costs.

I agree you need to 'bundle' it with another role to actually make it sufficient hours for someone - caretaking/cleaning/site management/gardening.

It is at best a part time 'pin money' job for someone who has no responsibilities and can already cover their living costs.

As said before you're looking at the already retired. Many of them do no want the responsibility of this sort of job as it interferes with them enjoying their retirement.

If you split it into a morning job and an afternoon job, and you were very lucky, you might find a pair of people to do it.

I'm thinking that a morning shift worker (e.g. 6am until 2pm) who wanted occasional work for right after their main job would do the end of school route, and someone else whose main job started after 10am could do the morning route.

If it hasn't been abolished yet, who's been doing it?

Back in the day people had to compete for jobs. Now employers have to compete for employees.
You might be offering a salary which is commensurate with the role and the skills but you have to compete with all the others who are offering.

On hold. We have 2 so one is running but I think they will scrap both from september tbh.

Wouldn't TAs be glad of the hours? Or Kitchen staff?

What is the pay?

What are the mini busses for? Are they to and from school transport or swimming/ school visit/ sports events transport?

If to/ from transport could you offer to school staff as extra hours plus guaranteed discounted or free breakfast club/after school club places for their DC? If in school hours perhaps offer as extra hours to cleaners/ caretakers/ dinner supervision staff.

The only schools I know offering to and from school transport are the private schools for a charge and one of the SEN schools. Most of the SEN schools use LA transport services.