AIBU to stop offering work experience?

[Itsallacademic]

Background: I work for a very large employer with many departments, my particular role involves specialised laboratories and equipment. For the past several years, I have offered work experience placements to 6th form students within my team (usually lasting a week or two). While this does require additional paperwork and specialised risk assessments, I felt it was worthwhile both to inspire the next generation and to contribute positively to the organisation’s wider profile.
Current situation: I now have a DD in Yr12 who is trying hard to secure summer work experience. Importantly, her subjects are not related to my area of work. DD's college regularly shares information about work experience opportunities, but due to our family’s income level/education level/postcode/etc, she is eligible for very few of the schemes. She has applied for everything she can but has not been successful so far.
So, I suggested that DD contact other teams and departments within my organisation assuming that there would be colleagues offering placements in the same way I have. However, every response so far has been negative - most say the organisation does not offer work experience at all, often citing H&S even for departments that are just office-based (obviously, as I work at the same employer, I know exactly what paperwork is required so I know this is not true).
My AIBU: This has left me wondering whether I have been overly generous all these years. Providing work experience for under-18s is time-consuming, comes with administrative burden and does require resources. I had always believed I was doing something worthwhile and contributing as a responsible member of the organisation. However, it seems that very few, if any, others are doing the same - basically they can't be bothered?
I have told DD that she is welcome to do her work experience in my team, even though it is not directly relevant to her studies (and perhaps it won't look so positive on her CV to have worked with her mum). But after this summer, I am seriously considering "closing shop" and declining any future requests from 6th form students. AIBU?

This 👆. Re. your daughter’s situation, remember work experience doesn’t need to be directly relevant to her current studies, university course or career aspirations- the soft skills she may gain in teamwork, admin, customer service etc will be useful to add to her CV whatever she ends up doing, so it might be useful for her to widen the net of who she’s approaching. Smaller companies might have fewer processes to go through than larger ones. When I did work experience many years ago it was with a small museum, and the two French exchange students we hosted found places at a toy shop and an estate agent, respectively.

I work in a local authority. I organised work experience in my team every year. When it was my son’s turn, I asked the planning team if they would give him work experience as he was considering planning as a uni option. Local govt had serious problems recruiting planners. They really couldn’t be arsed to do it. So sadly I’ve stopped being so helpful too. Shame as it was useful for a few kids.

I see. Do you enjoy having them? I have a friend who is an engineer and now limits work experience to 3 days.

I get it.

I take work experience and summer interns into my team every year, having to personally work an extra 5 hours or so per week on top of already long hours to make it happen.

We are categorically not allowed to arrange work experience for our own children with in the firm, and DC were not successful securing it anywhere else despite dozens - perhaps hundreds - of applications and phone calls.

I would be annoyed to discover no other departments were doing it and alleging company policies that don't exist to explain their decision. But I guess it's optional and they CBA with the paperwork.

You'd hope as you work there on a senior role and offer it yourself, that someone like the office manager or facilities or admin or something would be able to accommodate your daughter even if it's just answering phones/emails or data entry? But maybe they are oblivious to the amount of them you have been taking.

But I don't think you should stop doing it. The fact the others do not makes it all the more important that someone in your firm does. Maybe you could get a WE to help deal with the admin and paperwork of taking on a WE?! Daft as it sounds.

My year 12 is trying to find WE. 6th form have offered little guidance (outdated link, “ask friends and family”).
I don’t think they understand that very few places will take u18s.
Thank you to those that do offer it.
I guess it’s their first experience of just how dire the employment situation might be for them.
He couldn’t even get a p/t role for the parish council sweeping leaves as the guy supervising would need an enhanced DBS. Easier to hire/support adults.

That sounds incredibly unfair! Your poor DC.

My daughter ended up in nursery, it was horrendous, she wasn’t allowed out of building and the lunch area had a nappy bin in it. A boy ended up at a garage and he was locked in a cupboard as a joke, there were very few options available as everyone throws the H&S card.

I stopped doing it because of all the hassle (they wanted me to attend an in-person safeguarding session…) - but primarily because the teens that turned universally didn’t really give a toss.

None had any interest in the industry we worked in. It was really odd, actually, I’d have thought the school would have managed to find a student with even a vague interest.

Ended up being two weeks of babysitting with no obvious benefit for either party. A real shame.

I do worry. Our local plumber and garage have just stopped taking apprentices. Both have cited the combination of time-consuming bureaucratic paperwork, a demand they be paid minimum wage when they aren’t actually doing any work of value and need supervising, the increase in employee NI and public liability insurance of around £1,500 per apprentice per year.

They used to be. My Dad got me work experience through his contacts many years ago. Now as the OP is saying, everything is now so difficult to the point of no one being able to do a friend/neighbour a favour and organisations hiding behind Health and Safety and GDPR to do nothing.

To the posters on this thread who offer work experience - thank you. It’s becoming extremely difficult for young people to secure we so I hope the tide turns and more employers become open to offering it.

my DD did work experience at a council. She was fascinated by the projects she got involved and she took pride in the work she delivered while there. She was in the legal department and subsequently got permission from school to attend some court cases in the area she’d been involved with at the council. Work experience was a great opportunity for her, although she’s since decided not to go into law.

I do wonder if compulsory work experience placements will just become a thing of the past as it's so difficult now to find placements. I do think though that some organisations use H&S and insurance as an excuse rather than it being a genuine reason. DH has his own engineering company and employs about 20 people, and they have 2-3 school WE placements every year, plus day release engineering students from college and sometimes uni holiday WE placements as well. There are usually on any day of the year 2-3 additional people there who are not on salary, and are there for education or experience. It is an engineering company with heavy machinery, moving parts and a lot of general work-related risk, and he has insurance, risk assessments, relevant people have DBS checks, and it is all approved H&S wise. If he can do it - small company, minimum margins, risk inherent in the work, then it's hard to believe that larger organisations simply can't make it happen.

I think a lot fell by the wayside when a lot of office work went hybrid and WFH, because a lot of office admin type work doesn't happen in the same way anymore. The company I work for has 5 large office buildings in the UK but now only 1 receptionist operating them all virtually, nobody doing photocopying//printing/filing and those sorts of low skill admin jobs.

It's probably done to widen participation and to target support towards disadvantaged students.
We all know that students from higher-income households are more likely to have access to family contacts, professional networks etc.
An internship may specify the demographic it wants to support if it is funded.

Could you email (from your work address) the manager of that department, and ask on behalf of your daughter? You may get a different response. I had to do similar to get one for my eldest.

Somebody earlier in the thread asked if I enjoy doing the work experience, it's a bit hard to say because depends very much on the students I get. Mostly they've been enthusiastic and interested and make me feel happy to share my knowledge, but occasionally I've had a grumpy grunty phone-staring one and I can't lie, those have made me feel like throwing in the towel.

After this year's difficulties for DD, I'm mentally back in the throwing in the towel space. I just hope I can muster up some enthusiasm and goodwill for next summer, because I certainly don't owe anybody the benefit of 6th form placements.

I get really cross about situations like this.

We all know schools require kids to get work experience in y10.

We all know unis and employers expect it too. But it gets where no one will do it so the only people who can access it are privileged young people who have a relative in a decent job that can be convinced to have them in.

I'm part of a group at work who take work experience people on a rotation - we each take them for a day. We've tried before to extend the group to cover more areas and have found it depressing how few people are willing to allow an enthusiastic young person to shadow them for a day.

We need to encourage our young people more. They are the people who are going to be funding our state pensions and NHS care in 20 years time.

I am very tempted to do so, DD doesn't want me to. But also it would be twisting my colleagues' arms when they've already clearly signalled that they don't want to. Which would be hypocritical of me when I'm feeling like I no longer want to.

I think it’s great that you recognise the importance of work experience and the students you provide it to are very lucky to have you so it would be such a shame to stop it, especially when it is so hard to fine it.

For accountancy has your daughters looked at the official schemes offered by the big 4 and mid tier firms? It might not be full weeks at that age but they normally do schemes for a day of shadowing etc that can help get a foot in the door and lead to more later.

Whilst I fully understand your view - with a career in Science of 13+ years (just left for a change now!) I will say this.
I got a weeks placement in Y12 in a lab and it was the best thing ever for me. It really helped and opened up exposure which ultimately led to my career.

I always took over the work experience placements in our labs and enjoyed it. I liked to see the passion they brought and enjoyment. It reminded me of why I loved Science myself.

Whilst you are 100% going above and beyond for people - even though it feels thankless given your DD can’t secure a place herself.

I thank you, I am grateful because without people like you- I wouldn’t have had my career I did ❤

On the other side as a mum, yes it feels so irritating that people don’t want to help other kids. Hopefully she finds something! Even working with you is better experience than no experience!

I think it is difficult for employers. I used to do what you did. 3 years ago a woman arrived when we were very busy (luxury service environment) and started screaming at me because her precious 18 year old had been asked to make drinks and tidy up. She expected him to be trained to do our work, which requires a degree and 2 post grad qualifications 😂. Then last year a work experience student who'd done well and gained a lot of valuable knowledge and experience wrote to me afterwards and complained saying he thought he'd be paid or at least given an Amazon voucher (??!!). When I explained how much it cost to run the experience he reverted saying I was wrong 😂
People have changed a lot and I am not doing it any more. It is a huge amount of work, and a risk, and I cannot invest in such entitled silly attitudes anymore!

Has your daughter looked at construction? A lot of contractors and consultants offer work placements, and her skills sets could well fit in with civil or structural engineering.
It might give her further opportunities to contact companies, look at projects going on near you to get some company names she could approach.

She won't have to disclose that you're her mom on her CV

I feel your pain OP. I set up a work experience scheme when I got annoyed by the number of employees' DC coming in and felt it should be available to less well-connected kids. Ha! What an eye-opener. I have never had such a stressful, exhausting week. The students were lovely but I was a nervous wreck trying to make sure they had the best week ever. I toned it down a bit the following year.

It sounds like being a big organisation, if people haven’t done it before they’re making assumptions that the organisation doesn’t do it

You've highlighted that your DD is struggling to get a placement so by not doing any future placements you’d be adding to the problem that you’ve identified

If you haven’t capacity or just don’t want to do it going forward, there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’d stop for that reason rather than because colleagues in your organisation don’t do it