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?

What's the company policy say?

Both my employer and DH offer work experience, as DH thinks it is good karma for our kids. It also means DH felt less guilt about contacting a client and asking them to give DS a few days in their office. The paperwork is a bit of a pain but as long as WE students are covered by the office insurance policy there shouldn't be a problem. DH speaks to the parent/guardian and says that their child won't be left alone with anyone except in an open plan office, everyone in the office has a basic DBS and that if that is not sufficient then the placement won't be able to go ahead. It has never been a problem - that's the advantage of being a small office with no HR department...

My friend who owns a stone masonry business manages to provide work experience and apprenticeships, despite all the paperwork and risk assessments. I don't see why a solicitors or accountants office should have such difficulty.

Client confidentiality?

....not forcing people into offices five days a week when you are more productive part of the time wfh, for example.

How can you offer WEXP if staff are not in the office? WFH must be a big part of the reason why there are fewer opportunities for WEXP.

They are crazily competitive though, as is the world of work right now so it’s a lesson to her if nothing else. She needs to keep trying and understand she might not find anything.

I was always the person who took WE at my very sought after media job. I got sick of it when year after year it was teens who didn’t even want to do my job and their dad/uncle/grandma was one of our C suite/ directors.

They just say there on their phones and said they’d rather do marketing

I think a lot of the issue is that many businesses are beyond lean in their resourcing and a lot of work experience type of activities have been automated or outsourced or offshored. I used to take undergrad work experience placements (we were unable to do under 18s due to the nature of the work) but I had a team of 5 and one of those was an entry level job that was relevant for an undergrad to see in action. I now have a team of 2, no entry level positions, and we are all stretched over the limit. We simply don’t have capacity to handle a placement. I do try and do outreach in different ways, so careers talks or similar through university careers centres.

Firstly, your daughter - any experience is good experience. It doesnt have to be related to their area of interest. Even answering calls or speaking to the public in retail is valuable as they are skills short in supply when young. So, yes, bring her inboard.

Secondly, like you, I offered WE because I believed in it. Dont stop these opportunties unless you stop believing in it or it does become too hard with risk assessments or other ethical issues like.confidentiality.

I think you are being a bit unreasonable, I'm sorry that your daughter hasn't been able to find work experience but it sounds like you're being a bit bitter about 'schemes' when in reality work experience for some children makes more of a difference than others, some kids have parents that aren't even in work and might not have support or university options. I'm guessing labs have numbers of people/DBS for safety reasons so meets the criteria but plenty of offices are quiet with quiet spaces and are not necessarily safe areas. I think you should take professional pride in what you're doing to encourage a younger generation into your field of work we need more of that not less but it can be genuinely harder to do that with some jobs more than others

No the OP isn't being unreasonable to be deflated that she, in good faith, has been pulling her weight and playing her part in a scheme/program that her DD (and many other DCs) cannot benefit from because the whole damn system is rigged and outdated

I think that in the current climate, sending school / college kids out to solicit work experience does the ones that need a leg up the most, the most harm.

This wasn't always the case, and hopefully won't be the case in the future, but it is the case in the current job market.

And what EXTRA sucks from the OPs POV is that the few kids that the OP helped out are probably being used by teachers who haven't been in the job market this decade, as examples to shame the other kids who are meeting brick walls after being sent out to "put themselves out there".

When my DS was applying for Work Experience in Yr 10 he approached a small local firm that he had identified on the Internet who did something he was interested in. They offered him a 1 week placement as their own daughter had struggled to get a WE placement the previous year and they knew how tough it was for young people to get such experience. We/he were really appreciative of their kindness and DS learned a lot from it.
With regards to your DD, whilst I'm all for kids applying and doing everything themselves, is this not a time to pull strings and call in favours from colleagues on the basis you work within the organisation? Sometimes needs must!

Work experience is getting so difficult to find post-Brexit. I used to be the careers lead in a secondary school and I placed 200 pupils each year. We had a database and I organised everyone's places - not everyone got what they wanted, but I genuinely had no issue finding places.
12 years later and I've had to help to organise a placement for my son. He could provide flawless references, has an excellent record from school, but we've really struggled to find a place. He wrote to over 20 businesses, and got all no's. He finally got a placement with a National Trust property.

It's such a shame that this is how things have gone.

It's been a very interesting set of opinions on this thread.

As I have said, I really hope that my joie de vivre in delivering inspiration to youngsters makes a comeback by next summer so that I can resume my annual work placement programme.

But seeing some PP telling me off for being selfish, bitter and short-sighted, for punishing students, for effectively being vindictive, and in particular the numerous suggestions that not only should I graciously continue donating my time and energy in my original offering but on top of that host educational colleague coffee-mornings and convene organisation-wide top-level operations in HR and PR? Honestly it's deflated my gloomy lack-of-enthusiasm/goodwill even further and punctured what I'd already thought was a rather empty tank.

"No good turn goes unpunished" eh?

@ItsallacademicI voted YANBU and very much can see your point of view, having done exactly this but for 6 weeks. You are entitled to feel everything you are feeling. Make concrete plans to take a year away from the whole process and give yourself a chance to reflect. Its tough enough to deliver work experience support without any joi de vivre or energy to fuel it. Maybe you have just done your share now and can step away.

None doubts thats its a valuable activity but I do wonder how many of the folk who voted YABU have ever actually offered work experience themselves? Or done career talks at schools or any other volunteer work? Its so easy to criticise and much harder to do.
Maybe schools and colleges need to rethink this activity. It must be really demoralising for the young people who try so hard but are unsuccessful in getting a place.

Work experience is getting so difficult to find post-Brexit.

What has Brexit got to do with it?

@NotInMyyName I agree with you on the work experience front I think if it's getting harder to do you have to look at the benefits. I kind of liked mine but it was nothing other than a week out of school, my next useful experience was at university which was far more valuable and funnily enough I don't think many university students get work experience unless they do a sandwich year. Most work experience students are just babysat. I do think that modern offices are far more difficult places for work experience as you need a laptop with software and security is so tight these days, you used to just do photocopying and filing but that rarely exists anymore either

@nomasyep, I also do work experience days for SEN teenagers, adapted to their needs. I also have two FTE interns on placement years.

What I refuse to do is set ridiculous criteria such as low family income because ultimately it's not fair on middle class kids who want to work hard and succeed off their own bats.

What I refuse to do is set ridiculous criteria such as low family income because ultimately it's not fair on middle class kids who want to work hard and succeed off their own bats.

It's tricky because nepotism is rife and it benefits the more affluent families.

I offered work experience to sixth form students at my ds' independent school when he was there. The school had a careers advisor who tapped up parents to provide work experience over the May half term. I did it because I was grateful that another parent would arrange for work experience for my ds, so it is fair I return the favour to another of his classmates.

It is quite a lot of work to make it is meaningful week for student but they are lovely so I don't mind. I get my team to give them a range of work and shadow others and take them out for lunch.

I have to say I stopped doing it once my ds left.

Now I offer 3 month internships in my department (compliance) over the summer to graduates under a national programme which matches graduates with disabilities to employers. I have to say that in my firm, I was the only one to raise her hand and continue to be the only one over the last 4 years!

I think it is important to send the elevator down to young people who are struggling to find jobs now. I was born at the right time and got a job and gained experience quickly. It feels good to be able to pay it forward. It is the right thing to do.

@blueshoes what’s the name of disability programme?

Change 100

It used to be run by a charity Leonard Cheshire but has recently been moved to come under Ingeus, which I think is profit-making.

I’ve voted YABU because you would then be as bad as those you are criticising. Investment in young people is essential 🙂

Well done @blueshoes, that is such a good thing you're doing!

@NotInMyyName I think you're probably right that I should take a break from offering work experience for at least a year or two. Thinking about it DD will be doing her A-levels this time next year and feeling stressed about results and uni. If I can negotiate extended leave, it might be nice for us to take a long trip somewhere as it may be our last proper family holiday.

Somehow the next few cohorts of 6th formers (and apparently every level of my massive organisation) will just have to manage without my essential yet bitter/vindictive/selfish/senseless service*

*Just to add further context which I didn't originally think was relevant to my OP but might make some posters feel slightly less hard done by, as part of my role and for which I am provided resources and do not have to go over-and-above with paperwork and risk assessments, I already provide year-round training placements and mentoring for undergrads, postgrads and new-career staff.