British Workers Wanted

[SinisterBumFacedCat]

Anyone else watching this? Can't get over the amount of time the owners of the temp agency spend having a fag in the door way!

Just caught the end of it... I might record it on plus one and watch tomorrow.

Im watching. They’re a pair of twats arent they? They’d be shit to work for and with.

Oh my god just watching it now on catch up.
I fucking hate small business owners who can't run their business without relying on low paid and over worked staff. If you can't afford to do it with decency then you can't afford to do it at all.
Those women are revolting especially the older one.
Any the younger one 'I voted for brexit and now I'm worried I'm losing all my cheap foreign staff'
Still, there's a steady stream of young British apprentices to exploit next.
Ffs.

I thought James was fit to burst when he saw all those “forrin” faces coming into the agency

Sounds like a goady title.

Is it as bad as I'm assuming?

Must be bad if the telegraph thinks it's dubious;

www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/11/16/british-workers-wanted-felt-like-opportunity-missed-discuss/

Which channel please?

Yes it was a comedy show really. I wouldn’t bother looking for it but if you must, channel 4.

Channel 4 10pm

Megalolz at the Torygraph calling the women a 'likeable' pair, that woman was a workplace bully and the other one, sacking that boy and then putting on a babygirl voice and asking him to still come and meet him for fag breaks!

Meet *her.

sacking that boy and then putting on a babygirl voice and asking him to still come and meet him for fag breaks!

Oh that was so cringey!! She is pushing 50, does she really think that 17 year old is flattered by her pretence? He couldn’t give a fuck about you, he has actual 17 year old girls he can go and smoke with.

I just watched this on catchup. I agree with the Telegraph, it was an opportunity missed in lots of ways. The fact that they both voted for Brexit for example, despite running a business that relied on Eastern European staff - the filmmakers never asked them WHY they voted for Brexit! That was such an obvious question to ask and they didn't ask it.

Also, another obvious question that was never asked - if employers aren't paying enough to attract Brits now, will they be forced to pay more after Brexit when there are fewer EU migrants willing to work for less? To what extent was James right when he said that so many Eastern Europeans willing to work for less than living wage was "ruining things" for the British workforce?

I'm a Remainer but even I felt that this programme didn't do much to further the anti-Brexit cause.

It was funny and annoying.

I actually considered moving to Bognor after watching it, as it seems there's loads of work there. Where I live people are a bit more desperate for paid employment. I wouldn't mind working for those agents either, as my boss is far worse.

Think the young lad they tried to employ in the office made a great point about the lack of training on the job, one minute shouting at him about stuffing envelopes, the next announcing shop front communal fag breaks. I temped a few years ago and I would have been dubious of an agency where I would have to enter through a cloud of smoke or induction days with alcohol. Goes to show how times have changed in the job market over the last 10 years. The owner Gaenor was just a bully who turned up when she liked and harped on about "grafters". I hope James gets over his problem with "foreigners", working all week and living on a £1 Tesco burger a day, poor guy.

I don't watch it in principle. I am sick to the back teeth of hearing how lazy British people are - I work like a crazy woman, and so do all my friends.

More than likely a company struggling to recruit pays shit wages and has a very much deserved reputation as being unbearable to work for. Why should we feel sorry for these companies - they sure as hell don't feel sorry for their employees they treat like shit.

FWIW I voted remain.

The only message I got from it was that far too many employers are happy to exploit desperate people so they can pay as little as possible. They try to dress it up as British people being lazy and entitled but it’s nothing to do with that. People are just demanding a fair wage.

I am sick to the back teeth of hearing how lazy British people are - I work like a crazy woman, and so do all my friends.

Yes, it's a trope (which autocorrect is determined to change to "tripe") that's suddenly ubiquitous but it's (ahem) lazy stereotyping.

It's really frustrating because it was just a program of soundbites. Lots of the Brits asked said that £7.50 an hour wasn't worth getting out of bed for, but we had no context for them saying that - did they already have a better paying job, were they students who didn't really need to work, or were they on benefits and somehow managing to avoid applying for jobs even though I thought they were pretty strict on that now.

The only message I got from it was that far too many employers are happy to exploit desperate people so they can pay as little as possible. They try to dress it up as British people being lazy and entitled but it’s nothing to do with that. People are just demanding a fair wage.

^This is all that needs to be said. If you want to live ok - that is not in a bedsit with 5 other people and eating £1 burgers for lunch ...

When you actually look at the numbers it's no wonder they can't find anyone

£7.50p/h x 35h week = £262 per week before tax (which I guess would be minimal). Glancing online, a single room in a flatshare in Bognor Regis seems to be £100 per week. So that adds up more or less, thought rent takes a big chunk of wages, let's say you had £150 per week left for everything else: transport, food, phone bill, clothes, having a life etc. But...

...since these are all temp contracts I imagine there is no sick pay, and if you take holiday you earn nothing. Plus some weeks you will not be able to get a full week's work because it won't be on offer. So effectively you are bound to accumulate debt some weeks or maybe even a lot of weeks. You're going to be constantly chasing your tail existing on such narrow margins. No wonder that guy was living on a £1 burger per day.

Really these kinds of jobs are only suitable for students who want to work when it suits them, or people who are just looking for a few hours here and there to top up income around being a SAHP or having another part time job or whatever.

£262 gross people is apparently £241.23 after deductions. It's meagre;

www.uktaxcalculators.co.uk

Per week, not "people".

I think there's just this vague idea that the WCs manage "somehow". But presumably they managed historically because pay was higher and, perhaps more significantly, housing was much cheaper and more easily had. Since that state of affairs started to seriously disintegrate, there's been the tax credit Elastoplast, which is now also shrinking and being abolished,

(I still can't decide whether to watch the programme or not )