Do young adults in the UK not want to work?

Bernadette60614

I don't think it is that many people today don't want to work, I think that it is that many people today don't know how to work.

The best success I have had with hiring is hiring first generation kids..usually the parents have jobs which require incredible hours and low pay and the kids are expected to care for everything at home and serve as translators..those kids grow up working.

_Zardoz_

I am very fortunate in that I have a business that is relatively successful in the UK

This last few weeks I have been holding interviews to fill a position..the wage is only slightly above minimum wage, but, it is a little above.

I am looking to train this person up into a better skill.

I have not been looking for a rocket scientist or brain surgeon, just someone that would seem to have reliability and some work ethic.

5 people never bothered to turn up for the interviews...3 were late... 1 had the mother phone up to make an excuse.. a few people turned up wearing jeans....2 people actually told me they had to come for the interviews or they would lose their entitlement to social security benefits...

I was hoping to try to help someone from benefits into the workplace. Is it that young adults do not want to work?

Obviously because you have come across a few that do not want an opportunity that you have offered means that all of them are like that doesn't it? Maybe the attitude you have projected has caused these problems as assuming that everyone is the same is a rather close minded.

dbmata

for the TL;DR crowd...

this thread is:
I have been getting such ****ty candidates for jobs. The ones that have gotten through to the interview round are wasting my time and don't want to work. What's wrong with people?

50 posts of, OMG you are so terrible. BLARG BLARG BLARG.

Then a few posts of, lulwut? You people are insane.

Bernadette60614

Also, how is your ad written?

If you say:

Entrepreneur seeking apprentice for a growing business. Must have a strong work ethic, a can do attitude and the desire to pay their dues in exchange for modest salary and significant professional growth.

You're going to get a different response than: Business seeking entry level employee.

twinketta

You're not asking anyone to work harder than you? I should hope not - you work 78 hours a week. Which is just absurd btw, unhealthy and unsustainable (imho). I hope you don't have children who rely on you.

60-70 hours PW is reasonably typical professional hours, but one would expect appropriate reward for that. Of course ownership of a business does allow some fairly effective tax management to compensate for the hours.

If your business is profitable......

If the business was running at a loss then I really would have called it a day a few years ago.

I am an employee albeit director of the business.

Tax benefits are you can pay yourself a smaller wage to keep under the personal tax threshold of the 20% basic rate tax of anything over the £9440.

You can get a `tax free` dividend each year.

So I take £750 wages and £500 a month dividend.

I put the `tax free` dividend in quotes because the business pays 20% corporation tax on profits each year. So in effect the dividend is not tax free as the business has already paid the tax.

I am allowed a mileage allowance for all the fuel and wear and tear on the car. So that is not a benefit as such, because the car needs fuel/servicing/MOT/tyres etc. So this is not a profit making allowance.

My hours are actually going on 90 a week so is around £3.50 an hour.

But as I have said before it is my business and I enjoy my work. I get to work for myself and my reward is building the business and seeing it grow from nothing.

Many small businesses fold because the owners want to sit back, do nothing and reap rewards.

Many fold because they are just not viable in today`s world.

I employ 2 other staff that have been with me for going on 6 years, they are both hard working and I respect their commitment to the job and try to increase their salaries as often as I can, or at least offer them bonuses.

AmyP619

Well it is sad to say but this is not just a UK problem! The US is the same way!

Sadly, in the US the unemployment wage is higher than actually working SOME jobs. Not sure how it is in the UK, but there isn't a ton of incentive to work in the US for some people. It's too easy to get unemployment, and the wage is a good amount if you make more on it than you do working a minimum wage job (I've never been on it, so I don't know what the wage is, I just know people who have been on unemployment and the urge to find a new job wasn't too strong).

twinketta

I am very fortunate in that I have a business that is relatively successful in the UK

This last few weeks I have been holding interviews to fill a position..the wage is only slightly above minimum wage, but, it is a little above.

I am looking to train this person up into a better skill.

I have not been looking for a rocket scientist or brain surgeon, just someone that would seem to have reliability and some work ethic.

5 people never bothered to turn up for the interviews...3 were late... 1 had the mother phone up to make an excuse.. a few people turned up wearing jeans....2 people actually told me they had to come for the interviews or they would lose their entitlement to social security benefits...

I was hoping to try to help someone from benefits into the workplace. Is it that young adults do not want to work?

Obviously because you have come across a few that do not want an opportunity that you have offered means that all of them are like that doesn't it? Maybe the attitude you have projected has caused these problems as assuming that everyone is the same is a rather close minded.

I have not even been given, most times, the opportunity to project an attitude of any description. The interviews have been set up by the job agency. I have allocated a time if people can not be bothered to turn up, then it makes it a tad tricky to interview them don`t you think?

danofthedead1979

I started out as an office junior on 12k a year.
I still work in the same place 16 years later, ive obviously worked my way up the greasy pole. I hate my job, its monotonous, just like every office in the world, you work with really cool people and wankers, you work all your life for not much, it's like a trap, I don't blame people who don't want to work for **** pay all their lives while the few benefit from all of it. But as a member of society, you just have to accept your place and be grateful you weren't growing up 100 years ago cos then you really would have a **** life as one of the unwashed masses lol

dbmata

Sadly, in the US the unemployment wage is higher than actually working SOME jobs.

Seriously, in MA you clear $2k a month tax free for unemployment.

If I was an hourly type, I would have zero interest in getting a good job, and I'd just stick with that. However, being a professional with skills, I make a lot more than that, so the 24k a year from unemployment (3 year max on it per instance of lost employment) was not acceptable and was all the reason I needed to get a new job.

MeanderingMammal

The interviews have been set up by the job agency.

I think you need to sack the agency, or going back to my earlier, review the package that you're offering.

dbmata

The interviews have been set up by the job agency.

I think you need to sack the agency, or going back to my earlier, review the package that you're offering.

Sack the agency yes.

Review the package? No OP's not looking for brain surgeons here.

Although I know what I would do. I'd keep the pay, increase experience needed, and add a performance bonus, quarterly.

MeanderingMammal

Review the package? No OP's not looking for brain surgeons here.

If its not attracting the right candidates its unattractive, that may be marketing but from what's described that's unlikely. We've seen nothing concrete about qualifications offered and vague platitudes about training. If that was serious I'd anticipate more clarity around the qualifications that would lead to.

Although I know what I would do. I'd keep the pay, increase experience needed, and add a performance bonus, quarterly.

Bonus can be effective although at the pay discussed its not a strong draw.

Hildy_J

I think you need to sack the agency,

The agency's not a private business in this case - it's the one run by the UK gov't dept responsible for welfare.

Skrib69

award a liveable , working salary and then try again.

*lightbulb moment*

I got it. Put an ad in the job centre offering the same position at YOUR income. You'll get hundreds of applicants and be able to hire someone FABULOUS... and you can live on the minimum wage instead, right? How does that sound?

So this person has worked hard and build up a small business and is now able to offer someone a job, and she gets a load of **** of people. Lovely.

Why should the OP get any praise or otherwise - the main person to benefit a business owner when he or she has grown a business enough to be able to employ people is the owner of the business, her employee will earn her money through her surplus value, without her having to do any extra labour.

Thats basic economics. To do this and want praise off others for it is bizarre in the extreme.

It may be basic economics, but why else would someone build a business? Without people prepared to take the risk to build that business, no-one would have jobs. To build a business to the point where you can give someone a job rightly deserves praise.

Skrib69

Why would it not be acceptable to wear jeans to an interview for a slightly above minimum wage job?

Jeans is never acceptable for a job interview. Dress for the position you want is what I have always been told.

If a person is in the middle of education, or right out of education, they may only own smarter jeans and not have the funds to get new stuff for an interview, especially for certain work places.

If anyone is serious about getting a job, they can at least borrow a pair of trousers, irrespective of their status!

ldrosophila

Sadly, in the US the unemployment wage is higher than actually working SOME jobs.

Seriously, in MA you clear $2k a month tax free for unemployment.

If I was an hourly type, I would have zero interest in getting a good job, and I'd just stick with that. However, being a professional with skills, I make a lot more than that, so the 24k a year from unemployment (3 year max on it per instance of lost employment) was not acceptable and was all the reason I needed to get a new job.

thats the only reason to work. although if you think about it after taxes and insurance a person making about $45K a year probably only clears $24K. In theory it would make more sense to claim unemployment economically because (if I'm correct) you wont be taxed on that income and you may qualify for medicaid. I'm not positive as I've never taken out unemployment, and when I attempted to get it I was denied.

Skrib69

Sorry, but the minimum wage is just not worth it - especially for an out-of-work graduate.

Who needs long hours AND no money? I'd rather have £50 less a week and live on benefits, personally.

You get what you pay for, ref: peanut/monkey calculation.

To put this in perspective, the minimum wage in London has a living allowance added to it, so it's about £7.20 or so - can't remember the actual number.

Renting a 1 bedroom apartment costs between £250-300 in London, for the most part, with very few landlords setting their prices lower. 7.2*40 = 288. Best case scenario, you would have about £50 a week to spare for bills, food, clothing etc.

Unless there are good progression opportunities, working at minimum wage in the UK is pretty futile in terms of getting on.

Why always use London as an example when rents are nothing like that anywhere else in the country?

If you can't afford to live in London then don't live in London!

Pray tell, how can I save and move elsewhere without a wage that facilitates it?

Do what I did. Get the job, and then find somewhere to live nearby!! It's not difficult to work out!

MeanderingMammal

I think you need to sack the agency,

The agency's not a private business in this case - it's the one run by the UK gov't dept responsible for welfare.

That's not explicit, and if it was JCP then I'd be surprised to see it described as "the agency". It may be that they're sourcing at JCP rather than marketing, which would be another reason to sack them.

All that said, resourcing a minimum wage role isn't going to generate much revenue, so they're not going to throw a huge amount of effort at the problem.

disasterman

With all due respect, OP, have you considered that's in not "work in general" that they are rejecting, but simply THIS JOB that you are trying to fill? Perhaps your disgust and revulsion with their generation was apparent to them in your tone when you were communicating with them to set up the interviews? Perhaps your demeanor was oppressive enough to them to change their mind about wanting to come and be a part of that environment for any cost?

I'm really not trying to insult you, and I apologize if you take offense. But a lot of times people with jobs to offer put across the idea that they are doing the worker a huge favor by ALLOWING them to come and work for **** wages in a job they hate for someone who doesn't understand how to treat subordinates with care and respect. Sometimes that attitude of "I'm doing you a favor merely by hiring you" comes across in the first exchange or two and prospective hires figure, "Why bother?" As if the wages and stress weren't hard enough, why add a boss who is demeaning and considers themselves a benefactor to the list of job stresses?

You can get a bunch more people to show up in full regalia if the wages and benefits are high enough to offset the BS potential, but if a person is facing low wages AND being treated poorly, they often won't feel like the situation is tenable.

The comments made on this string alone seem sort of innocuous if you were talking to a roomful of people who were none affected by your judgements, but when the same attitude is conveyed toward the subjects of your disdain, they might simply be exercising their freedom to choose a job working for someone who gives them the respect and dignity they deserve.

And sometimes, people's lives get in the way. You don't know how many of those people had problems that landed them in the hospital, or their phones got cut off or their boyfriend beat them up. You have no idea and no apparent interest in considering other factors. You might say, "But for so many? That's too much of a coincidence!" And I would agree with you.

There's obviously something more going on. And it's not just fate that so many would apply for a job and then not show up after the initial communication with the new boss. Maybe ... ?

^this

twinketta

The information I gave to the agency was along the lines of

That we are a small but progressive business and are looking for a young adult to fill a new vacancy. The job entails working alongside a qualified engineer who will act as a mentor in (the trade, I am adding this as I do not want to disclose the business) There is room to progress with fully paid courses, accommodation and salary whilst undertaking courses.

There are possibilities to take an HND in Engineering with support from the employer

The employer will fund the successful candidate through a driving course in order that they will have access to a company vehicle. You will be required to wear a uniform, supplied by the company.

You would be expected to meet customers and suppliers.

Payment is £5.80 per hour for a 39 hour week for under 21 years of age. Incentives and bonuses for on target work is available.

No qualifications required. A good work ethic, presentation and time keeping are very important