Entitled millennials not wanting to work

[davidc4430]

Muffin Break boss's comments about entitled millennials not wanting to work without pay spark furious responses

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-24/furious-backlash-over-muffin-break-unpaid-work-comments/10844...

when did they sneak laws in that allow people to work for no pay?

i want to know more about ms Brenan, where she lives, what kind of house (or houses) she owns, where her kids go to school, what cars she owns, as its all being paid for by people working for free.

but she still get the money people pay to eat in her store.

[not_for_sale2025]

Some businesses provide work experience for kids for exactly the

right reasons. Often they have no vacancies nor money to employ 

new staff. Of course they can benefit from the extra help. But they

support the young person to learn about the workplace.

Some kids are terrified about starting work. They don't know what

to expect or how to behave. They can learn how to follow directions, 

how their input affects the team and how to relate to workmates.

Their confidence can be boosted greatly and some fears can be 

alleviated.

But the Muffin Break manager sounds like a bully to me, who gets

off on her power over young people. The sheer fact that she would

want to tell everybody about the ones who didn't meet her standards

is disgraceful. It sounds like she enjoys damaging their future.

[lyndal1838]

In NSW in the 1980s we had several shops and were approached by a local school to give some students Work Experience.

The insurance was easily resolved...all we had to do was formally sign on as work experience providers (through the school concerned) and give a copy of the documentation to our Insurers.

[shoppingbag*]

I went for a job interview many years ago, I was put to work and thought I must have got the job, only to be told after working 4 hours, that they would let me know.  Never heard from them of course. 

[joztamps]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

But the Muffin Break manager sounds like a bully to me, who gets

off on her power over young people. The sheer fact that she would

want to tell everybody about the ones who didn't meet her standards

is disgraceful. It sounds like she enjoys damaging their future.

---

"References Blackmail", Klobuchar is in trouble for this in US politics, and it's also a common tactic used against kids by underpaying/overworking franchise operations.

[zanadoo_56]

I had a boss who got permission for his teenage daughter to come to the office for a week on work experience. 

After a few days I asked her what she thought of the work.  She said it was really boring and when she left school she would follow her mother's occupation instead.

I was surprised to find years later that she had followed in her father's footsteps after all.  Maybe it wasn't as boring after all. 🙂

[davidc4430]

Melbourne venues Le Bon Ton and Longhorn Saloon accused of underpaying workers

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/claims-some-workers-were-underpaid-le-bon-ton-longhorn-saloon...

[chameleon54]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

i have no problem with 'work experience' as a way for a person to 'have a look' at what a job requires before commiting to it.

on a very short term observe basis with maybe some 'hands on' experience.

same as your GD offer of 1 free shift (even if i'm not sure how legal that would be) how do they cover insurance ect?

say for instance she was burned by fat from a fryer? if your not an actual employee then you shouldnt be behind the counter should you?

its the idea that businesses like the muffin shop expects these free workers to do real work for no pay over a sustained period that upsets me.

and to have a 'manager' saying if your not prepared to be her slave you'll get a bad report from her, thats not on.

i dont really care if someone works 20 minutes, they should be paid.

work experience is not doing the job in my view.

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I think work experience is a great thing for students nearing the end of their schooling.

As lyndal has said, the schools cover the insurance side of things and careers councilors work closely with students and employers / busineses to work through any problems etc.

Unpaid work experience gives students the opportunity to " try before you buy " with potential careers. They can see how things are done and get some hands on experience at a potential career and after a couple of weeks of work experience, decide if they like it and wish to continue studying for that career path.

My daughter was very keen to follow a career in pre school, child services. After doing work experience in a kindy she has decided its not for her and is looking at other options.

Our son tried working in an industrial engineers. While he found it interesting, he decided it was not for him. His second work experience was working as a shed hand in shearing sheds. He enjoyed this and went on to work in a number of sheds in paid employment after leaving school. ( and still helps me in the shearing shed )

The other good thing about unpaid working experience is it gives the kids an opportunity to experience getting out of bed early, packing lunches etc. and getting to work on time. Once there they get to experience doing the physical or mental work and see what working life is actually like. It helps to prepare kids for the transition from school to work.

Lastly it gives employers a chance to try potential employees out before offering them a full time job. One of my nephews did an unpaid internship for six weeks with one of the international finance institutions. As a result they have offered him a job once he competes his university training. They are genuine about it and are keeping in touch with him and making plans for his placement. It is a very high paying proffesional job that you just cant get through the classified adds or centrelink jobseeker sites. The six weeks of unpaid work has certianly paid off in spades for that lad. 

Another very succesful avenue for kids to learn how to work is to gain after school jobs in the big brand fast food chains. Both of my kids have worked in these businesses and it has taught them how to bustle and get things done ( properly ) The wages are not great with my 16 YO daughter currently earning just over $10 per hour, but the experience is invaluable.

Unfortunately too many kids are not taught how to get off their butts and work, hurting not only them, but society in general.

[davidc4430]

i will never agree that 'free' labor os ok under the idea well if they get a job the end excuses the means.

no one should be expected to do one minute of unpaid work.

i have no problem with allowing someone to 'observe' but when they are asked to do something that benifits the business (as in creates income) they must be paid.

just because there are 10 (or more) available candidates for a job does not make it ok to think its ok to see who will do the most unpaid work for the job.

IMHO

[lyndal1838]

I wonder if you would have the same opinion if you had children who could not get a job because they had no experience David.

When I was at school in the 1960s there was no such scheme available to students.  I had no interest in going to University so I ended up doing a 12 month course at the Metropolitan Business College which was THE College to go to if you wanted to go into an office with more training than you got at school level.

It was very difficult to get jobs back then, no matter how much training and "book learning" you had.....it was a case of no experience, no job.   Even getting into a typing pool in places like the NRMA was dependent on who you knew not how well trained you were.

In the 1980s when my children were at school the Work Experience Scheme was in full swing.  My eldest daughter was at a Selective High School....I can't remember what she did for work experience.

My youngest hated school and from the day she turned 15 it took all my ingenuity to keep her in school to finish Year 10.  Finally I agreed that if she finished the year she did not have to go back for Year 11 if she could get a job before the start of the new school year.  I thought she would have no hope so would go back to school.  lol

All she ever wanted to do was work with horses...she already had her own horses and was having regular lessons with a highly qualified instructor as well as showing regularly.

She informed the school that she wanted to do work experience with horses but they had no clue what to do with her.  They rang me and asked if I knew anywhere that she could go.   I had a word with the owners of the property where we kept our horses.  They were good friends of ours as well as having a registered Stud and were well known judges.  My daughter often spent Saturday nights at their place after her lessons to prepare for a show the next day.

The school had never had any experience of a student living in for work experience and kept ringing me to ask if I understood what she would be doing.  I was more than happy and daughter was over the moon at the thought of a whole week away from home with access to horses every day.

She worked 12 hours a day, learned all about stable management, ordering feed for a large number of horses and was delighted when the stud decided to take 4 horses to a show as they had help in preparation and handling the horses on the day.

With her own 2 horses she was responsible for 6 horses.....from washing, plaiting, makeup and finally making sure the horses were ready for the ring for their classes.

Our friends were very impressed by what she could do...they apparently had to stop her at the end of the day or she would have worked all night too.   She was given a glowing reference and several times after that they contacted her about jobs she may be intrested in, including working at the Inglis Easter Sales which ws a very hard gig to get.   It also gave her an in to working for Gai Waterhouse for a year.  All this for no pay.....room and board only.   I have never seen her so happy.

When the school year ended she announced she was going to Centennial Park for a ride....talk about horse mad!!

To my surprise she arrived home that night with a job with one of the riding schools...she would not have had that job without the work experience.  Within 2 years she had left the riding school and was mucking out stables, exercising horses, clipping, plaiting up.  She was earning more than her father and me put together and we had the responsibility of 3 shops.

What do I think of Work Experience?   It is great....it has brought out the best in most of the young people that I know....and a few decided that the work experience they went to was not going to give them the job that they wanted so changed direction in the final years of school.  I don't know of any of my children's friends who did not benefit from it in some way.

[not_for_sale2025]

It's a shame this discussion started because of the Muffin Break article. Clearly that manager does not support the principles behind work experience, but uses it as an opportunity to feed her own ego and bully young people.

The work experience 'program' is a wonderful initiative. It provides young people the opportunity to learn about team work, communicate, gain vital knowledge, get a feel for the field of work they are interested in and demonstrate their motivation and conscientiousness. In addition, it can help young people ease their personal fears and self-doubt about entering the workforce. 

Proper businesses which support the program may provide training, appoint a 'buddy' to show the ropes, supervise experience, provide advice on seeking employment and provide resources such as resume templates. Unlike the Muffin Break manager, they understand the young persons' fears and flood them with positive feedback and encouragement.

Ethical businesses that register to support the program do not do so to benefit from 'free labour", they do so because they support the reasons behind the program and the benefits to young people. It would be tragic if we allowed people like the MB manager to turn us off the program because of her unethical behaviour as a so called manager.