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Chapter Three The main findings

This chapter is structured around the four key areas of enquiry:

1. The reasons for employing school pupils
2. Links with schools
3. The value of part-time work
4. Employment practices

We shall consider each area in turn, outlining the main issues covered and considering the responses from the employers within each employment sector.

The reasons for employing school pupils

All employers were asked to explain the main reasons for their employment of school pupils. In addition we were interested to know if they specifically set out to recruit school pupils and asked about recruitment practices. Responses are considered by job sector.

Delivery

Recruitment

Of the 4 employers in this sector, only one specifically advertised for young paper deliverers. The others recruited through word of mouth or were directly approached by young people looking for paper rounds. One employer also indicated that he would approach young people that he knew in the area and ask them if they were looking for a part-time job.

Reasons

For 2 of the employers in this sector, the reason for employing school pupils was that the type of job was essentially 'children's work' and as such it suited this age group. The other 2 employers made reference to cost in their reasons for employing school pupils. In one case the employer indicated that these workers were cheaper than adults and as such it allowed him to 'carry on his business'. The other stated that no other workers would accept the pay levels offered for this type of job.

Retail

Recruitment

Of the 13 employers in this sector, 6 used advertisements as part of their recruitment strategy. In a number of cases the adverts were targeted at potential part-time workers rather than school pupils. It just so happens that it is school pupils who apply for the jobs. However it is noticeable that informal recruitment practices are important with 6 employers indicating that they are approached by pupils seeking jobs or that they use word of mouth as a means of recruiting workers.

Reasons

In the Retail sector employers provided a wider range of reasons for employing young people, and in a number of cases gave multiple reasons. In total 6 employers made some reference to the flexibility of young workers and their willingness to work at the times that the employers needed them, for example week-end or evening work. By implication it would appear that adult workers would not be interested in these types of vacancies.

It was also apparent that employers used younger workers as cover or relief for adult employees. Four employers made specific reference to this in explaining their reasons for employment.

Of the 13 employers interviewed in this sector, 4 referred to cost when explaining their employment decisions. For two of the employers it was the low cost that attracted them to this workforce. However, the remaining two employers indicated that cost was not a factor in their employment practices. They were at pains to point out that there was no pay discrimination based on age.

Only 3 of the employers in this sector stated that their reason for employing this group of workers was related to skills that they have. In one case the employer simply indicated that the young person was the best person who had applied for the job and had the necessary skills. One of the other employers generalised beyond the individual indicating that in their view this group of workers were typically 'good workers, pick things up quickly and are keen to learn'.

One final explanation given for employing young workers was that the employers felt that the employment benefited the young person. Three of the employers indicated that their reasons for employing the young person was that it was good for them in terms of experience.

Hotel/Catering

Recruitment

In this sector only one out of the 12 employers had used an advertisement to recruit their young employee. Eight of the employers had recruited because the young person had approached them, while 5 employers referred to word of mouth within their recruitment practices. In one case an employer indicated that they had recruited their young employee through the school.

Reasons

The dominant reason given by 5 employers in this sector related to the flexibility of this workforce and the fact that they were available at the times that they needed them, weekends and evenings. This was also linked to the relatively short working hours, which adults would not be interested in.

For 2 of the employers their main reason for employing young workers was the lack of adult alternatives. One employer indicated that they did not set out to employ young people but 'finding good full-time waiting staff is difficult, they are few and far between, we take on young workers because we need to fill positions'.

The majority of employers did not give cost as a major reason for employing young workers. One employer indicated that they were cheaper to employ than older workers, while one other indicated that they paid all employees the same rate. Of course, some respondents might have been embarrassed to acknowledge cheapness as a reason to employ school pupils.

In explaining why they employed young people some positive and negative comments were made about this group. For one employer young workers' attitudes could cause some problems, while another indicated that there were constraints on what young workers could do, for example, the amount of time they could work and constraints on serving alcohol.

In contrast some employers mentioned the benefits of employing young workers. In one case the employer indicated that they enjoyed their attitude and that they brought a 'breath of fresh air' into the workplace.

Miscellaneous

Recruitment

Given the wide variety of jobs in the Miscellaneous category we may be less likely to find similarities of approach within this group of employers. However, when it comes to recruitment the majority of employers (7) indicated that they recruited school pupil employees through word of mouth and 4 employers indicated that potential employees approached them asking about work opportunities.

In the case of 2 employers school links were important. In one case the employee was recruited through a work experience placement and in the other case the business, a swimming pool, shared the resource with the school so that the school pupils were already on site as potential employees.

Reasons

As anticipated given the nature of this sector a more varied set of reasons were provided by employers for employing school pupils. In two cases the employers cited family links as the reason. For one they were employing the young person because they were related and in the other the father worked in the business and got his child recruited.

Some employers, 6 in total, indicated that the flexibility and availability of this group of employees were important reasons for their employment. They were also used to cover for adult staff to allow them time off and to cover certain work times.

However, we also see other reasons being given, in one case an employer said that it was not their usual practice to employ young employees but that the individual had 'hounded' them for the experience since it was related to their future ambitions. Another employer who ran a cycle maintenance business argued that he employed the individual because of their 'passion for bikes'.

We can also identify some evidence of different employers' attitudes to young workers. For example in one case the employer indicated that they did not differentiate on the basis of age, young workers deserved the same chance as others. In contrast another employer justified their employment practice by saying it gave the young person something to do and kept them off the streets. It is unlikely that such a reason would be given for employing adults.

Finally, a minority of employers emphasised the skills that young people brought to the workplace (bright, clever, show potential, energetic and punctual) or the skill match between the individual and the job. In one case the employer emphasised the benefits of this group of employees in that they are good workers, have a rapport with customers and are fun to be with. In this latter case the employer appears to be emphasising what the young workers brought into the work environment.

Links with School

A number of questions were asked to establish the extent to which employers had established connections with schools in their area. We focused on three aspects of this:

1. had they been involved in work experience and in providing feedback on the pupils placed with them? And as a supplementary question whether they had ever employed school pupils as part-time workers after they had been on such a placement;

2. did they have any other links with schools? For example, being involved in school visits to their business premises or visited schools to talk about business;

3. had they ever been approached to develop links with local schools or to take work experience pupils?

Table 3.1 provides a summary of the responses to these questions. Less than half of all the employers had any involvement in work experience. It is evident that there are between sector variations, particularly with respect to the work experience questions. In the case of Delivery work 2 employers had been involved with work experience pupils. It should be noted that in these cases the work experience was based in the shop premises rather than the delivery aspect of their business.

Table 3.1 Employer links with schools (number of employers responding)

Only 2 employers in the Retail and 2 in the Hotel/Catering categories had taken work experience pupils at some time, and few had been approached with requests to participate. The category that has the highest number of employers involved in work experience was the Miscellaneous category. It is possible that schools perceived the type of work that fell into this category as more suitable for work experience placements. For example this category included work in nursing homes, leisure facilities and mechanical work.

The Miscellaneous category also has the highest number of employers who indicated that they had taken work experience pupils on as part-time workers after they completed their placement. However, such behaviour is present in other job sectors such as Hotel/Catering.

A total of 13 employers had other links with schools. In the Delivery and Miscellaneous categories employers involved in work experience also had other links with the schools in their area. In contrast, in the Retail and Hotel/Catering sectors it was employers who were not involved in work experience that had links with schools. This involvement typically took the form of school visits to their premises and in many cases involved primary school pupils.

Only a minority of employers who were not involved with work experience had, in fact, been approached to participate in the system (6 out of 25). Those who had been contacted, nevertheless, had refused these requests indicating that they were either too busy, did not have enough staff to supervise or that they felt it was inappropriate because of the nature of the work.

Value of part-time work

In this section we focus upon employer responses to a series of questions about their views on the value of part-time work. This included questions on:

1. the value of part-time work and work experience in the context of future career development;
2. the idea of recognising part-time work;
3. their perception of the usefulness of some form of certification in the context of their employment practices.

Part-time work and work experience compared

Table 3.2 provides a summary of employers' responses to a question which asked them to indicate whether part-time work or work experience was better for the young person's development or future job prospects. It shows that the majority of employers indicated that they felt that part-time employment was of more value in the context of future employment.

When asked to justify their choice similar explanations were provided across all job sectors. It was apparent from the explanations provided that for many, part-time work was of greater value since the young person had found the job for themselves and it involved longer periods of employment experience. These views were reinforced by comments such as 'part-time work gives you the full picture' and 'part-time work is more real'. Amongst those favouring part-time employment, work experience was felt to involve too limited a limited range of experiences. This appeared to be related to the limited time involved in work experience.

Table 3.2 Value of part-time work and work experience (frequency of positive responses)

Table 3.2 also shows that in some cases employers indicated that work experience was of more value than part-time work to future employment prospects. This was most evident in the Miscellaneous category. Employers justified this choice by suggesting that work experience allowed access to a wider range of industries and to job sectors which did not employ young people. For others the value of work experience lay in the fact that it was a concentrated period of full-time employment which allowed a more detailed insight into the workplace.

For a minority of employers, 4 in total, both part-time work and work experience were of importance to future job prospects. For this group there was some indication that they perceived the two experiences as serving different functions, and that ideally having both would be of value to the young person.

The idea of recognising part-time work

Employers were asked to indicate their views on the idea and desirability of recognising young peoples' part-time employment. Table 3.3 summarises the responses to this question and shows that in all job sectors the majority of employers responded positively to this suggestion.

Table 3.3 Desirability of recognising part-time employment (number of responses)

When asked to explain why they were in favour of this idea a number of different reasons were proposed, including:

• bonus for working
• praise for effort
• good for CV
• motivates young people
• helps get jobs in the future
• shows skills acquired

In addition some employers were of the opinion that some recognition was justified because not all young people work and some recognition of this fact was merited. Implicit in this argument was the view that those who did gain work were reflecting a higher level of motivation. For one employer the justification for recognising part-time work was that 'it's enhancing and doesn't have to be academic'.

One interviewee indicated that they were not in favour of recognising part-time employment and a further 6 felt that they could not decide. The one employer who specifically stated that they were not in favour suggested that in their view having had the experience was enough and that certification did not add anything to the experience. Amongst those who could not decide it was apparent that some of them felt that recognition would be dependent on the type of job that was being done. In one case an interviewee indicated that in their view references were more important than certification.

Would employers take notice of part-time work certificates in their employment practices?

To ascertain their views on this we asked about whether they would take account of such certificates in their recruitment processes. To help clarify this section we asked employers to distinguish between potential employees who were still attending school and those who had completed their secondary education.

The responses suggest that the majority of employers across all sectors would take notice of individuals' part-time employment certification when recruiting (see Table 3.4). This applied to the recruitment of potential employees while they might still be at school and also later after they had left school.

Table 3.4 Employer willingness to take account of part-time work recognition (numbers)

When asked to explain why they would take notice of such recognition/accreditation employers indicated that it would be of value since it demonstrates that the 'work ethic was already there' while others felt that it would show the extent of previous experience and allow them to establish existing levels of training and identify skills.

A number of employers, while positive in their response, added some caveats in their replies. These typically revolved around the issue of what it was that would be recognised or certificated. To what extent would it identify skills? Any potential employee would have to be able to demonstrate these skills as well as having a certificate. Some employers suggested that the usefulness of such a system would lie in identifying potential interviewees for any post. In this case recognition/accreditation would be useful at the initial stage of sifting through applicants.

Three employers indicated that they would not take account of any recognition/accreditation system in their recruitment. In these cases the employers argued that the reference that a person brought from their previous job was more important than any certificate. In addition how the candidate reacted in interview was crucial to their chances of employment.

Not all employers place a similar value in the importance of references. One employer in favour of recognition suggested that references are not always reliable. In this context they felt that recognition/accreditation could act as a reliability check, indicating what a person had done.

When employers were asked if they would participate in any recognition scheme then the responses were positive. Of the 42 employers interviewed 37 responded that they would be willing to participate. Interestingly employers who had said that they would not take account of recognition/accreditation in their recruitment practices did indicate that they would participate in such a system if it were introduced.

However, some caution is needed in interpreting this positive response since many of the responses were qualified. The main concern of employers was the amount of time which would be spent if they were to get involved in such a system. For the small number of employers (5) who were not in favour of participation in any recognition/accreditation system, time issues were also a concern.

Others expressed different concerns including the issue of training for staff who might be involved and the relevance of such a system to their business. One employer was of the view that any recognition/accreditation should be carried out by an independent body without involving employers.

Employment practices

The final theme within the employer's interview focused on their employment practices with respect to employees still attending school in relation to: contracts of employment; the impact of the National Minimum Wage ( NMW); the extent and nature of training given; and employers' knowledge of legislation governing the employment of under 16s.

Contracts and the NMW

Interviewees were asked about whether they issued contracts to their employees and also whether the introduction of the NMW for 16-17 year olds had made any difference to them.

In the latter case 2004 saw the introduction of a £3.00 per hour NMW for 16-17 year olds and it is possible that this impacted on employment practices. For example, it has been suggested that employers would reduce the number of 16-17 year olds in favour of younger employees.

Table 3.5 summarises the responses to these two areas for each of the employment sectors. In total 24 out of the 42 employers interviewed indicated that they used contracts with the school pupils they employed. This is most common in the Retail sector and least common in Delivery. However, a complication arises when we look at the nature of these contracts. We asked employers to indicate whether the contracts were written or verbal.

In the Delivery sector the only employer to indicate that a contract existed stated that this was a verbal contract, in the Retail sector 5 of the contracts were verbal. The number of verbal contracts in the Hotel/Catering and the Miscellaneous sectors were 2 and 3, respectively.

Table 3.5: Contracts and the national minimum wage (numbers)

One possible explanation for the variation in the use of contracts varies according to the age of the employees. As we noted earlier across all sectors there were examples of businesses employing under 16s, those between 16-18 years and those businesses that employed young people from both age groups (see Table 3.6).

Table 3.6 Age of employees and use of contracts (numbers)

Sample size issues meant that it was not possible to test the strength of the relationship between age group and the use of contracts. The data suggests employers are slightly more likely to make use of contracts if they employ 16-18 year olds school pupils.

The introduction of the NMW appears to have had little impact for the majority of employers. The main reason given by employers was that they were already paying their employees above this rate. In the three cases where the introduction of the NMW had impacted on employment practices the employers had had to raise their pay rates to ensure that they were conforming to the NMW. One of these employers did indicate that they would consider employing younger employees in order that they could reduce costs.

Training

With respect to training we were interested in establishing the extent of training or induction that employers carried out at the start of employment and whether there was any ongoing training element.

Table 3.7 Training provided by employers (numbers)

The majority of the interviewees (35) stated that there was initial training or induction for their employees, while 17 highlighted that there was some form of ongoing training. What these figures fail to reveal is the extent of the variation in the training experienced by young employees. To provide some insight into this variation we will consider each sector in turn.

Delivery sector

All of the employers stated that there was some initial training or induction. Typically this involved showing the new employee around their route, a task done by the employer driving them around the route or accompanying them on the first day or two. In one case this role was delegated to another 'paperboy'. One employer stated this training also involved them in providing 'tips on how to be a good paperboy'. None of the employers mentioned the issue of health and safety training.

One employer in this sector said that ongoing training was provided, but, it emerged that this only applied to those 'paperboys' who progressed to working in the shop behind the counter.

Retail sector

We found a range of responses in this sector to the questions on training. At one end of the spectrum we found employers whose responses seemed to suggest that the training was minimal eg 'just tell them what needs doing' and 'just till training, showing them the shop floor'. In these cases there was no ongoing training.

At the other end of the spectrum we found examples of employers who had more intensive training programmes. For example one response to the training question was:

'Yes, they get a full induction, involves an introduction to the company and its history, health and safety, employment law etc.'

This lasted approximately 4-6 hours and there is the opportunity for further training through SVQ's in retailing, the latter being dependent on the candidate.

This was not an isolated case. In another example the response to the training question was:

'The young people get full training just like the adults apart from some management training about banking etc. which they don't need. The training goes on for 12 weeks and runs alongside their work, if it takes them longer than 12 weeks that's fine. Once training is finished they have a workbook which is signed off and sent to head office.'

This employer also indicated that there was ongoing training to cover new products or as the interviewee expressed it, 'there's always training'.

In another case the response to the training query produced the following response:

'Yes, quite a bit of in-store training, have to go over guidelines and manuals with them about health and safety, train them on the till. Have to inform them about the medicines we sell, they have to be able to explain it all to customers.'

A number of the employers in this sector stated that they covered a range of topics in training including practical issues concerning the workplace, health and safety as well as job specific skills.

Hotel/Catering sector

This sector also provided a variety of responses to the questions on training with some employers emphasising that their training involved showing employees how the till worked, customer service, how to work tea/coffee equipment and hygiene issues. However, the level of formality of the training did vary.

Some examples of their responses to the questions on this topic may provide a flavour of the training process. Responses to the question about initial training/induction included the following:

'Yes, they get full induction, fire, health and safety, basic equipment training. They get a certificate of attendance and training is recorded in the staff file'

Asked about ongoing training the same interviewee responded:

'If appropriate, they can go on for elementary food hygiene training. There is a lot of repeat training for young workers, they often have a poorer appreciation of work.'

In another case the response to the question on initial training was:

'Yes, they are given a buddy. The induction covers health and safety, quality standards, the company, fire, wages ……. It takes about half a day.'

The interviewee continued in respect of ongoing training:

'There's a lot of on-floor training for waiting staff, lasts 10-14 days but they always have a buddy if they need one.'

In the hotel/catering sector it is common to find that the initial training induction covers hygiene issues and in some case this is linked to some form of certification.

Miscellaneous

The diversity of jobs within this sector means that it is difficult to draw out similarities in training. For example, in the retail sector till training is common while in the hotel/catering sector hygiene training is a common theme. The one similarity with the other sectors is the diversity of response to the questions on initial and ongoing training.

At the lower end of the spectrum we find responses to the training question such as:

'It depends, we tell them all the jobs to be done and get other staff to speak to them. There is a general showing of what there is to do. We tell them to keep an eye out for certain things like shoplifting and stealing. It just takes half an hour to an hour and I'll keep telling them after that.'

In this case on-going training

'depends if something comes up, we might show them how to use the engraving machine or how to change batteries, then they can show each other how to do it.'

In two businesses where there was no ongoing training the response to the initial training/induction queries were:

'Yes, handling cash, handling money, there is ongoing training everyday, we show by example here.'

'Yes, health and safety takes about 20 minutes, recorded on staff record.'

At the other end of the range of responses we find examples of what one might term more intensive training. For example in one interview the response to the initial training and ongoing training questions was:

'Yes, health and safety, they can't work until they have their National Pool Lifesaving Certificate. We show them the general facilities, the procedures for emergency action. It takes one full day. The Pool Lifesaving Certificate takes one full weeks training.'

And for on-going training:

'In their first year they can have NSPCC child protection training (about working with young children). They can do courses in exercise to music and health and safety courses etc.'

Another example at this end of the spectrum:

'Yes, they have to work through an induction pack which has information on health and safety, workers rights, what the care job involves, they have to read through policies and procedures. There are videos to watch and questionnaires, which they get certificates for. This takes about two days but then they are supervised and have a mentor for 12 weeks, then they are checked and updated yearly.'

In this case the response to the question about ongoing training produced the following response:

'Can get training and certificates in client care, communication skills, behaviour management, infection control, pressure care, nutrition and many more.'

In this employment sector we found a number of other training practices including shadowing systems, the integration of training and personal development practice. It is apparent that in this sector the form of training is linked to the type of job activity that the employee is involved in. Unfortunately the scope of this present study did not allow for a fuller more detailed exploration of these links.

Employers and the under 16 employee

As we have noted not all employers have employees that are under 16. Therefore the findings from this set of questions are derived from a sub-sample of the employers who were currently employing younger employees at the time of the interview.

Employees who have not yet reached the minimum school leaving age are covered by national legislation and local bylaws (See Appendix 9). In the interviews we covered such issues as whether their younger employees had work permits, if someone had ever visited their business from the local authority, whether they had seen copies of the local bylaws relating to child employment and if they thought that the bylaws were effective. Finally, we explained a recent proposal from the Better Regulation Task Force (2004) which proposed an employer registration system to replace the existing work permit system and asked for their views on this idea.

Interviewees responses to the questions on permits, local authority visits, awareness and effectiveness of bylaws are summarised in Table 3.8. Few of the 16 employers who had under 16s working for them were able to tell us if their employees had work permits. None of the employers in the Retail sector were able to provide this information and one employer had no knowledge of the permit system. The Delivery sector has generally been associated with higher permit levels and three quarters of the employers said that their employees had permits. Two of the three employers stated that all of their employees had permits, while the other employer was sure that some of his employees had permits, but others did not. The fourth Delivery sector employer said that his employees did not have permits but explained that he had parental permission for his employees and that was good enough for him.

In the past researchers had speculated that one of the reasons for the low uptake of permits is the lack of awareness and knowledge amongst employers. We consider two possible routes by which employer information could be generated, visits by local authority personnel to the employer's premises and the bylaws. Only one employer has ever received a visit at his premises to check on his young employees. A higher number of employers had viewed the bylaws (6), however, this did not ensure that their employees had the necessary permits.

Table 3.8 Legislation issues (numbers)

One employer was of the view that the present bylaws were effective. It is difficult to interpret this assertion since the employer involved had employees without work permits, a basic cornerstone of the bylaw system.

Employer response to the BRTF proposal was largely positive across all sectors. Of the 16 employers with employees under 16 years of age, 14 were in broad favour of the idea of employer registration. Some thought it might be a better system, others that it would be an easier system. The remaining 2 employers views are interesting. One expressed the view that they could not see the point of any such scheme; the other was concerned about the cost.

On the surface employers are positive about the BRTF proposal. However it is important to note that a number added caveats to their supportive statements. These caveats expressed concern about the administration of any system, the imposition it would make on them and the potential cost implications.

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