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Chapter Four Overview and discussion
As the first systematic study of employers the findings make interesting reading, providing some insight into the employers' perspective. There were four primary aims identified at the start of this research. First, what were the main reasons employers gave for employing school pupils; second, did these employers have any links with the school system; third, what were their views on the value of part-time employment, fourth, what employment practices were used with this group of employees.
How and why do employers recruit school pupils?
In reviewing the recruitment practices adopted by the employers in this study it is evident that many young people are pro-active in seeking out employment. A number of employers said that this was how they recruited workers. A few used advertisements, though it was rare for these adverts to specifically state that they were looking for young school aged applicants.
There is some evidence that informal networks and 'word of mouth' plays a role in recruitment. In effect, existing employees probably inform friends of available jobs and by employing school pupils the employer is sending a message to the local community that this is part of their employment practices.
A common assumption is that employers turn to young workers in order to save on costs. Such a view has its roots in the international literature of child labour and the historical practices in developed economies such as Britain. When we asked employers to explain their reasons for employing school aged workers a wider set of explanations were provided. In some cases it was clear that cost was an important reason. For example in the Delivery and Retail sectors we found examples of cost based reasons for employment of young people.
We found some evidence to suggest that cost is not the main reason for the majority of employers. This position is supported when we consider their response to the impact of the NMW on their business. The majority of employers said this had little or no impact because they were already paying employees above this rate. A number of employers explicitly stated that they did not discriminate between their school aged and adult employees.
It was more common for employers to emphasise other reasons for employing school pupils. In the case of the Retail, Hotel/Catering and Miscellaneous sectors the importance of flexibility and availability was often cited. The terms flexibility and availability appear to be associated with a number of issues. School pupils are willing to work at less popular times (eg cover the 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. shift, or work on Saturdays) and to work fewer hours per week than adults. In some cases the employers suggest that adults would not view the jobs as viable or in some cases appropriate for them.
In Hotel/Catering it was clear that employers had difficulty employing adult staff. This could have been due to a shortage of adults seeking jobs in the locality or that adults did not find the jobs attractive. As such school aged employees were recruited because they were the only employees available. In at least one case an employer indicated that they preferred adult employees but they were not available to them. In contrast to this rather negative reason some employers were clearly employing school pupils because of what they brought to their business, sometimes in respect of specific skills or interests, or linked to their motivation and attitude.
School links and views on part-time work and work experience
Given the extent to which school pupils are employed we investigated the degree to which employers were engaged with schools in their locality. Our specific interest was the link between employers and the school through the work experience programme. Less than half of all the employers interviewed were, or had been, involved in the work experience system. It was also evident that there was a major variation in involvement across the employment sectors.
Nearly all of the employers on the Miscellaneous sector (11 out of 13) indicated that they had participated in work experience programmes, and more than half of these employers (6) had gone on to employ the young person in a part-time capacity. In contrast only 2 employers in each of the remaining categories, Delivery, Retail and Hotel/Catering, had been involved in this programme. Two thirds of this group had then employed the work experience pupils as part-time employees. In the majority of cases employers who participated in work experience had also been involved in providing feedback on the pupils placed with them.
One explanation for this variation between sectors is to be found in the types of jobs that pupils worked in within the Miscellaneous category. As we noted earlier this category includes pupils working in care homes, leisure facilities and jobs involving mechanical skills such as bike maintenance. Schools may perceive these types of jobs as more suitable for work experience than, for example, the Delivery sector. An alternative explanation is that employers in some of the other sectors are less willing to get involved in such programmes. Support for this argument comes from the Delivery and Retail sector employers who had been approached to participate in work experience placements but had refused.
Just under a third of employers had other links with schools. In the Delivery and Miscellaneous sectors the employers who had other school links were also engaged with the work experience programme. In the case of the Retail and Hotel/Catering sector the employers who had other types of links with were not the same employers who were linked to the school through work experience.
Due to the time constraints on the interviews we were not able to explore the range and types of links with schools. From the information provided it was apparent that such links were not solely focused on the secondary school sector. In some cases employers had links with primary schools. In the latter case this involved school visits to their premises, in the former case it might involve the employer visiting the school to talk about their business.
When we considered the level of involvement in the work experience programme we suggested some possible explanations for the low level of involvement in the Delivery, Retail and Hotel/Catering sectors. It is also possible that the level of involvement is related to the attitudes of employers towards work experience and part-time employment. That is some employers may place a limited value on work experience.
There is some evidence to support this position. We asked employers to indicate their evaluation of part-time work and work experience, and their estimation of the relative importance of each in the context of school pupils' development for entry into the job market. The majority of employers (23) highlighted the importance of part-time employment. The justifications offered in support of this view emphasised that these employers thought that it was important that young people showed some initiative in gaining employment. In addition it was argued that part-time employment in contrast to work experience involved longer time periods and allowed school pupils to engage with the workplace as a 'real' employee.
However, some employers were of the view that work experience or the combination of both part-time work and work experience was of more importance in the context of future employment. For this group, work experience was valued because it allowed pupils access to job sectors and forms of employment that they would not normally be able to experience. The fact that work experience involved a full-time commitment over a concentrated period was perceived as an advantage which is not provided by part-time employment.
It is worth noting that this latter group was dominated by employers who were in the Miscellaneous sector. As we noted earlier most of the employers in this sector were or had been involved in work experience programmes and in that sense had experience of both processes, part-time employment and work experience.
A majority of employers in all sectors favoured the idea of recognising part-time employment. While employers offered a range of justifications for this position one specific idea is of interest. For some employers recognition was important in that it would differentiate between pupils who had or had not gained employment. Implicit in this view is the idea that those who gained employment are demonstrating a level of motivation which non-workers do not have. We would suggest that some caution is needed here. Many pupils do not work and they have a number of varied reasons for not having, or, in some cases, not seeking part-time employment. To assume that all non-workers can be grouped together in this way is not justified by the existing evidence.
A small minority of employers did not respond positively to the idea of recognising part-time employment. Only one directly stated their opposition to it but a further six could not decide. Amongst this group it was clear that some questioned the usefulness of certification while others felt that recognition would have to be dependent on the type of job that the young person was doing.
Given that the majority of employers were in favour of the idea of recognising part-time employment it came as no surprise to find that they would take account of such information when recruiting staff. This applied to potential employees who were still within the school system and to those who had left school. There were some concerns about what form the recognition/accreditation would take and what information would be provided. These caveats suggest if such a system were to be introduced consultation exercises would be needed to ensure that employers were being provided with relevant information.
A small minority of employers (3) indicated that for them references and interviews were of more importance than any recognition/accreditation. Clearly if any system of recognition/accreditation was put in place it would not replace job interviews and references. Rather it would provide additional information to the employer. As one of the employers in favour of recognition indicated it might help in the stage when selecting applicants for interview, or might provide an 'objective' assessment to place beside the more 'subjective' reference process.
Employment practices
The final area we focused on was the employment practices adopted by employers when dealing with school aged employees. We have already noted that a common assumption is that employers turn to this age group as a means of limiting costs. The responses to the questions on the impact of the NMW for 16-17 year olds suggest that this may not be the dominant concern of employers. For most of the employers the introduction of the NMW had little or no impact because they already paid their employees above this rate.
However, we should be cautious about assuming that employment costs are not important to some employers involved in this specific labour market. Three employers did indicate that the NMW had impacted on their costs and they had had to increase the wages they paid. In addition, while the majority had indicated that the NMW had no impact on them it does not mean that they did not discriminate between adult part-time employees and young employees in terms of hourly pay rates. If this was the case then employing school pupils rather than adults would result in a cost saving. The time constraints on the interview meant that such issues could not be explored in detail. It also means that we cannot dismiss the cost explanation when we look at reasons for employing school pupils.
There was some evidence of variations in employment practices across the job sectors when we consider the use of employment contracts. Just over half of the employers (24) indicated that they used contracts. It is clear that some school pupils have their jobs contractually recognised adding a sense of formality to their employment. In some cases these are verbal contracts and, as such, might be difficult to enforce, but the majority relied upon written contracts. The use of contracts was most likely to emerge in the Retail sector. This might simply reflect different practices between sectors when dealing with part-time staff. There was a slight trend for contracts to be more common where 16-18 year old pupils were employed. We have no information on whether part-time adult employees would have been given contracts in all of these sectors.
The majority (35) indicated that their employees receive initial training and a large minority (17) were able to point to ongoing training. Not surprisingly there was some variation in the training experienced by employees. This was in part sector related. For example, in the Delivery sector training appeared to focus on familiarising the employee with the delivery route. It is worth noting that none of the employers in this sector made any reference to health and safety training given the potential for accidental injury in this job.
In each of the remaining sectors we found a wide variety of training and ongoing training. This variation did not appear to be sector dependent suggesting that in all of the sectors there are examples of what we might refer to as low and high intensity training. There are also opportunities for employees to gain some certification related to their training experiences. The examples included here ranged from certification of attendance at training days through to specific certificates relating to food hygiene and lifesaving.
The existence and extent of such training could be important in the context of debates about the idea of recognising/accrediting school pupils' part-time employment. The fact that employees are trained may provide an initial basis for evaluating the skills or experiences that any recognition system might wish to focus upon.
Finally, the issue of dealing with employees less than 16 years of age was explored. Previous British research has considered the effectiveness of existing child employment legislation from two perspectives. First, requesting information from young workers about their work and, second, the practices of local authorities. The latter are responsible for implementing the legislation in this area. The existing research findings show that the majority of child employees work illegally (Hobbs & McKechnie, 1997; McKechnie et al, 2005) and it is clear that local authority practice in this area is problematic (Hamilton, 2002; Murray 2004). Some byelaws may be out of date or difficult to understand.
This is the first time that the issue of child employment legislation has been approached from the perspective of the employers. However, the findings are consistent with existing research findings. The majority of employers who have employees under 16 years of age are not aware if their employees have work permits. Only one has received a visit from the local authority regarding the employment of young people and less then half have had sight of the relevant bylaws. It is not surprising that against this background only one employer felt that the bylaws are effective. However even this positive view could be questioned since his employees were in breach of the legislation in that they did not have the necessary work permit.
At present the issue of child employment legislation is on the policy agenda based on a set of recommendations from the Better Regulation Task Force (2004). This body reviews legislation in a range of areas and suggests ways in which it could be made more effective. In the child employment context the BRTF has proposed a new system of employer registration to replace the work permit system. This would mean that employers would be registered allowing them to employ young workers.
We asked employers their views on this proposed change and found that the majority indicated that they had no objections or thought that this might be a better system. However, most employers added caveats to their supportive statement. These related to queries about how such a system would work, would it be bureaucratic, would it cost them money to register? Their support for any proposed change would be dependent on the answer to such questions. At the time of writing there is no information on the details of the BRTF proposal so it is impossible to address the concerns raised by employers.
Conclusion
This is the first study of its kind in Scotland and as such provides some insight into the employment of school aged pupils from the employer's perspective. Previous research has been dominated by an emphasis on the supply side of this particular employee-employer relationship.
From a methodological perspective, we should keep in mind the exploratory nature of this study and that it has involved a relatively small number of employers interviewed for a short period of time. Similarly, since interviews were not taped, some detail may have been lost in the real time recording of responses. However, these issues need to be kept in perspective and the main body of findings has added significantly to our understanding of employer's views.
Future studies are needed to verify the findings from this research and to extend our knowledge in this area. Consideration should be given on how to recruit employers from large chain stores and how to include small one-person businesses such as hairdressers. The study has also demonstrated the importance of the insight that can be gained about this employment sector by attending to the demand side of the employer-employee relationship.
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