[Alan Rowley]

I have had two young girls apply to me for work, one is 16, the other 17. Now as it happens, I have a couple of vacancies.

Does anyone employ anyone this young? Would you take a chance on employing anyone this age? Any comments anyone?

[chosker]

Legally age isn't allowed to be a factor and technically we should not be asking anyone their age over the phone. I think if they're under 18 it may be different, i'm not sure.
Younger people tend to be less reliable but more enthusiastic (a very broad statment - this is in my experience), you need to weigh up the pros and cons really.

[glenda hollis]

Is this for domestic or commercial cleaning? My main worry would be that they don't have the maturity to be in a domestic property and to fully understand the responsibility of the situation. Not that i am saying they should misbehave in commercial settings either, but at least you would have more control over the situation (possibly). What would your clients think?

[Alan Rowley]

Glenda,

The work would be in homes and small offices.

If I took on any young person, I would make sure they worked with me or another responsible member of my staff. I don't think domestic customers would be very bothered so long as they did the job properly.

I was thinking along the same lines as chosker. Would they be more enthusiastic and harder working than someone who has been doing cleaning for years, has nothing to prove to anyone, and is probably bored to death with cleaning?

[DREAM CLEAN]

I think it's like taking on any staff really,

I have a school leaver boy working for me , fantastic cleaner, attention to detail is fantastic, never sick, 100%.

I look after him and he's quick to learn,

Nick

[Lizzy]

The minimum wage is much lower for staff under 18.  I think its something like £3.50 or £4.00.
I employ a girl aged 16 but pay her more than the minimum wage.   I laid her off last week.   You get what you pay for.  I got a slug that got slower and spent more energy looking for ways to get out of working, than actually working.

<<<<<<<Theres the door young lass.

[Mrs Nicholls]

i had a young girl working fo me a a few weeks ago, office cleaning, she was very good, at 16 years old (now 17!)

i never had any problems with her attendance and punctuality and work were all great.

I had a txt from her mum though after a week and a half saying her daughter wont be coming to work anymore, no notice or anything, the girl seemed fine the evening before.

thats one of the problems with young people i think, they dont realise the responsibilities they have when they start working.

[glenda hollis]

That said though Lisa, the other problem with younger people is that the parents get too involved, was it the girl who didnt want the job or her parents refusing to allow her to work for you?. Maybe at the age of 16 you can expect their input still, but then work is an adult thing so the parents should take a back-seat.

[Alan Rowley]

Totally agree with Lisa regarding taking responsibility. I would be very worried about parents getting involved.

I would also be wary about them spending large amounts of time alone in the van with me. You can't be too careful these days, can you?

[Mrs Nicholls]

i dont really know if it was her idea or not to leave, she seemed fine, but i didnt hear back from her, just her mum.

As she was only 16 at the time we did make sure she was never working alone, made sure she understood her job etc. We felt that we had a bigger responsibility towards her as she was so young. She has worked before, and i had references from her old jobs, she recently moved to the area (her parents were from here originally).

The excuse was that they didnt like the idea of keyholding, and collecting/returning to the office. (they live 10 doors away from me in the office), perhaps the evenings werent suited to her after all. 5-8pm.

[Kevin White]

My advice would be treat them as individuals, you get good and bad from any walk of life.
The only point I would make which is a legal requirement is to alter your Risk Assessments etc to accomodate their lack of experience and Maturity.
You also need to allow if they require it time off for further education, I believe. I haven,t had to go down this route my self, Yet.

Regards
Kevin

[angela stone]

Hi,

it's now against the law now not to give someone a job due to their age.  You have to make decisions on people's ability to do the job rather than their age

have a look at this:
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1046

When I was 17, I had a full time job and 3 part time jobs and I was good at all of them!

Anyway, I have worked with plenty of lazy older people in my time who couldn't be bothered, age shouldn't be a factor.  It should be a good omen that they want a job instead of going for the easy option of the dole.

Give em a trial 
Ange

[newbroom]

I currently have 2 members of staff who are in their teens, they have been given an opportunity and both have grasped it, Fortunate for me definately , but then again i have developed a nose for staff over the years and age should be no barrier.

The two young ladies i employ are paid the same hourly rate has everyone else, i expect them to meet the same standards of performance/service has their more mature colleagues so why shouldn't they be rewarded to the same level has well.

Its too easy to see all ypong people as feckless, lazy job dodgers. I would rather have a young person to develop & mould than a person with alleged x amount of years cleaning experience only to find they have loads of experience at playing the system.

Judge each employee on merit not age or gender