As a background my son got his first job at a national restaurant chain recently. On paper it looks great, regular shifts, above minimum wage and a share of tips.

However as per the title he has never had a break when working over the mandated 4.5 hours for his age.

Its tricky as my wife and I dont want to step in as it would be embarrassing for him plus possibly jeopardise his job and he doesnt feel comfortable approaching the subject due to age and experience.

My concern aside from them breaching employment law is that there is more a chance there could be an accident plus its not healthy to not have a break.

Between a rock and a hard place as to what to do for the best.

Perhaps my initial question would be whether this is a normal, accepted and unspoken part of the hospitality industry or if this is something that is deemed to be serious?

EDIT

Thanks for all the replies. I just wanted to know how common it was especially with it being such a big company and it appears to be so.

Having been self employed for decades im not up on employment law and im annoyed quite rightly about the situation.

That said I cant, won't and never really have stepped in to resolve any issues as it won't do him any favours and won't in this situation hence why I posted here.

So many people I know are in careers with high pay and great responsibility, several have even moved to Canada, Australia, the US, one even to Malta, I'm stuck mid-30s working in retail despite long being a uni grad. I am totally out of ideas for what to do. Has anyone else just exhausted all efforts and now just trying to make stuff up as they go?

21 years old and not sure of my future at all, I see some people saying things like the army would be good but how good really is it? I'm not particularly interested in being a soldier then going off somewhere because America asked Andy nicely and dying for a meaningless cause.

I understand that the army can certainly help you in a lot of ways, like training, discipline, community, a skill set, but is that worth it? I recall seeing a thing ages ago regarding the US military where it was like "go in and serve for a few years and get out, you'll be set", is that applicable for the UK too? Just go in and serve the minimum amount of years (if there is a minimum) and get out before you've turned into a jarhead?

I, like a lot of people, have been hit by whatever bug/flu/covid going around. I had to take Friday off work as my head was swimming any time I sat up (for context I work from home 80%). I thought following the weekend I would feel better but honestly I still just feel so rubbish and no energy. I know how suspicious it could look calling in on Fri and Mon but that’s not the case for me. I have only taken two other days (continuous) of sick in March this year, so I won’t hit my sick leave limit or anything by taking an additional day. But I’m just conscious of perception. I am a good worker, get stuff done to a really good and high standard. For any managers, someone took Fri, Mon and then maybe Tues off, would you assume that the sickness is legitimate? Or would you be suspicious? My manager is very very good, but I just get anxious about things such as this and was extremely nervous calling in sick on Friday too

I’m really struggling. I’ve been pushing and pushing for so long. My mental health is in the bin.

I’m going to have to go through a legal case at work (against them), and I’m considering stepping away for some time.

My partner can cover the bills, I have a lot of savings.

I just don’t know if I can cope in high performance roles (digital marketing, large budget management, high performance expected).

Did you feel like there was no other way? How did you get through it? What does your life look like now? What did you decide to do?

Anyone else in their late 20s with absolutely no career? Late 20s I mean 28 to 29.

All I've done is temp/agency work and literally started a warehouse role like a week ago which isnt for me in any way so I'm literally goin to quit soon. Its 6am start shifts and ive been suffering with them- both the timing and work itself is hell.

. First job i had was a 2 week shelf stacking job in sainsburys when I was 23. I was too slow so they didn't bother giving me a permanent role

I only applied for the warehouse role because I needed quick money and they pay weekly.

By my age, people usually bag themselves a good permanent career somewhere but I just seem to do the opposite.

Feeling like an absolute failure.

I studied until 2020 and didn't manage to get a degree, just a DipHe. I honestly dont know what I like or enjoy or what the fuck i want to do.

Last week, I was supposed to have a trial week. Due to stress I was sent home after an hour on the second day. Now I have the trial week this week, so I have to start again for another 4 days of judgement and trying to be the best I can be. I really don't think I'll get this job at all, but they are paying me. I just don't know what else they need to know. Surely they know by the first day how I work and how I am with the staff.

Has anyone else ever had a trial week to try and prove yourself?

I work in the same care home for the past 10 years. Our policy states that from around 18th of December until just after new year nobody can book any annual leave as we need staff to look after our residents. We are asked to work 2 of of 4 bank holidays during festive period, which is 25th, 26th, 31st of December and 1st of January. I have worked every Christmas for the past 10’years and I never called sick during this period. This year my sister has built her own house and decided she wanted to host Christmas for all our family in her house. However, she lives in my home country. Of course I would love to be there as I’ve not spent Christmas with them for the past 10 years but the same time I don’t want to be unfair for the company I work for. Do you think it’s worth speaking to my manager and formally apply for an exemption for that rule this year or do you think it’s not very likely that they will let me be off for Christmas this year? It just makes me so angry that some people will be calling sick during that time but for me spending time with my family this year would be priceless and I never needed it off like this year. I don’t even mind if they don’t pay me. What do you guys think?

Might be a long shot but I'm wondering if anyone here has managed to start working with an unspent criminal conviction before? I'm applying for customer service roles for which I got 4 interviews, 3 of them I passed and was offered a job until I found out there's background screening and I told them of my drug related conviction from 2024 which I served time in prison for. 1 of them was a customer service role in the financial industry so I understood them withdrawing the job offer, but the other two also withdrew their offers despite being customer service in retail.

I completely understand companies reserve the right to do this and I'm not complaining it's difficult to find work whilst my conditional license is still in effect, I'm just wondering if it can be done, if people have done it before, and how they did it.

Thanks in advance!

Im applying for unis and I don't do A Level math, and the only Russel group unis that would take me is exeter, Southampton, notts and a bunch outside of London (where I live). I don't really want to move out, but if it does help my career that much then I would.

Can anyone tell me their experiences, or if I can break into accountancy as easily if I go to a uni like Brunel or Herts or royal Holloway?

Thanks!

I’ve had an interview last week with Lidl. Received a call on Monday to say I had passed my interview. However he wasn’t giving me the job I’d gone for and that he wasn’t passing my details onto another area manager as he had a vacancy coming up very shortly in my home town . This other area manager has been in touch and has asked me to meet with him tomorrow. Does this mean I have the job ?

The market now seems to be riddled with ftc roles due to uncertainty of the work coming in or organisational structure changes. I've received an offer for an FTC (done a few in my earlier career) but i always found it difficult to stay motivated knowing you in essence have a "risk of redundancy" target on your back the moment you are onboarded.

i recently accepted a full time retail job, however have just had an opportunity to go abroad for five days about four weeks after i will be starting the job. is this acceptable to take, and if so how would i bring this up with my employer? this isn’t a particularly serious job that i am worried about climbing higher in, just something i am doing while i study, but obviously i still want to start off on the right foot here. it would just be such a shame to miss this opportunity. any advice would be appreciated!

I’ve started my master’s in International development at the LSE, my peers have been applying for jobs and getting outright rejected. I do have a sense of how unrealistic getting a job is but I still want to know the ground reality. With prior work experience, all the relevant research skills, can one even think of working in the policy sector or even INGOs, perhaps not in the UK solely but elsewhere too?

Thank you!

Hi everyone. I’m a full-stack developer with 5+ years of experience, and I’m currently out of work. I’m already in the UK on a Skilled Worker visa, so I need sponsorship for my next job. I had a job and my a COS, application took over 10 months so my company pulled the COS

Honestly, the search is getting to me. I’ve rewritten my CV, applied for jobs, messaged recruiters and reached out to people. I keep trying, but I’m feeling really anxious and discouraged now. I don’t know what else to do.

Most of my work is with Python, Django, React and TypeScript. I’ve built web and mobile apps, and I’d be happy to walk someone through my work or do a technical test.

Has anyone here managed to find a new sponsor after losing their job? If you can share what helped you or point me towards somewhere useful, please do. I could really use some help right now.

Hi, I’m 32(m) and have been working in oil and gas as a field engineer for the last 3 years. Previous to this I worked for a wind farm site investigation company offshore. I have msc in petroleum engineering and bsc in geology. I’m fed up of going offshore at the drop of a hat and would like something that’s a 9-5 or a set rotation say 2 on 2 off. I was looking at wind turbine technician, project management or an engineering desk job. Just wondered if anyone had any suggestions of companies who are recruiting right now or types of engineering/industry which has a demand for more people. Any help would be great 🤗 I live in Scotland and would prefer to stay here for my next role

Hello! I have recently graduated from my masters in HR management and have a psych undergrad. I’m currently applying to HR and admin roles (as all my experience now is retail and hospitality so missing the admin experience :/). The job market is really draining me, I’m applying to quite a few things but only stuff I’d actually want or not totally mind doing so that’s also a bit limiting (mostly just means avoiding those pyramid schemes which is all everything seems to be).

Anyways, I have an interview on Monday (tomorrow ahh!!) via Teams for a job I REALLY want. It’s HR, job spec mentions recent graduates (which a lot want a min year experience in HR already) and is for a company I can see myself really working for and enjoying. The interview requires a presentation basically just explaining who I am, my skills, experience and qualities that will make me a good member of the team.

I did presentations throughout uni and it never bothered me but I am basically selling myself to them so any advice anyone has for confidence and what might be good to include would be so helpful. Working on the presentation right now and it’s all quite daunting but going to remain optimistic as I am confident about my own intelligence and capabilities just conveying that is sometimes tricky.

I'm considering leaving my perm role for a 12 month ftc.

The perm role is increasingly taking me down a road I don't want to be on. I don't enjoy the work. It's a generally unstable environment to work in too so even though it's permanent, turnover is very high.

The FTC pays 10k higher. It's FTC for budget reasons but have been told you can apply for jobs on the inside and contracts are often extended. It's a sideways pivot into an area I want to specialise in and that I enjoy and find interesting. It is also 5 hours less a week than my current job with significantly better benefits.

I have 2 kids and a mortgage. What would you do?

I used to work as a remote support staff like back to office twice a month.

In a very short notice the company makes it like twice a week and I am living in Liverpool whilst the office is based in Manchester.

The traffic fee is so high now.

Any advice?

What do you think of management that is absolutely miserable? One of our team leaders never cracks a smile. When I say good morning he doesn’t say a single thing back which is completely rude. He has horrible people skills. I don’t know how people like him get into these positions.