Negotiate a cash rate for trail work shifts
There is a growing trend in workplaces across Australia to offer prospective employees the opportunity of a trial shift. You are cautioned when these offers a May to establish the ground rules for a trail shift.In some cases you will find that they will expect you to do 1 2 or 3 hours work for free well they evaluate for nature or skills. This is best avoided as in Australian culture this is unfair to you and 2 other employees already working at the business. It is recommended that you would only take on such a trial opportunity if you had heard good things or had a particular good feeling about the business, the operator for the opportunity.
Other times you might be offered a trial shift where you will be paid at the end of the week as part of the normal payroll. All too often trial employees that are unsuccessful in these official work trials are overlooked, forgotten or find it difficult to be paid. This is not typically intentional, it's just a reflection of how busy the business is and the paperwork involved in registering a new employee so they can be paid officially "on the books". Every time a new employee is added to the systems, it probably requires 1/2 hours of work for the accounts person to register the new employee AND account their payroll to the Australian Taxation Office at the end of the financial year.
It's probably the best idea if you're offered a trial is to identify or negotiate that you received a cash payment at the end of the trial shift. This will typically be lower and the official pay rate or rounded down to the nearest $5. For example the classic coffee shop trial might net you $15 per hour cash and a very tidy $45 for a 3 hour hour trial. By establishing this type of trial in a pleasant way we'll show a business smarts and earn some respect.
