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Teenagers

"Gap years"

5 replies

jjjaaaccc123 · 15/06/2013 00:00

A lot of teenagers will want to venture into a gap year when they have finished college. As much as my daughter adored doing a ski season, I recommend not going to work with a company called "workaseason" (www.workaseason.com), the way they treated my daughter and other employees was appalling. One of the managers working in a kitchen with them burned them with a hot ladle and he wasn't even fired instantly, it took complaints of bullying from three members of staff to get rid of him and no further legal action was taken. My daughter will now have a scar for life. More so, they were constantly subjected to favouritism. Lots of the 18 and 19 year olds stated that they were pretty much laughed at whilst the older staff (23+ who didn't like to go out drinking) were given much more praise and never checked up on. And when they did do things wrong it was brushed under the carpet. In the lead up to the season they were very disorganised, hardly contacting my daughter at all and they were absolutely useless with wages too. I know a seasonairre wage is low but they were paid £105 a month with £150 living allowance. They were only given one day off a week and sometimes had to work the upmost of 10 hours a day.
I believe my daughter and the other staff were treated completely unfairly and I recommend you never stay with Esprit, Inghams or Ski Total because they treat their staff so terribly and that would make me feel awful for staying with their company.
If anyone has any similar experience do let me know!

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Catnipbush · 15/06/2013 00:12

I can't read this! It needs paragraphs.

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specialsubject · 15/06/2013 17:53

assault is not standard and workplace bullying does happen. At least the bully was fired eventually. Crap admin isn't good either, but many companies have that problem.

Those hours are standard and would all have been in the contract. All seasonnaires do six days with long hours. Remember they don't pay any housing costs, and ski staff should be able to organise themselves to have time on the slopes, with a free lift pass and equipment. Factor that cost in. Clearly your daughter also had enough cash to buy booze, and you say she 'adored' her season. So not sure why there are problems with any of this.

most of the youngsters do take a while to realise that they aren't on holiday, and do need to be closely supervised. Their managers will be promoted ski staff and quality there will be variable too.

and finally - why didn't your daughter get a job directly with a ski company?

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jjjaaaccc123 · 15/06/2013 22:05

specialsubject
Yes unfortunately it does, but no further action was taken.
Yes, we've been on many ski holidays before so understand what seasonnaire weeks are like, fortunately the wage is meant to be changing this year!
Yes, we met her managers and did not feel he was very good at his job - very young and had no previous managerial experience and never praised them even when they received great feedback.

Luckily my daughter did get some good tips and a Christmas present of Euros was sent with her, so she did have some money for a good time.

She didn't get a job directly as she had never done a season before and therefore didn't know where to start. Lots of people she worked with also had this issue and wish they'd gone direct!

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cory · 16/06/2013 10:10

Not sure if I am correct, but it does sound as if you were and are very involved with your daughter's work situation seeing that she took a job as a young adult.

And that you somehow expected her to be treated as a school child on a supervised holiday rather than as an adult coming in at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy. Surely it is normal when you take a job as an inexperienced worker that older and more experienced colleagues will get more praise and recognition - because they are better at the job. This is not a school assembly where every 5yo should expect to get the HT's award at some stage.

Yes, the assault was bad, but the man has been sacked.

But if I were your daughter, I would ask you to back out of her life a bit: she has her own way to make in the world and she needs to make it. That means fighting her own battles and vetting her own managers.

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specialsubject · 16/06/2013 11:05

I have to agree with Cory. Helicopter parenting of seasonnaires REALLY pisses off the companies and managers. I've actually seen some job application pages which say 'applications made by parents will be rejected'. Clearly this is a common problem.

the job and the management has to be done by the young, older people have committments and families, and also the pace is too much once you are past 45. Believe me, I know.

£255 a month is plenty with no living costs, even if food has to be bought. If food is provided then it is just pocket money and is also loads. If it was all spent at the bar -well, tough. Doubtless she got loads of skiing, so had a good time.

I really don't see the problem. She wanted a season in the snow (nothing wrong with that) and the contract terms were spelt out.

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