I don't agree with this if the job trial is for a trade or craft for example, that can only really be learned while doing the job hands on, and while needing to be supervised continuously. The firms can sometimes be taking a big risk with someone under these circumstances, who has no experience and can be handling expensive or difficult to work with tools or materials in a potentially hazardous environment. It also works both ways and could give someone the opportunity to realise quite quickly that they don't actually want to do that job after all, as well as being helpful to future employers to decide who has the apptitude for a job or apprenticeship.
I was asked to mentor a young lad under these circumstances a few years ago. He had spent one year at collage and wanted to be a plasterer but had never worked outside of small bays at collage. His first job was to plaster a small ceiling while I did a large living room one. He panicked and realised quite quickly that a tiny ceiling done at leisure in collage is quite different from the real world. I had to take over and do them both because he was incompetent. He then tried to pour waste material down the sink because there was no skip. That would have blocked the pipework and drains and cost a lot to have unblocked. He couldn't drive so had to be picked up and dropped off. He didn't want to clean up because there should be labourers to do that! He didn't want to carry 25kg bags if plaster upstairs because they were too heavy! He didn't want to screed floors because it made his back sore. He didn't like getting wet or working off scaffolding or dusty environments. Despite it all I was nice to him because he was young, and everyone deserves a chance. Should he have been paid? no because he didn't actually produce anything that would have passed, I had to do my work and his, I should have been paid extra for having him. His father phoned me a few weeks after he left to thank me for having him. He said his son had realised that construction didn't suit him and he hated the pressure and working conditions. He had taken a job in a warehouse and loved it!
If unpaid work trials stop, companies will simply not give people the opportunity to try, or prove themselves and be given a job. Why should they what would be the point? It makes more sense from a business perspective to simply hire experienced workers when needed.
Having said that, the trials shouldn't go on longer that 12 weeks, that should be long enough for both parties to make a decision. I have also seen young men getting jobs after a short unpaid trial, and I learned to hang paper, basic plumbing etc by being a labourer for free when I was younger outside of my job. Admittedly I was quite fascinated by different trades, tools, skills etc and I wanted to learn them all!
