Trial shifts: how long should one be, and should it be paid?
I have been asked to do a "trial" at a café that turned out to be a full Saturday, unpaid. I was pulling shots for paying customers for six hours. Is that normal? How long is a fair trial, and what is the rule on paying for it in different countries?
A trial is an interview on the bar. It should be long enough to see you dial in, steam milk, handle a small rush and talk to a customer, and no longer. That is 60–90 minutes. Anything that looks like covering a shift is work, and work is paid.
What the rules look like in the places members ask about most:
| Country | Unpaid trial legal? | Practical norm |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Only if it is a genuine assessment, not productive work | 1–2 hours; a full shift must be paid at least minimum wage |
| Germany | "Probearbeiten" of a few hours is tolerated; a full day is employment | 2–4 hours; ask for it to be paid |
| Netherlands | Unpaid "proefdag" is a grey area; productive work should be paid | Half a day at most |
| Australia | Unpaid trial only for a short skills demonstration; longer is wage theft | 1 hour; a full shift is paid work |
| Ireland | Same principle as the UK | 1–2 hours |
| USA | Federal rule: if the business benefits, it is work and must be paid | Many shops pay a "working interview" at base rate |
| Canada | Provincial rules; unpaid productive work is generally illegal | Paid working interview |
Three things worth saying out loud before you go in:
1. Ask what the trial covers and how long it is. A shop that cannot answer has not thought about you.
2. If it runs past two hours or you are serving customers alone, it is a shift. It is fine to say: "Happy to keep going, can we agree it is paid from here?"
3. A good shop uses the trial to sell itself to you too. Watch how the head barista treats the newest person on the bar. That is your future.
If a shop asked you for a six-hour unpaid Saturday and did not hire you, you are usually owed that day at minimum wage. Whether it is worth pursuing is your call, but it is not "normal", it is just common.
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