The other day I was asked to come onto the BBC’s Radio 2 to give my thoughts on the time-honoured custom of the ‘Saturday-Job’. This is a proper part-time job done by a school-age boys or girls, with agreed hours (often on a Saturday) and a pay-packet to show for it. As far as I can see the only thing that has changed is the little brown envelope has in most cases been replaced with a digital payment.

At WeFix London we recently hired a young lad, 16-year-old Sam Cooper, who will be working with us on a part-time basis while he continues with his studies at school. Sam’s a great lad and is really keen to get stuck in helping the rest of our team in whatever capacity he is needed.

Pleased as we always are at WeFix when we bring a new member onto the team we proudly announced Sam’s arrival on our social channels, and I was shocked at the responses from some people. You’d think I was Fagan, sending a starving orphan out into the streets to scrounge and rob people.

These types of part-time/Saturday jobs are hugely important in the same way as work-experience; both get youngsters used to the workplace environment, with part-time jobs going one stage further by developing a positive work-ethic from a young age. Getting paid for your efforts also teaches other valuable lessons, especially building an understanding that with work comes pride and self-respect, and that money honestly worked for is something to be respected.

The strange reaction on social media I’ve already mentioned took me by surprise, but thinking about recent employment trends – 4-day-weeks, demands for home working, and worrying power shift towards employees calling the shots at work, as if businesses should revolve around their social lives.

People used to say ‘the world doesn’t owe you a living’ when someone was acting even the slightest bit entitled, but many of the current generation getting into work seem to actually believe it does, and when they see a young lad like Sam standing proud in his WeFix uniform on his first day at work their first instinct is to scream ‘Exploitation!’