Many employers recently have had struggles maintaining teenage workers. But what attracts teenagers to a job? What makes them stay? What makes them want to show up to work? A study from Harvard says that most young workers that change jobs are moving for better pay and hours. 

“There’s definitely a huge issue with teenagers and reliability,” Amanda Larsen, executive team leader at Target said. “Calling out and showing up late is a consistent thing.” 

Larsen has 12 teenagers currently in her employ. With this unreliability, it’s a wonder why employers hire teenagers in the first place. Larsen said a benefit of hiring teenage workers is that they don’t need full shifts and can fill in the gaps in the schedule. She also mentions an urgency teenagers possess. “We are super busy running around delivering orders and taking care of guests,” Larsen said. “I would say the urgency is there with teenagers. There’s motivation there.” 

“One thing that I really need is flexibility because of my changing schedule,” said Luke Williams, a Clearfield High School senior. Williams is involved in both theater and dance. Between school and his other activities, he is limited in his time. 

Many teenagers are involved in a variety of things beyond just school. Jobs unwilling to help work around the extracurriculars they participate in cause an “unreliability.” 

“The hours were super weird because sometimes I would come in and I’d only be able to stay three hours and they send you home,” Clearfield High School senior Grace Owen said. “Or sometimes you’d work overtime.”

Emberlee Hogg, a Syracuse High School senior, looks for a job that is going to pay well in addition to the flexibility issue. Higher paying jobs attract more applicants. As teenagers are saving for college, a car, moving out or they just need money for activities and gas, they look for higher paying jobs to provide a better paycheck. They earn more for the limited hours they can work. 

The people they work with also have an effect. “I’ve had really great coworkers that make it fun to go to work and I’ve had some great managers that are very encouraging,” Hogg said. Working in a job with no other people their age or with rough managers, makes it hard to want to come to work. 

Above all Hogg said she wants “a job that is going to be fun, and just rewarding to go to.”