The Work Trial Run, From Written Terms to a Dated Decision

A work trial is supervised, real work, anywhere from one shift to several paid days, that an employer runs as the last step before an offer. This guide is for candidates who already have the invite. It takes you in order from loose verbal terms to a signed trial agreement, through the trial days without putting your current job at risk, and out with either a dated decision or a clean exit. Steps 1 to 5 finish before the trial starts. The debrief goes out within 48 hours of the end.

What is a work trial, and what should you expect?

A work trial is a stretch of directed work on the employer's real problems, usually one shift for hourly roles or 1 to 5 days for knowledge roles, and it often comes with a short trial agreement. It is not a take-home. Someone directs you while you work, and that is what raises the questions about pay, employment status, and ownership of what you produce.

A few terms used throughout:

• Trial shift: an hourly-role trial, typically one shift in hospitality or retail, often offered unpaid.
• Paid project trial: a knowledge-work trial of one or more days, paid as a flat fee or by the hour.
• Employer of record: the legal entity that pays you, either through payroll as an employee or as a contractor.
• Trial agreement: the written contract for the trial. It covers pay, confidentiality, ownership of the work, early termination, and a statement that the trial does not guarantee a job.
• PIIA: a proprietary information and inventions assignment agreement. Most employees sign one, and it assigns their inventions to their employer.

The few employers that publish their formats vary widely in length and pay. In the table, the totals and hourly figures are derived from the published facts.

The comparison that matters is per hour. Automattic's reported 40 hours at about $25 an hour comes to $1,000, the same as PostHog's one-day flat fee. The employer spends the same, but you spend about 5x the time. When you get an invite, convert the offer to an hourly figure before you compare it with anything else.

Expect the work to be deliberately hard to finish. PostHog's handbook says its SuperDay task is "designed to be too much work for one person to complete in a day". It also says PostHog pays a $500 term fee if it cancels. A trial that seems over-scoped may be over-scoped on purpose. What gets judged is how you prioritise, so plan to log what you chose not to do and why.

Before you accept, it helps to know which requirements the trial is likely to probe. Refolk scores your history against the posting, and the weakest-fit lines in that score are where a supervisor's task is most likely to land.

Is a trial shift supposed to be paid?

In the US, the federal default is yes. Work an employer "suffers or permits" counts as hours worked, and the federal hours-worked fact sheet has no trial or try-out exemption. Elsewhere the answer depends on the jurisdiction. The rule to apply is the one where you physically do the work, not the one where the company is headquartered.

US federal

DOL Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet #22 applies the statutory definition of "employ", which includes "to suffer or permit to work". In the fact sheet's words, work "not requested but suffered or permitted to be performed is work time that must be paid for by the employer." Nothing in it carves out trials. If you are doing work the employer permits, the federal default is that the time is paid.

California

The DLSE Enforcement Policies and Interpretations Manual (section 46.7) accepts "try out time" as unpaid only if all three of these conditions hold:

1. The time is spent testing skills, not training you.
2. The employer gets no productivity from the work you do.
3. The length is reasonable under the circumstances.

The manual sets no fixed time limit. It says "the rate of pay for the occupation can usually be used as a guide", and it notes that testing a sewing machine operator takes much less time than testing a computer programmer. Teaching you the employer's software counts as training, so that time must be paid.

The productivity condition is the one that usually fails in knowledge-work trials. A task built to be too much for one day, or a real internal project, produces usable output by design.

UK

No statute addresses trial shifts directly. The government's position in 2021 was that multi-shift unpaid trials "are likely to create an entitlement to minimum wage in all but very exceptional circumstances", and it said a few hours may be reasonable. In Karimi v Fadi Ltd (2022), a tribunal said a trial "should be a brief time for one or possibly two shifts at most". The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not prohibit trial shifts either. A Lords amendment that would have required minimum wage for work done with a view to a position was withdrawn.

Treat that figure as a proxy, not a measurement. In 2018 the government told Parliament that "the Government, the courts and the trade unions do not hold any statistics on unpaid trial shifts."

Australia

The Fair Work Ombudsman treats a brief unpaid trial as lawful only when it is a skills demonstration, directly supervised, that "could range from an hour to one shift". Anything longer, or anything that produces work the business uses, should be paid. A paid engagement also brings the Fair Work Information Statement, a payslip, and accurate records of your hours and pay.

What must the trial agreement say before day one?

The agreement has to put eleven terms in writing before you start. Most matter is the decision date, the IP trigger, and pay for an early end. One published paid trial template covers insurance and right-to-work checks, confidentiality, ownership of the work, ending the trial early with pay for time worked, and a statement that the trial guarantees no job, "with a date by which the employer will give its decision."

Here is each term, what it protects, and what it looks like when it fails:

1. Pay basis and amount. Per hour, per day, or fixed, "paid whatever the outcome". It fails when the amount depends on the outcome, or when only a total is stated with no hours, so you cannot work out the hourly rate.
2. Hours and dates. These cap your exposure and fix the hourly rate. They fail when the hours are open-ended or "as needed".
3. Supervisor. This names who will judge you and who to debrief. It fails when no single person owns the trial.
4. Employer of record and status. Employee through payroll with a right-to-work check, or contractor with a Form W-9. It fails when you are told you are a contractor but your hours are set and someone tells you how to work.
5. IP ownership and its trigger. This is the moment ownership passes: on creation, or on payment. Templates usually keep the rights with the employer by default.
6. Confidentiality scope. This covers what you may not disclose and for how long. It fails when it is broad enough to stop you describing the trial in future interviews.
7. Early termination. Either side can end the trial, and you are paid for time worked. It fails when there is no pay language for a partial trial. Published templates say only "pay for time worked". How partial days are paid is not publicly established, so ask.
8. Non-employment statement. Templates stress that "the work trial does not create a permanent employment relationship." This clause is normal. It means nothing is promised, which is why the decision date matters.
9. Decision date. A dated outcome. It fails when the field is blank or says "shortly".
10. Equipment. Whose laptop and whose accounts you will use. This matters for the current-employer check below.
11. Payment timing and method. When the money arrives and through which route.

The IP trigger matters most when it is combined with the pay terms. In one contractor template, ownership passes on payment: "once the Company has paid for them, all work results the Contractor creates for the Company under this agreement belong to the Company." Under an on-creation clause, the employer owns the output the moment it exists, paid or not.

Get every term into one email, in your words, and ask the recruiter to reply confirming it. If they then send a formal agreement, check it against your email line by line.

Subject: Confirming the work trial terms before [start date]

Hi [recruiter name],

Thanks for the invite. Before I schedule time off, could you confirm these terms in a reply or in the trial agreement:

1. Dates and hours: [dates], [start to end time each day], [total hours]
2. Pay: [amount] per [hour / day / flat], paid regardless of outcome
3. Paid as: employee through payroll, or contractor (W-9)? Which forms should I bring?
4. Payment date and method: [date], [method]
5. Supervisor: [name and role]
6. Equipment: I will use a personal device unless you are providing one
7. IP: does ownership of my work pass on creation or on payment?
8. Early end: if either side stops the trial early, I am paid for time worked
9. Confidentiality: what scope and duration?
10. Decision date: I will have your decision by [date]

Once I have these in writing I will confirm my availability.

Thanks,
[name]

How do you do a work trial while employed?

Do it on personal time, on a personal device, on a task unrelated to your current employer's business, and only after you have read your PIIA and your moonlighting policy. Your current employment contract can claim work you do elsewhere. A trial agreement that is fine on its own terms can still put you in conflict with your current employer.

The contracts stack up like this:

The California carve-out and its limits

California Labor Code section 2870 excludes from assignment any invention the employee "developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information". There is an exception: inventions that "relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer's business" can still be claimed. Section 2872 requires employers to attach or reference the 2870 carve-out text, so a California PIIA should have that notice as an exhibit. If yours does not, note it and ask counsel.

The carve-out fails in two ways:

• Equipment. You did the trial on your work laptop, or during working hours.
• Relatedness. The trial task relates to your current employer's business, which is likely when you are moving to a direct competitor or an adjacent product.

Outside California

Most US states follow the common law rule, with no statutory limit on invention assignment. In those states, the wording of your PIIA is the whole answer. Read the assignment clause for phrases such as "related to the business" or "during the term of employment" and judge whether the trial task falls inside them.

Moonlighting and conflict-of-interest policies apply on top of any IP rules. They can bar outside paid work even when no invention is involved.

The sources on employee IP do not say where this check belongs in a trial sequence. I put it before signing the trial agreement, because the answer can change which tasks you can accept.

The work trial run, step by step

The run has seven steps. Five finish before the start date, one covers the trial days, and one goes out within 48 hours of the end. The pre-trial steps take about a week in total, so ask for a start date that leaves room for them.

On paperwork for step 3: the contractor route needs a Form W-9. The employee route means a right-to-work check. The I-9 timing rules are not covered here, so check them on the USCIS I-9 pages before you agree a start date.

What should you record on each trial day?

Keep a same-day task log. It is your evidence of hours worked, of whether the trial was training or testing, of whether your output was used, and of your own performance. It is also often your only income record.

For each session, log:

• Date, start time, end time, and breaks
• Each task, who assigned it, and when
• Any time spent being taught the employer's tools or processes (this counts as training)
• What you finished, what you deferred, and why
• Whether anyone said the output will be used, shipped, or kept
• The device and accounts you used

The tool-teaching and "will be used" entries map directly onto the DLSE conditions. If a supervisor says your fix is going into production, write that down. It is the productivity condition failing as it happens.

The log also matters for tax. A US business has to file Form 1099-NEC only when its payments to a contractor in a calendar year reach a threshold: $2,000 for payments from 2026, adjusted for inflation from 2027. The figure will change, so check the current threshold with the IRS rather than relying on this page. Both published trial totals in the employer table are below $2,000, so a single trial may produce no 1099 at all. You still owe tax on the income, and your log plus the payment record is what you will have.

PostHog's format allows the day to be split: "we can split the SuperDay across two or more sessions." If you are employed, ask for a split that falls on days off rather than squeezing sessions around your working hours. That keeps your personal-time position clean.

How do work trials go wrong?

Most trial disputes come from one of seven gaps that were visible before day one. Each item below names the signal, what it falsely suggests, and the check that exposes it.

1. A "paid contractor" label on supervised work

The W-9 suggests independence. If you have set hours and a supervisor who tells you how to do the work, the label is a false positive. Check: who controls how, when, and where the work is done. If the employer controls all three, ask why the trial is not on payroll.

2. IP that transfers on creation, not on payment

"Paid trial" sounds safe. With an on-creation trigger, though, an employer that ends the trial early and does not pay still owns everything you made. Check: find the trigger wording and compare it with the on-payment model ("once the Company has paid for them").

3. "Test, not training", while you are taught their tools or your output ships

The employer may call the trial a skills test. Under the DLSE test, any training or any productivity makes the time paid. Check: will any deliverable be used after the trial? Did you spend time learning their software? Either one means the time should be paid.

4. Your current employer's laptop, or a related task

The 2870 carve-out does not protect work done on employer equipment or work that relates to the employer's business. The Automattic side-project report is this failure mode in practice. Check: the PIIA exhibit, your device, and the task brief, before you sign.

5. No decision date

The trial ends, nobody owns the outcome, and you are left waiting while still employed. Check: the decision-date field is filled in before you start. If the employer will not commit to a date, that tells you something about how decisions get made there.

6. A UK candidate assumes unpaid trials are now banned

The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains no prohibition on trial shifts, and the minimum wage amendment was withdrawn. Earlier attempts also stopped short of law: the Unpaid Trial Work Periods (Prohibition) Bill was introduced on 19 July 2017 and had its second reading on 16 March 2018. Check: apply the minimum wage test and the tribunal guidance of one or two shifts at most, not a ban that does not exist.

7. Reading the counsel counts below as the full market

Refolk's exact-title counts look like a measure of how many employment lawyers exist. They undercount US partners and associates whose titles leave out "Employment". Check: search by practice area, not by title alone.

Who should review a trial agreement if a clause is unclear?

Use an employment lawyer who advises individuals on invention assignment or wage claims in your jurisdiction. Matching by practice area works better than matching by job title, especially in the US.

These are exact-title matches in Refolk's index of professional profiles. The shares and ratios are derived from them.

Do not read the gap as a shortage of US counsel. In the US sample, 16 of 25 profiles carry the title "Employment Attorney". Many US specialists are partners or associates whose titles never mention employment. The top US employers in the exact-title set are USPS (3) and Constangy (2). In the UK they are PwC (4) and JMW Solicitors (3), and in Australia, IAG (2). Several of these are organisations that employ in-house counsel rather than firms advising individuals. So when you look for help, search for the practice ("invention assignment review", "minimum wage claims", "Fair Work underpayment") and confirm that the lawyer takes individual clients.

You do not need counsel for every trial. You need it when the IP trigger is on creation and the task relates to your current employer's business, or when your PIIA has no 2870 notice and you are in California. Budget 1 to 3 days for review in step 4.

What happens in the 48 hours after the trial?

Send a debrief within 48 hours that confirms your hours, summarises the work, and asks for the decision by the agreed date. Then put that date in your calendar and decide in advance what you will do if it passes. PostHog's handbook is reported to include a 48-hour decision on its side, though that comes from a secondary source. Matching that window on your side keeps the decision moving.

Subject: [Role] work trial debrief, [your name]

Hi [supervisor name],

Thank you for the [number]-day trial. A short summary:

Completed:
- [task] : [result, with a link if shared]
- [task] : [result]

Deliberately not done, and why:
- [task] : [the trade-off you made]

What I would do next with another week:
- [one or two concrete next steps]

Hours logged: [total], on [dates]. Per our agreement, payment of [amount] is due on [date] via [method].

Our agreement sets [decision date] for your decision. Could you confirm I will hear by then? I am glad to answer any questions before that.

Thanks,
[name]

If the answer is no, or the date passes with no reply, the trial still gave you something. Your task log is a dated, specific record of supervised work on a real problem, which is better material than most resume bullets. Refolk can turn that record into lines tailored to the next posting you apply to, so the trial work carries forward rather than sitting in a notes file.

If the answer is yes, go back to step 5 before you sign the offer. Read the new employer's PIIA the same way you read your current one, because the side-project problem from the Automattic report surfaced at the offer stage, not during the trial.