What would you expect to do for £7.50 an hour in an office!!

[Tootiredforthis]

Ok.....no double entendre meant!

We are a small business and employ an admin person and pay her as above. However she seems unable to do much other than answer the phone. (which isn't very busy )
We are not based in London...so no extra wages for that...could we expect some sort of computer literacy or database knowledge for this wage or am I dreaming? Can't afford to pay more at the moment but could do with a bit more help. Any other admin type people out there? What do you get paid and what's expected of you? Thanks

[Ivykaty44]

Answer the phone, type letters, do the post, answer enquiries, have knowledge of word, internet... make tea take the rubbish oput, fix the printer, set up the computer, set up slides and conference room.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

We pay our office manager/PA/financial manager (because she is all of those things!) £13.00 an hour. As well as secretarial/PA skills, she is also trained on SAGE so deals with all our invoices/VAT and the accountant.

£7.50 doesn't seem a lot tbh, so I wouldn't expect much more than basic secretarial/office duties.

[Podrick]

Computer literacy - yes definitely
Database knowledge - you should be able to find someone with basic knowledge for this rate imo

I would not expect to pay someone and have them doing nothing during long periods between phonecalls

[Helennn]

But basic secretarial should involve being able to touch type, file and do all that Ivykaty says. Big difference between normal secretarial and the £13 per hour PA deal.

I would be happy to do normal secretarial for £7.50 per hour, (I am a qualified PA).

However, we did get a secretary foisted on us once to take over from me when I left. When I asked her to type something she sat there with the piece of paper in her left hand, typing with just her right. Not a good start . She argued that she could type and didn't understand why she should use both hands.

[Lovemyshoes]

I answer phones, do the filing, train staff, supervise the office, sort invoices etc arrange meetings, input reams of data a day for a hell of alot less money than 7.50.

[Flynnie]

Ime plenty of London companies would pay that and expect more then just answering the phone.

Its a reasonably normal wage for non specialized general admin work.

[Tootiredforthis]

this is interesting for me...basic secretarial duties are what I'm after I think...but how would you define them? Know its not a big wage..but could I expect a working knowledge of Excel and an ability to input data accurately? (Ivvykaty44..would you like a job?!)

[MABS]

interesting. I am currently ooking for someone to do basic admin for 10/12 hrs per week, paying £8 per hour. Really struggling to get serious applicants. Most are really looking for full time, so just lookin at my job as stop gap - i just can't risk that.

[MABS]

interesting. I am currently ooking for someone to do basic admin for 10/12 hrs per week, paying £8 per hour. Really struggling to get serious applicants. Most are really looking for full time, so just lookin at my job as stop gap - i just can't risk that.

[Helennn]

Mabs, where are you?

Seriously, I would love an admin job paying £8 per hour for 10/12 hours per week. This would suit me perfectly, so don't see why it shouldn't suit somebody else.

And tootired, I don't really think it's too much to expect a secretary to be able to do Excel and data input, I would have thought those were both pretty standard for a secretary these days, (some of us are quite well qualified and trained you know ).

[blametheparents]

MABS - I'm surprised you haven't got people biting your arm off for a job like that. Surely it would suit loads of mums with school age children?
The only problem would be if you were asking for 2hours per day, that would be tricky for the school holidays

[Nappyzoneisabeetrootrunner]

some basic finance stuff - petty cash, pay invoices, orders....

[Nappyzoneisabeetrootrunner]

alot of people want part time but 16hrs or more for tax credit qualification.

[Ronaldinhio]

MABS have you tried advertising the role throught the jobcentre?
You'll get loads of replies that way.

IME £7.50 will give you a very, very basic candidate as it equates to a ft salary of around £15k. This genuinely is the lowest entry level unless you are very Northern/Scottish/NI

If you up the payrate to £9ph you will get someone a decent level of skill more likely to stay in the position.

[Helennn]

Um Ronaldinhio, I don't know where you live but around here £7.50 is not bad at all and certainly £15k is a pretty good full-time salary. However, I live in Devon so maybe this is not a well paying area, but I'm sure we're not that far out.

As I said before I am a qualified PA, have RSA grade 3 WP and typing, ECDL parts 1 and 2 etc etc and would be happy to work for £7.50 per hour. I would be dancing at £9 per hour.

[Ronaldinhio]

helenn..you do live in a low pay area

A decent PA here would expect to be paid anywhere between 13 and 40 per hour

We find it hard to get students to work for that sort of money now

[pavlovthecat]

Drink coffee. Perhaps answer a phone if I am not sipping coffee.

[Helennn]

Okay, knew it was low, but didn't know it was that low.

[WolframAlpha]

yes agree with ronaldinhio, the skill set you can get for a certain wage very much depends on the area.

[pavlovthecat]

Seriously £7.50 should get you some-one with a good working knowledge of word/excel, and some initiative to get on with things - in the south west. You should be able to have the office running ok, stationary up to date, filing done, post done (opened, sent), data entry, information providing. Coffee included.

[Helennn]

Hiya pavlov, I am in the South West, funny that. Everybody else is obviously paid Way too much!

[pavlovthecat]

i think £7.50 is reasonable down here, its about the same as a call centre job, possible more and they are required to have a certain level of incompetence.

[Helennn]

It's obviously the price we have to pay for being able to get to the beach in 5 minutes flat

[pavlovthecat]

exactly! You cant expect high productivity as everyone is at the beach all summer, hence a lower wage

[unknownrebelbang]

I think my clerical staff colleagues (public sector working within the CJS) would be on around £15 pa starting point and would be expected to undertake a full range of general office skills, including database knowledge.

Locally we are a low-paid area, but thost payscales are national, and better than lots of the jobs advertised locally.