To think, minimum wage, minimum effort

[angelos02]

If you think all I am worth is the absolute legal minimum you can pay me then you will get the absolute minimum I can get away with. Common sense really.

I would have agreed with you only a year ago useless. In my area of work virtually every employer is horrible, but the pay and conditions are good and there is a camaraderie between employees that makes the days bearable. I am now doing the same high stress job for a third of the pay, less than someone unqualified within the profession. That actually eats into my self esteem more than having snide comments from my boss, and has really diminished my self worth and I feel like a total failure. Also the niceness is a facade. Behind the mask its the same old story, but for much less pay.

puzzled these days the employment situation is so bad that many highly qualified, very experienced people earn MW or only slightly above it.

Unlucky them rent figures are very very low for people in the south east. Even one bed flats in my home town were around £600 and even though I've moved to a cheaper area here one bed flats are still min £400 and they are shit ones.

NMW is poor. I work for less than a £1 above it but I still work hard so OP is BU, you just have to get on with it. It is not a livable wage at all and £6.31 is just pathetic.

YABU because they are at least paying you something, you could be jobless and therefore it's probably best for you to work hard and therefore stay in a job/be more likely to. That doesn't mean I don't think that it should rise quite a bit to make it a living wage, as NMW is way too low.

If you're working you do it to the best of your ability, whatever the wage.

There's plenty other people out there who will be willing to do it properly if you won't.

Someone mentioned carers, and I've worked with carers who didn't give a shit because their wage was so low. I was on £3.63 but I still gave it my all.

Lots of employers pay a lot less than minimum wages and have a variety of techniques.

While I was trying to get back into my profession I got a vets receptionist job. I was happy and grateful to take anything. Set salary of Minimum wage for a 45 hour week. Advertised as surgery hour's so a 10 hour day 5 days a week. Reality was surgery hour's PLUS an hour before and after surgery for cleaning, cashing up etc. So a 12 hour day as standard and if there was an emergency you may need to stay much longer. Only 30 minutes for lunch. So 45 hours in reality was closer to 60 hours. Forgot to add one weekend in four to be worked (10 hours Saturday and Sunday and generally no lunch). All the extra hours worked (including weekends) you were supposed to get back as holiday but no-one ever did. Employer got 13 extra hours a week. Over the course of a month of 4 weeks for argument, that's 72 unpaid hour's a month. That is easily an extra part time employee. All the receptionists had degrees and were very well qualified in their respective field. I learnt a lot in the job and anything with animals is done for love, but looking back I am glad I had other options.

Downstairs - I know! If only ...I said upthread if rents etc were reasonable NMW would be under less pressure but they aren't...
House prices/rents are a huge proportion of people's income ...
Should have been dealt with 10-15 yrs ago ...lots of buy to lets etc and people buying those at inflated prices meaning they have to charge high rents to cover their mortgages - and make a profit - it maybe too late now...too many people would be in negative equity etc

YANBU, I have just left a less than minimum wage job to pursue a slightly better paid one because of how soul destroying it is.

Unlucky, no wish to start anything but have you missed out food and clothing?

Fifyfomum - I am aiming to do the same. Because I don't get paid for travelling time between clients I clock up around 6 hours unpaid work a week. When you add this to my paid hours and divide my pay by total hours, I get paid approx £5.40 an hour. Which is illegal.

Working for nothing won't improve my prospects in this case.

Minimum wage workers are often the most hard working.

OP, you should have studied harder. No qualifications += low paid jobs.

The most important jobs there are usually pay the minimum wage. Carers, childcarers, helping people with cancer, charity workers, caring for the terminally ill, helping the disabled and on and on and on.....

It's not just qualifications but experience too...

That's another thing LaGuardia the assumption that everyone in low paid jobs is uneducated. Obviously a better education increases your chances of a better paid job but it doesn't guarantee one.

I'm almost as sick of being called stupid as I am of being called lazy :(.

^Joysmum trust me when I say that working my tea breaks would not have presented me with any opportunities.

I have plenty of self r espect.I respect myself enough to not submit to demands over and above those for which I receive my pay.My time is valuable.^

It's about being efficient and working accurately and to the best of your ability, not matter what your job. It doesn't have to mean unpaid hours.

People do work in isolation, of course they do.I have been sole employee.There was no promotion to Chief Loo Cleaner going begging.Not everyone works for big companies.

Of course some do, but as a Little Chef loo cleaning they'll not be in complete isolation. They might meet staff or customers and attitudes count.

In my DH's case, he worked hard and was lucky. He then remembered his colleague from days gone by and sought him out. If both of them had the 'just enough' attitude, neither of them would have had the opportunities to be on 6 times what they were on back in those days.

Yes there are those who are lucky, but yes there are those who don't do enough to make the most of those lucky opportunities or attract luck.

Those who just do enough in the job they are in show no signs of deserving or being capable of stepping up, especially when there are plenty of others that show so much more promise.

Depends on so many factors - how easy it is to replace you, whether you can get a promotion, whether you need a reference. Etc.

It's difficult to be motivated to work hard if your employer is making loads of money out of paying employees peanuts, just because they can. There's plenty of that going on at the moment. It does make me angry.

Oh, I've found your allocation of £300, doh! Carry on!

...these days the employment situation is so bad that many highly qualified, very experienced people earn MW or only slightly above it

Perfectly true - which is why I said that "even with a bunch of certificates a lot of jobs pay rubbish to start with"

It's often the case, though, that it's easier to get a better job if you're already working and can prove your work ethic - meaning that it can be worth taking a lower wage for a while as a "leg up" if that makes sense? It certainly doesn't guarantee anything, but with the job market as it is, surely it's worth trying?

Those who just do enough in the job they are in show no signs of deserving or being capable of stepping up, especially when there are plenty of others that show so much more promise

^^ This

If you don't like the wage, why did you take the job? No one is actually forcing you to be there to accept that wage.
I worked for just slightly over NMW and I worked damn hard and I was good at my job. I should have been more but tax credits did top it up and at the end of the week I had a very livable wage.
However, my employers did like to take the piss and kept adding more things things to my responsibilities which meant I was flat out trying to fit it all in...I will admit I thought no chance I'm not getting paid enough for this.

Ahhhh! tanacot One more time ..
NMW 40 hr week after deductions £1000 per month
I said if rent was reasonable and overly expensive say £200 pm you would have £800 to live on...
Someone said a single person basic bills and rent would be £850 pm...leaving £150 which is not enough to live on...

I disagreed - more like £700 - £200 reasonable rent and
those bills listed (and that is my situation for a family of 4 in a 3 bed house, 2 cars) would come to £500
(which someone had said wasn't possible - when it obviously is - I live it!)
So that leaves you £300 for food and clothes etc ...which is tight for a family (but then tax credits and CB) but not bad for a single person...(and their 'bills' with CT discount, smaller space to heat etc should be lower)...
So housing costs are pushing up nmw. Some small employers struggle to afford even NMW. It is a problem. Major made a really good point - if NMW went up, people could afford to pay more and so the way things are it would just mean rents would increase even more...
Phew...

Ahh cross post tannacot now really giving up....

OMG Rent was NOT overly expensive....