To think I should be paid more than the cleaner?

[orangeredpink]

I really dislike my current job so my general annoyance may be U because of that and I'm desperate to leave. I started a few months ago after being made redundant, during the interview I said I wanted £xk salary, they offered £xk-10k, this was a 20k drop in my pre-redundancy salary but I figured any job at the time is better than eating my way through my redundancy payment.

So I went to think it over and in the meantime received another offer for £xk-5k, my now employer wouldn't match the salary, they were adamant they need to keep salaries low for the business sake, but it was supposed to be a better role, no commute, more responsibility etc.

Today, the finance director who sits next to me was talking to someone and mentioned the salary for the cleaner, which works out at over £10 an hour more than I get and pretty much double any rates I've ever seen advertised for cleaners. I was pretty much gobsmacked and the more I think about it the more annoyed I'm getting.

I fully accept I made a mistake when choosing the job, and it was severely mis-sold however the salary issue is really bugging me. My business function, 10 years of experience, and spending the last few months increasing their revenue and rectifying stupid mistakes they've made because they hire people with no experience and no idea how to train them because none of the management team have worked in the business function I do, to keep their salary costs down, brings far more value to the company than the cleaner. AIBU to think I should be paid more?!

so why aren't you looking for another job?

OP you have said they copied and pasted your job description because they don't really understand the role.

This is a major red flag. They don't know what value you bring to them. This is why you are getting paid so little. Women have a hard time because they never ask for raises. When they do they are often told no. I'm well paid in part because I clearly define what it is that I do that brings value to the company.

If I were you I would consider if it's worth you having a conversation with your manager and/or the decision maker asking for an adjustment in salary based on the value/profit you are making for the company. I would also be looking to hit those goals you set for yourself and moving on.

Are you sure you didn't mishear what the FD said?

I am sure the cleaner does a good job but to be earning £10/hr more than a Digital Product Manager, (who supposedly attracts revenue to the business, not an overhead) is ludicrous!

How do you know they just "copied and pasted " your JD? I haven't got a clue how my JD was created, why would that sort of detail be known outside the HR department or recruiting manager.

Sounds a very strange company!

I do wonder about this place sometimes. Of course you should be paid more than the cleaner ffs

It is never a good idea to compare salaries with colleagues
I couldn't disagree more. We need transparency to discover potentially unfair pay gaps.

Perhaps the cleaner isn't employed she's contracted?
I recall my brother just qualified from medical school and was working as a house officer - he was on less than the cleaners (when you worked out the hourly rate for all the hours he did)

I do wish MNers wouldn't do the "less per hour than a cleaner" thing. It's utterly ludicrous to compare a full time salary with holiday pay, pension contributions, and sick leave to a self-employed job that's done one or two hours at a time in drinks and drabs with huge travelling costs between jobs..

No way is the cleaner getting 20k more a year than you.
Even if you were earning 10k a year that would mean they were on 30k
Neither of those figures are likely.

Unless I have misunderstood?

I've since found out they don't understand what I was expecting to be doing as they just copied and pasted a job description they found off the internet without any real concern over how it would actually fit their business

Never mind the cleaner and your comparative salaries - the above would have me running for the hills. They sound like a bunch of morons! Start applying for new jobs today. Even the very action of dusting off your CV will make you feel better and more positive.

The amount the cleaner is paid is irrelevant. If you want to be paid more then put your case to them. If you don't get it then leave. There are plenty of jobs in your field

MrsDV is right. You've misheard/misunderstood.

Have you got your figures wrong? Cleaner gets £10 per hour more than you. You get at least £10 an hour I presume - my guess is around £15 an hour. Is the cleaner really on £25 an hour?

Good for them if they are. But just look at your own pay, it's bad news when you start comparing yourself to others.

the cleaner might be on X per hour but does she work full time doing cleaning? i doubt it.

Cleaners in the Air Traffic Control Centre were well paid but that was down to the requirement to be security cleared. Once you went through that effort you didn't want them getting away.

I think you'll just have to look for another job. I work for a company that pays locum staff over 5 times the hourly rate that I am paid for exactly the same work. I didn't know about this until I started working for them. Despite discussions with my manager this will not change so after a year here I've resigned. I'm 48, been in this profession over 25 years and not prepared to put up with crap. Start looking asap. And tell them why when you resign.

I have to say I have thought many a time of giving up my job as a office manager to become a cleaner . I clean my own home . I like cleaning and I think at this stage I would happily clean others houses and suit my self and happily take pay cut to do it . Our cleaner at work is as well paid as some members of staff . She is the happiest person there too !

Cleaners don't normally work consistently and that's the pre-tax, pre-NI wage. If a cleaner does two houses and has to travel in between that's a lot of unpaid time. There will also always be dry spells and there's little job security.

But most of all it's irrelevant to your situation

Yes, I'm just over £15 p/h, the cleaner is just over £25p/h

Re. the job description, we were having a conversation in Slack about a strategy I'd just sent to my line manager, he asked if we needed to use X because [Competitor] does, I asked how he knew, he then copied an excerpt from the job description they'd used and pasted it, I recognised it immediately, so Googled my job description and there it was posted on a competitor website, word for word.

The cleaner probably doesn't get any holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay etc though. We were paying ours £14 per hour which I know seems a lot but when you factor in that they have to travel between jobs several times during the day which they also don't get paid for, you can see why they should get paid more than other jobs.

That Is loads.... Maybe it's £25 for an hour's cleaning but two people come?? Seems most likely....

25 quid an hour is a lot for a cleaner although if it includes the agency's cut I can see how that would add up.

But that's irrelevant - it sounds like you're not enjoying the job, feel exploited and have no confidence in the management.

It is likely that the cleaner is a legit self-employed contractor who is simply charging their usual rate, which after their costs of doing business will leave them with a wage not unlike yours per hour.

Or the company you work for could have hired a cleaning company to supply the cleaner and is paying their rates, which I'm imagining are about £25 per hour with the information you've given. Not an unusual rate for a company with offices costs, cleaning supplies to pay for, insurances, back office staff to pay, cleaning staff wages plus their statutory benefits, plus their mileage costs, accountancy fees, some have fleets of vans and VAT to pay etc and so much more.

I know because as a cleaning business owner, I have to cost it all in and still charge enough to make a small profit margin on each job. The bare minimum to charge make it all work is £15 plus VAT so £18 per hour.

Not sure if I personally make min wage per hour get, given the hours i put in but that's not the point. A cleaner's or service provider's rate is not a 'wage' it's a business rate. Wages come out of what's left when cost are taken so cannot compare to an employed wage.

Look for another job and stop moaning.

Chances are what you have heard isn't true, things get said in the work place, it's just people shit stirring but if your not happy with your pay either talk to your boss or find another job.

Not an agency, and just one cleaner.

Chances are I wouldn't have been too concerned if I liked my job and felt I was being paid my market value rather than feeling significantly underpaid.