To be unhappy about how my new job works

[allworknolife]

Name changed in case it's outing. I've recently started a new job as a trainee estate agent. My base salary is a £11k paycut from my old job, but was assured with commision would be a lot higher. I've done admin for years and was bored of it so took the job despite my concerns... but I'm pretty unhappy with a few things

1. Advertised as 5 day a week job, but it's 6 days every other week as you have to work two Saturdays a month

2. Only 20 days holiday, despite having to work 26 Saturdays a year for no extra money apparently its 'factored into your basic'

3. £12k base salary.. for working 5 days 9.00-17:30 and 6 days at 9:00-17:30 Saturday 9:00-16:00.. just seems crazy long hours for such a low base

It's upsetting because I really wanted to break away from admin, and parts of the job I love. However I am immensely micromanaged and with all these crappy aspects I'm tempted to run for the hills.

Part of my job is listing new Properties and marketing, which I love and am really enjoying.. but the sales side of things is so targeted and they expect you to work overtime for no extra base wage just to sell more than others. I want to be good at my job and to sell.. but this job feels like I'm living to work not working to live.

I'm sad and don't want to fail but I'm just exhausted and feel like they do not reward their staff enough for the hours we put it.

That's pretty standard in sales tbh. Where I work all the sales team work late with lower basics but their earning potential is £££ in bonus. Many earn 40/50/60k a year.
You want an easy life go back to admin ( tat said in senior admin and work many unpaid extra hours)

Why didn't you find all this out before you started?

Sounds very average for sales, and all stuff you would have known in advance via contracts etc. By all means decide it isn't for you however.

It sucks for sure but...
Work your ass off and learn the trade, get good at sales and build a career, it's a 5-10 year thing though then you can earn £50k+
Don't like it stick with admin but limited transferable skills or earning potential

Yes, sounds very standard for sale but aren't they all things you should have known before you accepted the job?

3) £12k base salary.. for working 5 days 9.00-17:30 and 6 days at 9:00-17:30 Saturday 9:00-16:00.. just seems crazy long hours for such a low base

This raises minimum wage concerns here. You're earning £230.76 per week basic (£12000 / 52 weeks)

Assuming a half hour unpaid break per day, you're working 40 hours Mon + Fri plus half a Saturday (average 3.25 hours per week exc. unpaid break), so an average of 43.25 hours per week.

That brings you to £5.33 per hour basic wage. You can find the National Minimum Wage rates here www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates but if you're aged over 25 you're entitled to £7.50ph (rising to £7.83 next month).

There is some information here on how to factor commission into your calculations www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/pay-calculations-if-you-work-shifts-or-get-bonuses

However, unless you're earning substantial amounts in commission I'm concerned that they're breaking the law and not paying you the legal minimum wage.

Great post Avocados

They should have told you about working Saturdays before you started. It sounds ridiculously low salary.

I worked Mon - Fri (with 1 week day off) 8:30am - 6pm and one 8:30am - 7pm, and 1 weekend day off every other week so Sat 8:30am - 5pm and Sun 10am - 4pm for £13.5 ...would that have worked out illegal basic too, Avocados?

I worked in a sales job twenty years ago and my basic wage was £12k then. You can earn more money temping OP. There's nothing wrong with admitting you've made a mistake and finding another job instead.

Wasn’t this all covered in your contract?

I was simply informed weekends on a rota basis, I assumed it would be one a month or so with a week off in the week to compensate. I wasn't aware it would be every other Saturday and that you'd work a full 5 days as well for no extra money.

It does seem to work out less than minimum wage. Me and DP worked it out tonight. Have an hours pay docked each day but only half hour lunch break too.

I knew it would be challenging taking on a sales role, but I just wasn't expecting this. Feels like you're expected to do a lot for quite a little, and don't even get decent rewards i.e terrible horrible entitlement, no sick pay offered other than government standard, no paid overtime but a lot of required overtime etc

• day off in the week

Sounds awful. I know someone who worked at Foxtons the estate agent who was on 12k basic and used to be in tears most months because he had not made enough commission to be able to pay rent. The company treated them like utter garbage and expected them to trick and mislead customers so that they could make their commission. If it's property I would also be wary because the market seems to be making a downturn. I would go back to admin or something where you're not making a living out of fleecing people.

I worked Mon - Fri (with 1 week day off) 8:30am - 6pm and one 8:30am - 7pm, and 1 weekend day off every other week so Sat 8:30am - 5pm and Sun 10am - 4pm for £13.5 ...would that have worked out illegal basic too, Avocados?

Just to check I've got this right
4 days per week 8.30-6pm = 9 hrs assuming 30 mins unpaid break = 36 hrs per week
One of those days was an hour longer than normal = 1 hr per week
Either Sat 8 hrs (again, 30 mins unpaid break) or Sun 5.5hrs (ditto) - I'm assuming you were equally likely to work a Saturday or Sunday, so that = average 6.75 hrs per week

Added together, that's an average of 43.75 hours per week.

£13500 per year is £259.61 per week. That gives you an hourly rate of £5.93

The legality of it would be affected by the year in which it happened (NB min wage rates go up each year), how old you were when it happened (at present that would be a legal wage for someone aged 20 or under) and how your commission was paid.

Pay reference periods seem to be fairly crucial here because commission is involved - in essence, you've got to be paid the minimum wage, on average, for the time your payslip shows www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/employers-and-the-minimum-wage

It does seem to work out less than minimum wage. Me and DP worked it out tonight. Have an hours pay docked each day but only half hour lunch break too.

Does your employer allow you to take a 1 hour break but you choose to only take 30 mins, or is it that you're only allowed to take a 30 minute break and they're still knocking an hour off?

I'd leave

Have you received a payslip yet? If so, it would be helpful if you could tell us
a) how many hours that was for
b) how much you were paid (gross) including any commission

It sounds as if you were misled re the hours. If you work a Saturday it should be at least time off in lieu. You need to decide if it's worth staying and getting experience because can't you sit estate agency exams and so on and the money could end up being quite good in the end. But now I agree it sounds pretty grim. Depends why you took the job in the first place. £11 paycut is huge.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages We're definitely docked an hour a day but when I go for lunch manager always times half hour. Said to one of my colleagues about the other half hour and he said it's to account for 'inevitable moments of the day when we're not doing work' i.e checking phones, making drinks etc

If you are into property and want a career try property management, basic is higher and you can learn the trade. Most will work mon-fri 9-5

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages Haven't had a payslip yet but will check back when I do. Will just be my basic as haven't sold anything yet still training.

Another thing is already working 9:00-17:30 5/6 days every week but you're expected to be in the office by half 8, if you get there any later they are very disapproving so feels like another half hour unpaid on top of everything else..

@allworknolife they're docking pay for making a brew.

I'm sorry, but run for the hills! Even if you are interested in estate agency find a family company not a dictatorship

Messaged you to not hijack the thread, AvocadosBeforeMortgages :)

Yeah that’s just standard for EA!

Also, shit time to move to property dude... lowest number of property sales in London in a decade.