... to ask for more pay for more duties at work

[Smeegler]

Bit of a tricky one without being too outing.

I work from home answering calls from people who have been affected by certain issues. We give advice, listening support, and a degree of counselling/legal advice although this bit is fairly minimal. We sometimes have to listen to very traumatic stories and deal with people who are very upset, angry, in crisis and/or people who are suicidal.

We are paid minimum wage as sometimes the shifts can be fairly quiet, and we may only be on calls/writing up case notes for half of the shift for example, and the rest of the time we do as we please, as long as we can get to the phone when it rings. I know to many it sounds like the ideal job and I am very lucky, and love the work on the whole. My issue is that the skill set we have to demonstrate is not a minimum wage level job - although I appreciate many such helplines are ran by volunteers, so at least we are paid.

We have recently introduced another element to our service, which will increase workload by 25%, dealing with a different type of caller than we normally deal with. We have had no training on working with this specific group and their specific needs.

I'm wanting to know legally and morally I suppose, can an employer increase workload by 25% without additional consultation/pay? We were never informed about this change until everything had already been set up.

Am I just being grabby and should button-it based on the fact that a) I get to work from home 2) I enjoy the work (although it does get stressful) 3) Only approx 50% of our shift is spent 'working'?

I'd appreciate any views and I am prepared to be told IABU :-)

Charity work always pays lower wages. There's no harm in mentioning it though and asking for a payrise. See what they say.

If the job has become more stressful/difficult then your employer is going to find that turnover increases at current wages. So it isn’t just an ethical issue of more responsibility means more money. There are market forces at play. If you believe the job has truly become more complex, I would approach your employer from that perspective.

In my area there is no more pay for additional duties unless they equate to a higher grade. So no more pay for more quantity of the same work (unless part time and increasing hours).

Considering you admit you only work for half your shift sometimes and can effectively do what you like for the rest of it, I think it's a bit cheeky!

legally they obviously can morally im just a random poster on mumsnet im not fit to comment on morals on a practical purpose people leave if underpaid it might make logical sense for youre employers to pay more to prevent people leaving.

You can ask, but you need to prepare for if they say no- as it doesn’t sound like you are in the position where you’d walk away.

Yes they can sadly. Happens in the private sector, to be considered for promotion (with no guarantees) you have to effectively take on extra work and responsibility above and beyond your job, otherwise you'll not only not be promoted, but not considered a 'team player' and bounced out.

No harm in asking for extra money on the basis of extra work, if you don't ask you don't get.

Wages are driven by supply / demand, not by worth.

I'm afraid the only thing that's likely to get a result is if the increase in workload motivates people to leave, or makes it harder to recruit.

So if your work load has increased by 25% but the majority od shifts you were only working 50% you are now working at 75% for the majority of your shifts. Is this correct? In which case no you probably shouldn't be asking for a raise.

On reflection I did think I'm still being paid for working at only 75% capacity, so it does 'bump' up the wages to something more substantial if that is taken into account. Thanks everyone, I'm not in any position to leave the role so I'll suck it up (and be grateful!)

How can your workload have increased - if you're still doing the same hours surely it just means more people are struggling to get through?
Shops don't pay more when they're busy.

Sorry just seen your last post

Sweeney it's actually 62.5% :o maths pedant!

@StealthPolarBear maths was never my strong point

Only approx 50% of our shift is spent 'working'?

Yeah, this gives them LOTS of room to argue that you have time to take on more duties at the same level of pay. I don't think you have a case, OP, sorry.