AIBU about my salary?

[ArtemisOfOrtygia]

I don't live in the UK, but my country is not too different so I think it's okay to ask the question here.

I always thought my salary is good, but lately I can't help but feel like, maybe, it isn't. But I compare my salary to other people's salary without taking into account that they might work more hours than I do. Anyway, I work 34.5 to 35 hours a week (Monday to Friday) and I earn about £37k annually. My salary increases annually with about £1.2k, and in 3 years time it'll increase by £1.2k PLUS about £4k annually. Making my annual salary £41k PLUS a yearly increase of about £1.2k.

I should probably also mention that I work in an NGO, so I probably don't earn as much as I could earn if I worked elsewhere.

Comparing numbers are not personal opinions.
If you really did want to just compare numbers and not brag about your unskilled job with high salary, why not just google? “Average receptionist wage U.K.” brings up a multitude of numbers with no opinions.

I want to know where you can earn 37-41k without knowing how to google "average salary in [my country]".

What a ridiculous post.
If your country has a higher rate of taxes than the UK (and other compulsory elements like medical insurance) then £37K is meaningless.

I'm asking if my salary can be considered low, average or high for the amount of hours that I work.
Completely depends on the nature of the work. How much you get paid doesn't just depend on how many hours you do: doing 35 hours as a part-time executive is very different from 35 hours as a full-time receptionist.
Your salary sounds pretty generous for a receptionist, but there might be additional roles & responsibilities that receptionists have in your organization that they don't have in others. You can't do a direct comparison based just on the job title.
If you want to know what the market rate is, look at adverts for jobs with similar responsibilities.

Sounds like your'e showing off

I don't think the OP intended to be goady. She mistakenly thought that the UK was similar to her own country in terms of qualifications, salaries, positions.

As an aside, I'm a bit stunned at how low some of the salaries being posted here are, especially for professional positions that require specific qualifications and skills. I had heard and read that wages are stagnating in the UK, but these salaries look not much more than they were the last time I was applying for jobs in the UK, over 15 years ago.

DH is paid significantly more here in France than he would be for the same job in the UK - but we do have higher taxes including social and health taxes, and I'd say the cost of food, utilities, insurance etc is higher as well.

It's a meaningless OP, really, because it's meaningless to say the country they live in is 'similar to the UK' for the purposes of comparing salaries.

Norway is 'not too different' to the UK, and average salaries there are about £60K, so op would be doing badly there.

In Poland (also broadly speaking, not that different to the UK) average salaries are about £12K.

Cost of living, tax rates etc make a huge difference. So it's absolutely impossible to make any sort of sensible judgement about the Op's salary based on the information provided.

Sorry, @Kraejka hadn't seen your post before I commented!

great minds & all that

I earn a hell of a lot less than that and I'm a registered nurse on an elderly rehab ward. You should count yourself lucky!

Are you dutch? Sounds normal for the Netherlands. Nurses earn about 35k there.

DH is paid significantly more here in France

DH is also paid in €. Approx five years ago, the company were laying off staff. They offered him a role (in an area one hour by train from London central) and a salary of €30K less than he was then earning if he relocated to the UK. I think the salary he was offered was approx £60K. We did lots of spreadsheets where the numbers worked in theory but when I contacted people I know who were then living in the UK, they said it would be a low standard of living (for a family of 3). On paper it looked fine. The reality (according to those I asked) was very different. Figures plucked from the Internet need to be interpreted.

It turned out that the company used the UK relocation and salary as a way to get rid of staff as only one person (a single man) took up their offer.

But again that is our personal experience only. We do not live there.

casperberries made the same point with far more clarity

Im in the wrong job lol

I work 35hrs/week, central London, executive assistant supporting four directors. £26k. Annual increase of about £400.

MNetters are vicious today.

In response to your question OP, I consider your salary high for what you do, and middling as a general salary review.

Would love to earn that

I can't find anything to say the OP lived in the Balkans, or am I missing something?

I'm a receptionist and do more hours than you a week (38-42 depending on how busy we are) and I earn minimum wage. So in my opinion you're being unreasonable to think that £37k isn't enough. But then again maybe the country you live in has high living costs.

I still don’t understand what it is you’re asking for here. Why it matter if £41kb is a high, medium or low salary for a 35 hour a week receptionist job in the UK or whichever country you’re living in? If you’re content with your salary it doesn’t matter. If you’re unhappy with your salary, ask for a pay rise or start looking for another job/upping yourself whilst you’re in this job.

As it stands, it’s really hard to read this as anything other than an attempt at being a GF.

yes it's a good salary.

Ugh typos are everywhere in that post, but the only one I can be bothered to change is that “upping” was supposed to say “upskilling”. I don’t think the op has a problem with upping herself...

Bloody hell im a receptionist and warn £17,200 a year so yes YABU

If the OPs in Dublin then that would be about right.

And costs of living in Dublin are high. For example I saw a small 2 bed up for rent at €2300 per month last week. In an overpopulated village with crap links to the city centre.

OP is prob in Ireland where that is an entirely unremarkable salary for a receptionist. Cost of living in Ireland is much higher than UK though.