To wonder why my job is so low paid and feel frustrated by it?

[eggsontoast9]

I’m a nursery nurse and I earn £8.72 an hour (minimum wage for over 25’s, I’m 26).
I’ve been in this job for the last three years and do enjoy it apart from the odd day but I’ve always wondered why it’s so low paid. It’s a hard job. I know a lot of people assume we just sit on our bums all day and play with children but that’s really not the case. I work in the baby unit and we can have anywhere up to 15 babies on a busy day, which in itself is bloody hard work. We have to deal with sick, poo, unhappy/unwell children, difficult parents etc. We have to complete paperwork now, normally whilst looking after the children because we’re short staffed and can’t always have time away from the room. We work long hours not because we want to but because we have to as the wages are so low (I work 7:30-6:00 four days a week and 7:30-5:00 another day). Holidays aren’t very generous. I guess the only bonus is we have weekends off unless we have training. I suppose it’s the same as health care jobs such as care assistants.

I like the job and work with a good team but can’t see myself staying here long term just because of the money which is a shame as it’s really hard to find a job that you enjoy sometimes. I was speaking to my younger cousin who’s 18 and she told me she’s just started a job in Asda earning £9.20 an hour and whilst I’m extremely happy for her and proud of her, it has made me realise my job is incredibly low paid and not very well respected in terms of how hard we all work. Before anyone jumps on me, I’m not saying my cousin shouldn’t earn that amount as I appreciate working in a supermarket is hard work to and any job should be paid a fair wage.

What is more frustrating is that we have to complete training each year and work towards gaining qualifications yet our wages are based on our age, so IMO there isn’t any progression available.

AIBU?

As someone who used nursery baby room,I know kind caring staff are fantastic
All my children went to nursery FT and they positively flourished there
It is a low paid job. Work seen as “women’s work” and/or caring always is poorly paid. It is not right or fair, but the patriarchal system is institutionally discriminatory to women in terms of status and pay

When I used nursery one of the parents hired the nursery nurse as a. Nanny her pay hugely increased and responsible for 1 baby through to school age

I agree with Heels. This is an example of structural misogyny.

YANBU it is an insanely hard job, and stupidly low paid. I say that as someone in another profession, looking in.

Unfortunately some of the more rewarding careers seem to pay least. I think there's an assumption that the rewarding side makes up for the crappy pay. I think there's also an element of it being seen as women's work, which is traditionally not as well paid.

You are very articulate. Have you considered doing a degree or access degree and going into something like social work (also not well paid, but better I think than nursery nursing, and hard but can be rewarding too)? There's also Teaching Assistant roles (not great pay), and even teaching?

In my DS' nursery there were also opportunities for progression such as becoming the SEND lead, or the H&S lead, or head of the age group etc...

I sympathise- I used to work as an EYP (and have an MA in Early Years) and was paid £16,500 in London! I left and retrained.

If you want to stay in Early Years, for progression there's management (which can take you away from the children) or getting QTS (but not everyone wants that), lecturing/NVQ assessing, or maybe working for a childrens charity/LA team.

I'm sure it's really hard work...unfortunately hard work doesn't necessarily equal well paid.

I run a nursery and so wish I could pay the staff more but government funding and parental willingness/ability to pay are limited so that means pay is limited to. It’s rubbish.

It’s low paid because it is only viable if most other women can earn enough by using the service to make a profit out of having a child cared for so they can work.

If you want to earn more from childcare you have to find a way that your work generates the client more money. This usually means a private nanny to someone capable of earning very considerably more than average.

I couldn't imagine doing it - hard work and long days. But the problem is that if you were paid more, then fees would be more and then a lot of people (mainly women) wouldn't be able to afford to work. I don't know what the solution is- you definitely deserve more.

It's partly because childcare in this country is so undervalued and under resourced by government. I admire anyone working in or running any sort of childcare setting. Such hard, responsible work with so much regulation and inspection, for so little financial reward. And I very much agree about the systemic undervaluing of 'female' professions as mentioned above.

Yes it seems unjust. But ultimately you need to do what is right for you and decide what you want from work. If that means finding a new role or a new industry then do it. As a general rule, only jobs that require qualifications or are very competitive to get into will pay well.

What about working in a school nursery? Pay would be better although you may not get paid for all the school hols. Good pension & maternity policy/sick pay etc too

YANBU OP it's such an important and hard job and really should be paid better to reflect that. Even our new starters in the supermarket I work for earn £9.50 hr (they get 2 pay rises a year for 3yrs then end on min of £10.53.

It's certainly a job I honestly couldn't do and I do admire those of you who look after the babies/children so well.

Consider becoming a Nanny, OP

Pay typically starts at £400 net a week, and I've known jobs to pay £1500 a week (international ones).

Yanbu. It's insanely underpaid. Minimum wage for that age group should be £10 or more anyway.
I used to work as a TA and I'm sure the starting pay was only about £7 at the time, it wasnt that long ago! Shocking. Another underpaid and under valued job.

It's terrible how low paid it is. At the nursery my son was at it was £80 a day, 30+ kids at the nursery... That money certainly was going to someone, just not the lovely staff.

It's such an important job

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Thank you @Pollaidh, I'm really interested in becoming an NVQ assessor and it's something that I'm working towards.

I think it's a shame that I'll have to leave a job that I enjoy at some point in the future due to the low wages. I also wonder if this is why these sorts of jobs (particularly caring and childcare) end up with staff who really shouldn't be working in the care sector. I suppose someone has to do the work if all the good and caring staff have moved on though.

I have worked in a nursery for nearly 30 years and I am on very little over the minimum wage. I love the job and I work in my neighbour hood so feel I am helping the community. I have seen so many good nursery practitioners leave over the years not because they didn't like the job but it's hard to live on minimum wage.

Feel for you op.

@doadeer I know exactly what you mean. I work for a chain and the owners regularly turn up in their lovely new Mercedes and BMW, but I suppose that is why they started up a business.

It's such a shame that we have so many amazing early years teachers leaving the sector for the same reason. Twice I've lost teachers to retail for exactly the same reason as you, working in early years wasnt financially sustainable. I was going to also suggest going into management, often deputy roles are floor based but for a higher salary. LA run nurseries often pay higher wages than private settings (or certainly they do where I am), have you tried looking at that?

Agreed...funding is such a huge issue, our sector is shockingly undervalued and underfunded.

Yep I feel your pain .
I'm an early years educator in a stand alone preschool and earn minimum wage, I'm nearly 50.
I don't think people realise the amount of paperwork involved. Planning, observations, assessments, learning journals to be completed all usually in my own time because there's just not time to do it in the office, not to mention constant training sessions which are now at least mostly online.
Honestly I'm knackered, my knees and back are killing me, we eat with the children and don't get a break all day but I love my job.
The plus points for me are my setting is term time so I've no childcare costs which make up for the crap wage and I work within walking distance of my house.

www.livingwage.org.uk/news/sticky-floor-other-barrier-gender-pay-parity

Read up on the sticky floor.

I find it baffling too, especially when nannies are paid an absolute fortune in comparison! With tons of perks and people terrified of upsetting them!

I very briefly had an au pair who had been a nursery worker in Australia and was travelling on her two year visa (before anyone starts about au pairs, I was an au pair myself, I only needed a few hours and paid her as much as legally possible, we are still in touch years later but yes, it can often be a very exploited position). She was such a clever, motivated, caring and organised young woman, I said to her very seriously when she was leaving that she was more than capable than doing one of those £70k international nanny to a corporate family type jobs, she was insanely talented (as so many childcarers are). It is crazy how little money she’d have been paid going back to a nursery job.

At the same time, two kids in full time nursery in london (in a well known chain) was 3.5k a month! Five years ago.

Completely agree. As professionals we are on the front line, noticing all the SEN issues, doing the job of therapists while we wait for referrals to be processed etc as well as educating the children and giving them the best start in life that we can. I think many people don't realise the complex nature of working in early years and how important those early experiences are for underpinning a child's whole education.

The government definitely need to look at the funding issues surrounding this profession and ensure that staff are paid a fair wage for what they do because experienced, dedicated teachers are being lost to roles such as cleaning and retail - which have nothing to do with their training - simply because the bills need paying.

Oh gosh @Thehogfatherstolemycurry you sound like you work bloody hard to 

Thanks @ISBN111 I'll take a look at that!

@Headfellofftheangel thank you. I was interested in nanny roles a couple of years ago but I'm really passionate about becoming an NVQ assessor and it is something that I'm working towards, slowly. If that doesn't work out though I can always look at nanny roles again

@agradecida

I couldn't imagine doing it - hard work and long days. But the problem is that if you were paid more, then fees would be more and then a lot of people (mainly women) wouldn't be able to afford to work. I don't know what the solution is- you definitely deserve more.

The solution is the gov subsidises childcare. Just like other European countries do, where a child can go to nursery full-time for 300 euros a month.