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?

Harsh as it is you don't produce anything.

You're not an asset or income source you're just an expense.

A cost to be driven down and eventually automated out when possible.

If you want to be high paid you have to be making or enabling whoever is paying you a lot of money

Supply and demand. You are a commodity. There are enough people willing to do the job at the minimum wage that employers don't need to pay any more.

A rule that holds true for everyone except MPs and CEOs.

@Sinful8

Harsh as it is you don't produce anything.

You're not an asset or income source you're just an expense.

A cost to be driven down and eventually automated out when possible.

If you want to be high paid you have to be making or enabling whoever is paying you a lot of money

Only if you are measuring ‘production’ in terms of money. A Otherwise, you’re wrong. The formative early years have a huge impact on a child’s future cognitive, social and emotional development, stability and wellbeing, mental health... The effects are profound and longlasting. To ignore than is incredibly shortsighted.

Skilled and attentive childcare is incredibly important and something we desperately need to encourage in the UK. Other countries do much better.

@Sinful8

Also, it is commonly argued in the field of AI that the last jobs to be automated are those that rely on uniquely human capabilities...ones machines cannot replicate - skills such as emotional engagement and creativity. The first jobs to be automated? Anything computational - accountancy is a prime example.

Supply and demand OP.

As you say it is demanding and the pay is low, yet thousands of people are willing to enter the profession. Meanwhile, being a something like a VAT specialist (for example) can have quite reasonable office hours, good pay etc yet they can't get enough applicants.

Ask yourself why?

1. the skills required for being a nursery nurse, while demanding, exhausting, important, are not rare. The survival of the species has depended on a high proportion of us being able to care well for the young. The fact that there are many people with the aptitude for the job means staff are very replaceable so have low bargaining power& don't attract high pay.

2. there are obviously huge attractive elements of the job that draw people to it despite the low pay. For many people, caring for children all day is very enjoyable, fulfilling. Lots of childfree people look after nieces and nephews in their free time because it's fun. anything people WANT to do regardless of pay won't pay well.

For further reading see a book such as Humans are Underrated^

YANBU. I just want to say OP that you really are valued. I’m a mental health nurse in a very acute setting and could never ever do your job. You’re amazing and you deserve more

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland what do you do for a living if you don’t mind me asking?

YANBU

It’s crazy that the people looking after the most precious thing in most parents lives are paid so little. And I agree it’s because it’s seen as “women’s work” in particular young women, and therefore viewed as unskilled and Unvalued (it’s definitely not unskilled, I certainly couldn’t do it for example!).

I work in a finance related role.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland makes sense

(I actually work in a specialist area but everyone knows everyone in my industry so I would rather not go into the details here)

Train as a teacher and work in reception. Much better pay and shorter days.

Do your early years op. And go to a better paid nursery. Some do pay their staff properly.

I don't think what I do is "valuable" in the human/emotional sense. But quite simply our capitalist society needs people who do my job, it's rather dull according to many people and quite geeky do not many want and are able to do it. So it pays quite well. People will threaten to leave and employers will desperately offer them £10 or 20k payrises because good people are so hard to replace. A team member of mine is leaving and I'm dreading to trying to replace them.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland makes complete sense. I know most people could do my job but surely it doesn't mean they are the right person for the job?. It takes a special kind of person to work with vulnerable people. I've seen many stories over the years in regards to abuse cases by staff and it just gives me the chills. I wonder if these incidents would happen if the job was taken seriously.

@Corner13 what a lovely comment, thank you so much. I honestly couldn't do your job, it takes a special kind of person to do what you do

Op are there opportunities to refine your skillset a bit to be more rare and in demand to attract higher pay? Could you get a bit more if you learned another language/BSL or something? Or trained for specialist SEN settings?

I know what you mean about the "right person" but yet nursery nursing is terrifically popular. People really do want to do it, even for poor pay.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland hmm, I'm not sure. I wouldn't class myself as particularly clever and I didn't do very well in school. I have been meaning to resit GCSE's in my local college but it's finding the time and £££ (£150 per course)

You are in a nursery Who pay badly op! I’m a nursery manager myself - and one of our staff work more than 8 hours and nobody is paid as low as you - its still not amazing pay but higher than a lot of other nurseries - we also have decent holidays and sick pay etc

Plenty of overtime available too!

If you really want to do this as your job maybe get more qualifications- I used to do your job for many years and worked my way up to management which is well paid - however I’m not spending a lot of my time with the children these days I’m mostly in the office. But it’s still a lovely environment to be in and I absolutely wouldn’t want to do anything else

I used to have to babysit evenings and weekends as well as work all week just to make some extra cash

I think these days too the adult to child ratios are part of the reason the pay stays low - you need to have so many staff in each day and obviously that costs a lot more - we used to need much less staff numbers per children years ago.

The government money we receive for the 15 & 30 hours is fuck all as well - it’s not enough at all

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

I know what you mean about the "right person" but yet nursery nursing is terrifically popular. People really do want to do it, even for poor pay.

They want to do it, but clearly not for long. Low entry threshold, poor staff retention, high turnover. All bodes badly for the young children in their charge.

@Heyahun thank you. I work for a chain and they pay quite badly. Supervisors get 20p (yes 20p) more than the nursery nurses. Deputy managers earn something around £1.50 more and I'm sure the managers only earn around £11 an hour. It really is a disgrace. Owners are very money driven!

It's low paid because you are serving people who, on the whole, have little spare cash. That's the main reason. If the parents who need nursery places were rolling in it you'd see differentiated services and much more opportunity for increased pay.

There are a bunch of other reasons including the fact we don't seem to be able to quantify "caring" in a way that can become a qualification and the fairly steady stream of not brilliantly qualified young women who seem drawn to it as a career when they could instead try and get themselves on an apprenticeship for a better paying trade.

A lot of the privately run nurseries are there to make a profit for the owners. Why would they pay anything above minimum wage. Same goes for care homes. The work you do is much needed and should be paid a lot more but greedy business owners would rather increase their own profits and dividends paid to themselves than support their employees. Yes not all are like this but the vast majority I have seen are. You only have to see the cars they drive and where they live. Some see them as cash cows. I have been to many meetings with such owners and they are so predictable, new flash back shiny range rover or Mercedes. Sorry rant over. But yes you're right OP, the system is set up not to support you but to merely use you. Don't even get me started on the private equity owned chains. That's another thread. As sad as it, you should be selfish and change to a better paid profession. Reception class teacher? Good luck OP.