To work at a slower pace even though I could be more efficient?

[Oncalltranslator]

I've just been changed to a different department. My new temporary role involves exclusively translating content for the company. Any translator would charge at the very least £25ph but I get paid about half that. My line manager is super chilled and has now clue how long it should take me. AIBU?

A freelance translator doesn't get any other benefits you might enjoy from your company. Plus they have other costs (IT infrastructure, their own marketing etc) so what they are paid covers more than their salary, so yes YABU.

Well if you’re going slower to make sure you’re doing a thorough job then no problem if you’re going slow because you don’t think you’re paid enough then problem

For the sake of an argument, what benefits do you think I receive?

If you perform well doing this, would you be able to move into doing this permanently and from then into new more highly paid job? Would you like that? If so, it'd be worthwhile doing it as best you can, particularly if you could double your salary.

No, I actually don't enjoy translating. Which is why I'm slightly annoyed. I just happen to have experience with it but have tried to move away from it for many years. My current employer decided that it was best use of my skills and this changed my role pretty much overnight.

If you are freelance surely you are in control of your own rate?

If you should be paid more for translating work why not ask for a raise?
If I am an IT tech but get a job at a supermarket that pays £8 an hour that is fine. If the supermarket then asked me to do some IT for them, it would be a different job and should be paid at the rate of an IT person rather than at the £8 per hour.

No, I'm not a freelancer. I'm a FT employee for my company . they've decided to use me as a translator for the foreseeable future given my experience/skills.

It's all part of some "bigger plan" but this part of said plan has always been the least attractive to me.

Sorry OP but I don't understand how working more slowly is going to help your situation. Why drag it out even further?
Also it might count against you if you are compared with other translators - isn't there a standard rule of thumb about number of words per hour? Your colleagues might do some research into this, it won't look good if you mislead them.
How long before you get your normal job back? Can you just put up with it for a few months?

YANBU. I don’t work flat out, I work to the pace that I want to take that is acceptable. I’m not burning myself out for a company that will have no loyalty to me as an individual.

Work at a pace that works for you.

My translation rate is about 800 words. The average tends to be 400/500 words (all per hour). Usually no more than 3k per day. I'm doing about that number but instead of taking me 7 hours it takes me 4.

@Oncalltranslator

For the sake of an argument, what benefits do you think I receive?

Often as an employee your employer makes a pension contribution, there is a sick pay above statutory level, paid annual leave, you may get some redundancy pay but that depends on lenghth of service, you should have a notice period and there are often death in service payments too.

Is translating part of your job description?

If you are unhappy about the change of role talk to your manager about it. I wouldn't deliberately work slowly. If you are seen as getting through the work faster than expected you could request more interesting work for the remaining time.

And if you are a full-time employee you have benefits and protections that contracting doesn't grant you, so the rates paid are not directly compariable.

Quality rather than quantity every time. Any employer or business who thinks different is delusional.

I only get SSP, their pension contribution is like 2%. But o do get the holiday pay point.

Unfortunately it is indeed part of my job description/promotion. Things have changed and it could now become my FT role though.
The silver lining is that I should be able to write original in the not so distant future.

But I thought my days as a journalist/content writer then translator/localisation were over.

If you're no quicker/cheaper than an external translator why would they continue to ask you to do it?

If you show you can do it faster and cheaper than you could negotiate a pay rise on that basis.

A contractor will charge more per hour than you would be paid because they have to make provision for sickness, pension, etc.

As other posters have said, talk to your manager. Try and get an idea how long this situation will go on for. Explain you've got spare capacity so could fit in some of your normal work? Don't just work slowly doing a job you find boring. Consider looking for a new job (not easy in these times, I know).

I'm quicker than a freelance one and pay me 50% of the baseline of ongoing rates.

I need to translate 10k words (for example). A translator would take at least 25 hrs and get paid £1k . I can do it in 12 hours and get paid just below £150. So instead I'm taking the 25 hours that an average translator would take and would get paid around £290.

So speak to your manager and seek a premium for carrying out the work.

You are obviously very unhappy in your job (and you may name change, but your 'voice' is very clear, and easily recognised).

They can continue to pay you at this rate because of the scarcity of jobs where you live. If you want to earn more, you need to move where the money is. As your situation means you cannot leave the area, you have to accept what they pay.

In your situation, I would look at how I could work using the most lucrative of my skills online only/working from home. That may allow you to boost your income.

I was happy in December though. I felt like I was using the best of my skills in a great team. Yes, I was still underpaid but I felt that at least I was doing something and getting good transferable skills.

But then they just moved me to this with no scope of doing anything else for the foreseeable future. What I'm currently doing doesn't give me any new skills either. I always say this part of the role as the means to something bigger/better but now that has changed again.

You need to talk to your manager or find another job. That's really all that can be done.

Working on a go-slow is not exactly going to help with your prospects within this company, though.