Do you feel appropriately paid for your work?

[shivawn]

Do you feel that your wages fairly reflect your skills and labour?

I'm just curious how people generally feel after chatting with my own colleagues a few days ago. They were complaining that we're underpaid and that they will struggle to live on these wages as they get older and want to start families etc. We're all nurses on a public payscale so on the same or similar pay (working in Ireland where nurses are better paid than in the UK). I felt really surprised as I consider myself well paid for doing a job that I love, probably more than many of my friends in other professions.

Are you happy with your wage in relation to what you contribute to your employer or do you think you're worth more?

No, I earn 33p an hour, my wage is carers allowance. As much as I love my DS I do have the occasional off day when I’m wiping his 15 year old bum or brushing his teeth, I think I am worth more than this and I cry. I used to have a career, now I am seen as benefit scum. Life is shit.

@Thriwit hit the nail on the head with science jobs. Everyone thinks we get amazing pay but if I had my time again a lot of people wouldn’t go into this sector. Over worked and under paid, it’s quite sad for the future of STEM

[quote Freezeboy]@Thriwit hit the nail on the head with science jobs. Everyone thinks we get amazing pay but if I had my time again a lot of people wouldn’t go into this sector. Over worked and under paid, it’s quite sad for the future of STEM[/quote]
I agree. I don’t think people realise how low paid pure science jobs are. As in if you’re an actual biologist or chemist or physicist. I know Oxford graduates working in science labs on cures or medicines or disease research making less than the average wage.

I actually think science in general is very underpaid. New grads (so the equivalent to a band 5 in NHS labs) start on £19-21k. Senior/specialised lab positions (so band 6) start on £27k. Hell, I used to work with people with PhDs who were on £30-35k

I think it's just the U.K. to be honest. I have a science degree and I walked straight into pharma on €36k out of university. My QC micro manager doesn't even have a phd and she is on over €80k. Our quality site lead is on over €150...she has a MSc, no phd.

Veterinary nurse : registered, professionally accountable. 3 years study. Could earn more working the til at Aldi.

I also have a PhD

Nope. Minimum wage.. well i got a 5p pay rise, housekeeping in a hotel. Hard physical work

No I don't feel my wage reflects my skills. I am a band 6 nurse, I have one degree in nursing and I'm currently doing a specialist practice qualification. I truly believe I am not paid enough to reflect my knowledge and skills.

No. Not at all. I’m 40s. I have a degree in my field (child care) and manage a busy baby room in a large private nursery. It’s ridiculously pressured and I bring work home every week. The pressure from my employers to undertake extra training is immense and I earn 20p an hour over minimum wage.

But then I have a breakthrough, or one of them hugs me and I know I’d never be anywhere else. It’s shit that the industry is so underpaid though. I’ll always be poor which isn’t a reflection of my work at all.

@Thehop

No. Not at all. I’m 40s. I have a degree in my field (child care) and manage a busy baby room in a large private nursery. It’s ridiculously pressured and I bring work home every week. The pressure from my employers to undertake extra training is immense and I earn 20p an hour over minimum wage.

But then I have a breakthrough, or one of them hugs me and I know I’d never be anywhere else. It’s shit that the industry is so underpaid though. I’ll always be poor which isn’t a reflection of my work at all.

It is shocking how little nursery staff are paid. I know that even though parents pay a tonne most just about break even so aren't squandering the money, but it's so much responsibility, and so so so important to society. Honestly it's a disgrace, but thank you for all you do- DS adores nursery, the staff are wonderful, and it enables us to work and keep a roof over our heads; serious undervalued in my opinon.

@Tiredmum100

No I don't feel my wage reflects my skills. I am a band 6 nurse, I have one degree in nursing and I'm currently doing a specialist practice qualification. I truly believe I am not paid enough to reflect my knowledge and skills.

What do you feel would be a fair wage?

Couldn't agree more, @Thehop and @Frubecube.

@Beyondfedupnow I don't know what to say apart from that you are not scum. The work that you do and that all carers do keeps people alive, is essential for society and keeps the world turning.

It's also knackering, stressful, endless and horrendously, cruelly undervalued.

No - SEN teaching assistant...now at top of my pay grade so am stuck

Probably overpaid but property prices v high here so more would be welcome!

Yes my pay is fair. I'm a civil servant but in fairness do work many unpaid hours and days.

However alongside the benefits - maternity pay, annual leave, flexi time, home working, special leave, pension etc I am content.

No. I was a teacher. They paid me only for hours spent in the classroom and expected me to prepare and mark unpaid in my own time. They fiddled my contract so I wasn’t eligible for holiday pay, sick pay, pension or maternity. They would frequently push me to do extra unpaid work by saying it’s a vocation, think of the kids, etc. Basically they needed teachers but couldn’t afford to pay them. I got sick of being taken advantage of - yes my heart was in it and of course I cared about the kids, but I still needed to be paid. Now I work in interiors and I earn a lot more, although it isn’t as rewarding.

I am highly trained/ skilled/ work hard and have an impact in my field. So in this way, I could say my high salary is justified.

But when I compare it to what many people earn (far far less) for jobs that are far more meaningful, helping people in need, and working far harder in emotionally and physically draining jobs, I feel deeply guilty about how much I earn.

It is absolutely, 100% not fair or right.

Yes, I feel I'm overpaid... Weird thing to say I know but I'm often bored and don't feel I'm busy enough, and that my skills aren't being utilised. I try to just be happy but I'm a workhorse and it frustrates me...

And yes, feel guilty too like someone else said! What I do isn't as meaningful as teachers, doctors, nurses etc.

I feel deeply guilty about how much I earn.

Why?
You havent set the pay rate
why feel guilt over stuff you have no control

Because it just isn't right. I am not more valuable than a nurse.

I have worked extremely hard, but so have they. I have just made more selfish choices. What I do isn't evil, but it certainly doesn't save or transform people's lives for the better.

And yet I get to live a life with the securities and pleasures of having more money. I get to sit at my computer in my (comfortable) home, doing my less valuable job in safety, while they risk their lives.

And yes, while I don't control the pay rate, I control what I do with it. I do give to charity and volunteer.... but I don't live off what a nurse earns and give away the rest. That to me would be the objectively moral thing to do, but I don't - I live a comfortable (though not luxury) life, which I have done no more to earn than lots of people who earn far less.

Why the hell should a nurse have to struggle to feed her kids and worry about the rent, while doing something much more useful to society than I do?

I have also lived in rural Africa and seen close up the extremities of poverty and inequality. It is far too easy to simply say 'I didn't set the pay rate' so not my problem.

I get the economics of why this happens - but in terms of social justice and human empathy, it's simply wrong and I am the one who benefits. So that feels like plenty to feel guilty about.

Yes, compared to plenty of other deserving industries I am content with what I earn. On the flip side my employer pays much much less for the same role than others do elsewhere in the country so no in that sense.

I'm an accountant, it's very easy to compare public and private sector jobs and salaries. I know a lot of accountants, I've worked in both private sector and government. The pay difference is enormous.

Then you are making a false comparison. You are comparing the role you do to a much more senior or specialist private sector role and saying, “I could do that, I could walk into that job”.

You couldn’t.

I am an accountant too. I trained in a Big 4 practice. I’ve worked in the public sector and the private sector. Three separate public sector bodies. I can guarantee you that the accountants in the public sector were paid more than the equivalent roles in the private sector businesses I’ve worked in.

The difference is enormous all right: but in the opposite direction than you are arguing for.

They fiddled my contract so I wasn’t eligible for holiday pay, sick pay, pension or maternity.

I’m sorry, I don’t believe this. Are you in the U.K.?

If so, I do not believe that any employer could ‘fiddle your contract’ to avoid eligibility for those things.

Were you self-employed? That is an entirely different matter. Why not take a permanent job in teaching instead?