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?

I had a career that I spent years working towards for a professional qualification and got paid very poorly, I had one pay rise over 5 years, then got a promotion but was told I wouldn’t be having another pay rise as I’d had one the year before.

So I quit.

Now I have a job that required no qualification and little skill (as training provided) and am paid very well and the company really look after their employees. I work from home (and can continue to work from home after covid should I please, or go into office as often as I please) - their very flexible about the working day, if DD is home from nursery I can still work, her being home doesn’t usually affect my work anyway but if she was being particularly fussy/clingy I can take breaks whenever to sort her or myself out.

I had a 10% pay rise after 2 months with the company, after passing a probation.

I’m very happy with my job now; and it’s taught me that it’s not always about what qualifications and skill you have.

Care assistant working permanent nights. No I'm not paid enough, min wage. I have more satisfaction though, I know I'm good at it, I know I am making a difference. But it'd be nice to get enough to live on.
Previous job in hospitality, again no where near enough for what I did. And got shouted at a hell of a lot more. Very little job satisfaction to boot.

For those in the public sector, would you give up part of your pension to increase your current earnings? Public sector pensions are absolutely outstanding, in many cases 6 or 7 times more than a private sector pension. Similarly, holidays are often better although the gap is less than the pensions differential. As an overall package, nurses are actually pretty well paid but so much of the value is tied up in a pension that you won't feel the benefit until you retire. I just wonder whether nurses/public sector workers would be happier and the NHS better staffed if we knocked 5-10% of the pension and added the equivalent value to basic pay?

Nope. Private sector, 17.5K pa - manage 3 people, Team Administrator for 45 others. Two other ladies who have far less responsibility are on 22K pro-rata. They’re friends of the owner though. So unfair.

Yes- 26k working three days a week as state school teacher. But only because my school is very sensible with the workload it expects of us and therefore my work life balance is very fair (and I never have to work in my holidays unlike some teachers in other schools). I've worked in a couple of schools where I was working 3am-6pm every day and I still couldn't get everything done. So for teachers I think it's massively variable.

Having said that though, my DH who has the same level as education and training as me earns more than 6 times what I do in a private sector job (obviously not teaching). His hours are very much 9-5 as well- so although I'm grateful he's so well paid, I do think some people are massively overpaid in comparison to teachers!

Nope ex care assistant. Had to care for covid positive residents all for nmw and short staffed all the time. Bad managament. I quit that job and now have a new job which I love

Almost comically overpaid for the level of effort required.

God I hope they never catch on

I'm a nurse but now lecture in a university. As senior lecturer I'm paid quite well but I think it matches by level of responsibility, scope and influence. What I don't think is fair amongst my peer group of nurse lecturers is that in a RG university we get paid £10k more than our equivalent grades in a non RG uni.

Definitely not - I changed roles from an office job to become a teacher and even though my new career requires me to have a higher level of qualifications and training, and is significantly more challenging intellectually, emotionally and physically - it’s much lower paid. I have more annual leave though (albeit at fixed times), and more job satisfaction so I wouldn’t consider leaving. (Not yet anyway!!)

Yes, £10ph as a night care and support worker for disabled adults aged 18-64. The first 4 hours of my shift are manic but then I get 4 hours where I can watch Netflix or read a book between answering buzzers. Then 2 more hectic hours before going home. So the hard work is only 6 of my 10 hour shifts. I like getting paid £10ph to watch Netflix!

The day staff have it much harder, but at night we have much more responsibility. Only 2 staff for all the clients and if someone is ill or there’s a power cut etc etc it’s all on us.

No. I earn little more than minimum wage and it doesn't reflect the skill or level of responsibility in my job. I love the challenge and the pace of my work but I'm aware how crap the pay is.

I think I’m slightly underpaid. We’ve had our pay frozen (fair enough) but the company are openly saying they expect more from us in the current environment. A LOT more. I was working long hours anyway, but since July/ August time it’s been insane.

As a junior doctor the work was physically exhausting and stressful and the pay didn’t reflect the amount of responsibility we had.

As I get more senior, the work is physically lighter. It’s mentally harder but that’s the fun bit. Annual leave is generous and I’m continuing to progress well despite being part time. So now I think the pay is fine.

I still think working conditions should be improved though. E.g. there are 10 of us sharing an office the size of a bedroom, its dusty and full of rubbish because the cleaners don’t go in there. There’s one tiny window and last summer it was so hot that none of us could keep our face masks on I always thought consultants would have their own office, but they’re also sharing 3-4 people per tiny room.

No. Community support worker £18k full time.

Work in tech and feel I'm overpaid for what I do, even though I'm on the going rate.

It's skilled work but I wouldn't say it's hard work.

I think I'm well paid and it adequately reflects the skills required (and level of accountability) but I don't just look at my pay - as I'm public sector I look at the whole package and my good pension (although not one of the old final salary ones), my ability to compress my hours, getting 6 months full pay mat leave, good sick leave and death in service (hope I'll never need it, job security etc all give me a very good overall package IMO.

I'm probably overpaid but I work bloody hard and it is stressful so I wouldn't do it for less. It's sales so the harder I work the more money I earn and I do find myself working more than my contracted hours.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/560253?fbclid=IwAR2LTKgYbW6Nlja0pmIA4YGGjWFYiTLW2DAlpCFFJkg3LYEFm9l_W2qMO-Q

Not really! Especially over the past year. Please take a minute to sign the above..Thanks

Just had a ten percent pay rise so can't moan in this current situation

An actuary, so yes, if anything we’re slightly overpaid, yes we need professional qualifications, but if you’re good at maths you’re capable of completing all associated training.

@AluckyEllie

ICU nurse- I’m underpaid. I’m not saying all nurses are underpaid because they aren’t, but what reward did I get for the extra training and university course I did in my own time? Or for spending a year in ppe, constantly changing protocols, being short staffed. I’m paid the same as a nurse that works in outpatients or day clinic despite the skills I have. Well, currently. I’m leaving to move up to a band 7 non clinical job, 9-5 with no nights or weekends. More money. Less responsibility. And that’s one less icu nurse. We are leaving in droves. Good luck clearing the backlog of big surgical cases Hancock, all those empty beds mean nothing when you can’t staff them.

I do think that like the military have for certain trades, there should be different spines for those who work in roles which have required further qualifications. And more of a shift allowance, there is plenty they could do to make nursing pay 'fairer', and I don't think it's a standard pay rise.

No, I could earn a lot more in industry, but for now the 'whole package' is a lot better for us- ie flexibility, sick pay (god forbid I need it), job security etc.

It’s public sector(ish) & think I’m paid OK for what I do, certainly compared to some progressional jobs. I didn’t go to uni, etc & I’m on 30k for a management role (bonus is usually around 2.5k but probably no bonus this year). 1.5% pay-rise last year which is the worse one we’ve had in a while but grateful for anything.

Like others though - I don’t look just at the pay. Company pension contributions are great (I think I’m 7% & they’re 11%), annual leave (I get 30 days + buy 5 days + all Bh), sick leave (6 month full pay), mat leave (6 month full pay), death in service payment is 6x my salary.

I could probably get paid more in the private sector but I value the security of the company which is why I’ve stayed with them for 10 years! I should probably think of moving on at some point but the annual leave for a start is fantastic...

So yeah overall, I am paid well.

For a part timer I get paid well. I'm a teacher at the top of the main pay scale with London fringe weighting working 0.5fte.

In other professions if I worked part time I might get paid less in FTE and not be allowed any positions of responsibility (I don't have any in education either but I could...and probably get paid extra!)

Before I was a teacher I worked in her for a time. All the mothers I dealt with were either frozen at the level they were at or demoted if they had responsibility when they returned part time.

If I was full time I think I would feel underpaid when compared to my peers who work similar hours to full time teachers (and often far less)

I guess it depends on circumstances as much as anything. Seeing as I'm unqualified for any other job, if I left teaching (keep dreaming) and found an entry level part time job I would be earning probably half of what I do now.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

No

My job is much better paid in the private sector! But then I guess I chose public sector for other reasons.

This. After qualifying in my profession at one of the largest firms in the country I chose to work in the public sector. My peers who stayed in the private sector all out earn me by tens of thousands of pounds (now 15 years on). I know my skills and experience are worth more but I like to use them for some public good, and I have a far better balance in my life than most of them. I have enough, even though I could command more in the private sector.

It's the men who out earn me. Most of the women have either stopped working or stepped a level down when having children.