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?

Not really, but it's not horrendous. I do Accounts. If I'd have known then what failing my papers and not actually being qualified would do to my hourly rate, and the general total lack of respect, I might have chosen a different career path altogether.

Yes, I'm paid £65k for a job that I love but also comes with a lot of responsibility. There are people the next level up who earn around £80k and who aren't as good as me and that frustrates me at times but my salary is plenty enough to maintain our standard of living.

@Obbydoo

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?

The certainty of the pension is one of the things that keeps me here. And to be honest the difference in other conditions is massive. I have a 35 hour a week contract, I rarely work overtime and have minimal work stress, which is quite rare for someone in senior management . I get 34 days annual leave.

I'm lucky enough that money isn't the key driver for me. I appreciate that's not true for a lot of people.

I'm a teacher and am paid for 6 and a half hours a day. Except I regularly work 9 or 10 hours. We all do and if we didn't the system would collapse.

I'm sure it's the same in most public sector professions.

Yes. I'm a primary school teacher and feel that I'm well (but not over) paid.

Yes. I earn between 50-60k working for a non profit - the kind of salary that people often criticise for non profits.

But in my three years in the role, I've improved business efficiency in processes, cutting costs by around 25k per year. Not at the cost of jobs, but in identifying redundant spending.

I've also led on financial issues which have held us secure through the pandemic - we would have immediately folded in April 2020 if I hadn't made the company better prepared to weather financial shocks (and since we provide support services to keyworkers, this would not have been a good thing).

Plus I've been working on a big project for the past six months that will substantially reduce the costs of providing the services to users, so they will pay less too.

Plus the previous leadership made everyone very unhappy - I know because I was brought up from the rank and file, and the environment before was toxic.

I've taken a badly run company, and turned it into a good one, that benefits society also. I am absolutely worth the money.

No I’m a cover teacher... £11k for teaching secondary students 🙄

@PyjamaFan

I'm a teacher and am paid for 6 and a half hours a day. Except I regularly work 9 or 10 hours. We all do and if we didn't the system would collapse.

I'm sure it's the same in most public sector professions.

I'm not disagreeing at all that teachers work very hard.

I do disagree that "the system would collapse" - or at least that the idea of the system collapsing is a bad thing. Teachers are asked to do so much redundant bollocks (including stuff their management, LAs and the government have all piled on - I'm thinking schools that have a rigorous display board policy but not a marking policy...)

I reckon teachers could do their actual work in a 40h week for the most part if schools were better staffed and all the BS were cut out.

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?

I feel like the 'whole package' is often underestimated, and not just in regards to pensions, but to sick pay etc. I have friends that just get SSP if they are off, and that's skirting the law as to when it kicks in and what 'proof' of sickness you need it. Thankfully she is in remission now, but a friend had cancer and had to have a fair chunk of time off, and financially it was really tough- if she was in the public sector she would have been much better off financially and wouldn't have had to drag herself in as often as possible to keep her job. Others who even before covid were made redundant or pushed out of their jobs, there isn't the same job security elsewhere, even in demand roles can fall fowl of restructures or companies shifting priorities/outsourcing. During home schooling etc there's been a huge divide between us on who has had flexibility and who hasnt- public sector being much more flexible.

A lot of it is more of an investment and insurance policy of sorts, so take home pay is lower than elsewhere, but actually there are a lot of positives. A lot of people don't seem to really understand pension contributions beyond seeing it fly out of their pay slip, CS you can actually opt to lower your contribution, if you do though theres loads you have to sign to show you understand the implications of doing so; military you cannot (those pensions are progressively getting worse, but still better than most), I don't know if you can in the NHS but probably.

Its so so wrong how undervalued some jobs are. TAs, nurses and care workers are some of the most important roles in society.
Disgusting how much some jobs earn by comparison.

Please stop voting for a party who think this is ok. It's really not.

Yeah I do and I'm public sector. I could be paid more in private, but in private you're literally just a number to them, easily replaceable and they work you to the bone for their profit, while then telling you despite helping them get millions or billions extra, they can't give you a pay rise. That always pissed me off. I felt more underappreciated there than in public sector. Plus in public, I feel like I'm actually making a difference to lives, rather than some dipstick shareholders bank balance, which is nice.

@HurryUpSunshine

Its so so wrong how undervalued some jobs are. TAs, nurses and care workers are some of the most important roles in society. Disgusting how much some jobs earn by comparison. Please stop voting for a party who think this is ok. It's really not.

TAs are underpaid, but this will never change under whatever government, because there are always people who will do it for the term time hours etc.

HCAs are underpaid, and some nurses are depending on speciality, but not sure how £31k after an average of 2 years is that low paid personally.

Care workers largely work for private firms, and the government can't dictate what they are paid (aside from NMW), but I absolutely agree they are underpaid. As are carer allowances.

No. Teacher with other responsibilities and if DH didn’t earn significantly more than me (therefore giving us a better standard of living, longer term security/pensions etc), at this age I would take my skills and experience to the private sector and get paid what I am worth.

No, pay and pensions have become eroded significantly over the last 5 years or so. My pay is not keeping up with inflation. In Higher Ed.

No. I love my job, but can only afford to do it because we don’t have mortgage/rent to pay. It’s not a sustainable career.

@BungleandGeorge

What jobs do the people who think they are overpaid do?!

I think it's probably more that people have a different perspective. For someone like me who use to work in hospitality/retail management jobs for £25k a year doing shift work for up to 60 hours a week with no breaks, statutory sick pay, 25 days holiday, standard workplace pension etc then moving into the public sector for £30-40k a year with all the associated benefits was incredible.

I was previously responsible for up to 40 staff; my public sector job now has a different sort of responsibility but the people I work with who've always done it constantly moan that it's underpaid etc. because it's all they've ever known and they compare themselves to similar private sector roles.

I'm a university lecturer. I think I'm fairly well paid compared to school teachers (who seem to have a lot more stress and hoops to jump through), but OTOH all my colleagues have a PhD or equivalent so I think it's fair for that to be reflected in the salary.

DH works in the private sector, so is paid a lot more than me. But he does work long hours in a stressful job and get less holiday.

No.
Work in a private school as a School Sec. No pay rise in over 7years. I've had my hours involuntarily cut this last year but the workload remains the same if not more so I'm on even less money than before and it's a little above minimum wage.
I'm a qualified solicitor, but took this job to fit in with my child's needs when he was younger. Now stuck in that low paid cycle. I do love working with the children though.

Nope, nowhere near.
Also the qualification I have does not reflect what I do at all.

It’s not that I ‘want’ more as someone said above, but for what I do day to day and the responsibilities involved I deserve more.

NO!

Work in case home on minimum wage. Unsociable hours, hard graft, no sick pay etc....I feel like £10 an hour would be more appropriate. But I do really like my job but whether I can stay in it for the long term financially I don't know.

@Seasthedaytoday

NO!

Work in case home on minimum wage. Unsociable hours, hard graft, no sick pay etc....I feel like £10 an hour would be more appropriate. But I do really like my job but whether I can stay in it for the long term financially I don't know.

'Care'

@PyjamaFan I disagree, teachers in Ireland are paid for a 25hour week and they don't take home a third of what U.K. teachers take home. Their pay starts at over €36k. I think U.K. teachers are paid badly and asked to do to much unnecessary work.

I'd like to apply for a managerial role in my job, and the wage for that is less than a newly qualified nurse! So you can imagine how low the money i'm on is currently. I work in a public sector role. I also work 1 day a week as a veterinary receptionist and I'm on minimum wage. I qualified as a veterinary nurse 25 years ago, so plenty of experience. I desperately wish I could earn more.

Yes. I'm a senior civil servant in ROI and consider myself well paid. Civil Service in ROI seems to be much better paid than comparative grades in the UK. I have a lot of responsibility but I knew that would be the case when I went for the role. Pension and leave entitlements are really good also.

For those in the public sector, would you give up part of your pension to increase your current earnings?

Not all public sector workers have a public sector pension. If you work for a government arms length body you still get public sector pay but you might not have access to a public sector pension.